Another adventure in stock repair.

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GunnyUSMC

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Jan 3, 2012
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Denham Springs LA
I’ve been doing stock repair for over 30 years. At one point I was doing just over 100 repairs a year so, there’s not much that I haven’t seen or done.
A few years ago I stopped taking in work for a few reasons. One was to get caught up, two was to get some of my own stuff done, and three, I started putting in a lot of overtime at my regular job and just didn’t have the time.
But I still take in a job from time to time. Most often it’s not an easy repair, but I have a reputation for taking on repairs that most see as a lost cause.
Last month I was contacted by a guy I know up in Ohio. Mark told me that he had a Lebel with a bad forearm and asked if I was willing to take on the repair. I have done work for Mark in the pass and knew that if he was seeking my help, he had something beyond his pay grade.
The problem with the forearm was that it had been repaired twice before. There was an old arsenal repair and then one where someone had glued it back together when it had broken in half.
The hardest repairs I have ever done has been having to fix what others have messed up while trying to fix something.
For those of you that don’t know what a Lebel is, here’s a pic of mine.
9C8B30B0-BE1A-48B0-9BCE-286DDF7D5B1C.jpeg

The forearm is long, thin and hollow. The magazine tube runs the full length of the forearm.
Marks forearm had an Arsenal repair at the rear band, where a piece of wood had been spliced in. Then the brake just forward of the rear band where it had been broken in half and glued back together.
I told Mark to send it to me and I would see what I could do.
This is what I found when it arrived.
EAF7DFE3-0E35-4F5E-A043-45F0198AC66A.jpeg
F63101AF-E3E6-4FF0-9F72-E24ADAF06047.jpeg

And after an inspection I found several cracks at the front and wood putty that was used to fill the area nuder the nose cap.
6F18329E-B88D-464A-AAFF-59C1E46A6490.jpeg
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06DCB306-920C-4122-84D2-04231C7E6812.jpeg
C12EF74F-C4E9-4942-8D11-CC95D94BFB45.jpeg

I contacted Mark and told him that it was going to take a little time to figure out how I was going to make the repairs.
It took me about two weeks to come up with a plan.
To try and remove the glue and get the stock apart would have caused more damage so, I decided to use fiberglass cloth to reinforce the sides of the stock, but hide it under a wood patch, like an Arsenal repair.
TO BE CONTINUED. :) :evil:
 
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I’ve been doing stock repair for over 30 years. At one point I was doing just over 100 repairs a year so, there’s not much that I haven’t seen or done.
A few years ago I stopped taking in work for a few reasons. One was to get caught up, two was to get some of my own stuff done, and three, I started putting in a lot of overtime at my regular job and just didn’t have the time.
But I still take in a job from time to time. Most often it’s not an easy repair, but I have a reputation for taking on repairs that most see as a lost cause.
Last month I was contacted by a guy I know up in Ohio. Mark told me that he had a Label with a bad forearm and asked if I was willing to take on the repair. I have done work for Mark in the pass and knew that if he was seeking my help, he had something beyond his pay grade.
The problem with the forearm was that it had been repaired twice before. There was an old arsenal repair and then one where someone had glued it back together when it had broken in half.
The hardest repairs I have ever done has been having to fix what others have messed up while trying to fix something.
For those of you that don’t know what a Label is, here’s a pic of mine.
View attachment 855602

The forearm is long, thin and hollow. The magazine tube runs the full length of the forearm.
Marks forearm had an Arsenal repair at the rear band, where a piece of wood had been spliced in. Then the brake just forward of the rear band where it had been broken in half and glued back together.
I told Mark to send it to me and I would see what I could do.
This is what I found when it arrived.
View attachment 855603
View attachment 855604

And after an inspection I found several cracks at the front and wood putty that was used to fill the area nuder the nose cap.
View attachment 855605
View attachment 855606
View attachment 855607
View attachment 855608

I contacted Mark and told him that it was going to take a little time to figure out how I was going to make the repairs.
It took me about two weeks to come up with a plan.
To try and remove the glue and get the stock apart would have caused more damage so, I decided to use fiberglass cloth to reinforce the sides of the stock, but hide it under a wood patch, like an Arsenal repair.
TO BE CONTINUED. :) :evil:

Thanks for the post and picture. I am inletting a replacement Lebel forestock right now along with a buttstock. As I am planning to make the lebel a single shot reloaded powder puff ammo shooter at the current time, I am not going to bother with boring the forestock. The replacement wood is beech and the Lebel had pretty heavy recoil in issued ammo.
 
A label is something you put on a box to ship it. A Lebel, on the other hand....:p Just teasin' ya, Gunny! You have your work cut out for you. (Pun intended.)
 
Easy for those who have done it a few times. For a novice it would be like looking at blank wall, no idea on what would be the best approach.
I am willing to teach anyone that is willing to learn.
I have helped members on the open forum and through PMs. Some have even called for help.
But as in anything learning the basics is needed. You should see the first repair I had ever done. At the time I thought I had done a great job, It was bad at best. But back then I didn't have someone helping me.
If anyone wishes to take on a project, I am more then happy to offer my help. Just start up a new topic and shoot me a PM. If you live closes enough, come over and my shop will be yours.
 
Here’s the right side of the stock.
In the first pic you can see the piece of Walnut I cut for the patch.
1D324D7F-20E8-4170-A92F-CA0C39A76300.jpeg


You can see that the patch is over sized. I used 80 grit sandpaper on a piece of 2x4 to slowly cut it to fit the cutout in the stock.
5CADD33B-1496-4C40-A70F-EB06049E26C5.jpeg

I cut some Fiberglass cloth to fit. This will be the actual repair that will hold the stock together.
E8612ECA-8C35-4271-B118-D767E31E6963.jpeg

A little more cutting was required to get the patch to fit level.
You can see the hole for the band spring. It’s in the patch area so, I plugged it with some clay to keep the fiberglass resin from getting in it.
86E09C56-8CA7-48DD-B8AF-224D102AFE37.jpeg

After test fitting I put resin into the cutout then the fiberglass cloth.
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The wood patch was put in and clamped in place. Wax paper was used to keep any resin from sticking to the clamps.
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I forgot to take pics after I removed the clamps :(.
I then used hand files to shape the patch to the stock. I still need to cut and drill the area for the band spring, but I’ll do that later. Next will be to do the patch on the left side.
EDCE5FB7-3212-4425-B2C7-07939CE059F2.jpeg
 
Gunny, your work and pictures are worthy of a great master craftsman. I envy your skills. I also have to comment on the amazing collection of "STUFF" that we always see on your workbench. Trays full of cartridges and odds and ends of a gunsmith's life time. This brings out the "GARAGE SALER" in me every time. Keep up the fine comments and great pictures.
 
Gunny, your work and pictures are worthy of a great master craftsman. I envy your skills. I also have to comment on the amazing collection of "STUFF" that we always see on your workbench. Trays full of cartridges and odds and ends of a gunsmith's life time. This brings out the "GARAGE SALER" in me every time. Keep up the fine comments and great pictures.
I’ve always had a hard time keeping my work benches clean.:oops:
 
Here’s the left side of the stock.
5C2FC3A7-0AAA-47A7-BD88-2D84EB3AD3AA.jpeg
6F358748-46AE-4A23-95CD-5CD519659147.jpeg
1C773B4E-B0F1-4F3B-AB85-57B9A950EB7F.jpeg

After the resin had cured the clamps were removed. Hand files were then used to dress it up.
6E1CB592-B789-4410-9AAB-88B9367D763C.jpeg 7F553994-AC7E-4702-A723-EA9C689865BD.jpeg

I still need to dress up the patch repairs to make them look good.
But first I’m going to make the cut for the band spring on the right side and start on the front of the stock.
 
Question if you do not mind sir. When you mention resin, I think acraglas or the similar product that Midway did carry? Or do you have a different sort of resin formula? I have used acraglas in the past but sometimes have found it sugared in some of the harder recoiling rifles primarily in and around the receiver base and have switched to epoxy for recoil area repairs.
 
Question if you do not mind sir. When you mention resin, I think acraglas or the similar product that Midway did carry? Or do you have a different sort of resin formula? I have used acraglas in the past but sometimes have found it sugared in some of the harder recoiling rifles primarily in and around the receiver base and have switched to epoxy for recoil area repairs.
Acraglas is my first chose for repairs. Devcon 2 Ton Clear with the 30 min set time is my second chose. I'm using The Devcon on this repair.
Always remember, if you are filling an area, like when glass bedding you need to add flox. It's just ground fiberglass cloth. It helps bind the resin and keeps it from shattering under heavy recoil.
 
Acraglas is my first chose for repairs. Devcon 2 Ton Clear with the 30 min set time is my second chose. I'm using The Devcon on this repair.
Always remember, if you are filling an area, like when glass bedding you need to add flox. It's just ground fiberglass cloth. It helps bind the resin and keeps it from shattering under heavy recoil.

Ah, that is my mistake. I relied on the straight Acraglass with reinforcing pins/rods/dowels. I've had trouble on a few rifles around the wrist and tang areas--that is when I used epoxy on a Krag stock that had broke in shipping into two pieces at the rear of the receiver inletting.
 
Well, life and a few other things have been taking up my time, but this morning I got back to work on the repairs.
I decided to work on the front of the stock before finishing up with the other repairs.
There are three cracks in the front, one on the left and two on the right.
You can see one of the cracks on the right side, it stops just in front of my thumb. The other one runs from the front through the band spring cutout.
F07461F8-29C0-4D8A-9279-0BEF0A33214B.jpeg

The one on the left is pretty long, going from the front to just in front of my thumb.
79E1AEF8-213D-4FC8-B8A5-368EC524C198.jpeg

The crack needs to be stopped. It is following the wood grain and if not addressed it will keep cracking. To stop the crack a stop has to be placed just passed the end of the crack. This is done by drilling a hole into the stock and filling it with resin and a dowel.
The tricky part here is that the fore stock is hollow. The magazine tube runs from front to back. There is just a thin area to work with and the hole has to cross the are where the crack is, and avoid drilling into the magazines tube, or out the side of the stock.
Here’s the hole and how deep it was drilled.
I drilled both sides without drilling into the magazines tube, or out the sides.

2309A09F-D1F1-4C9A-BF3F-A9679A5A2EFD.jpeg
8665FEB8-F519-4083-BE61-86F497B343F0.jpeg
CE6BFED5-67BC-45FB-8A1B-4FBBEF3CDBE6.jpeg

Next was to drill the front.
If you just put resin in the crack, it will have very little surface to bond to and could fail to hold down the road.
Drilling into the crack allows for more surface for the resin to bond to, which will give you a stronger repair.
Again, the area is very thin and a small bit is needed.
Also clamping the cracks tight keeps any small pieces of wood from getting into the cracks while drilling.
AD68C7E9-ECE4-4049-8A6E-1B59FC846346.jpeg
31187F70-1824-445C-9A45-367182CBC99A.jpeg
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Now to remove the oil from the area so that the repairs can be done. Letting the end of the stock soak in Denatured Alcohol should get the job done. This could take a day or two.
4A6C955A-FFFC-4E15-8089-D9AE319CE6BD.jpeg
 
Well, life and a few other things have been taking up my time, but this morning I got back to work on the repairs.
I decided to work on the front of the stock before finishing up with the other repairs.
There are three cracks in the front, one on the left and two on the right.
You can see one of the cracks on the right side, it stops just in front of my thumb. The other one runs from the front through the band spring cutout.
View attachment 860081

The one on the left is pretty long, going from the front to just in front of my thumb.
View attachment 860080

The crack needs to be stopped. It is following the wood grain and if not addressed it will keep cracking. To stop the crack a stop has to be placed just passed the end of the crack. This is done by drilling a hole into the stock and filling it with resin and a dowel.
The tricky part here is that the fore stock is hollow. The magazine tube runs from front to back. There is just a thin area to work with and the hole has to cross the are where the crack is, and avoid drilling into the magazines tube, or out the side of the stock.
Here’s the hole and how deep it was drilled.
I drilled both sides without drilling into the magazines tube, or out the sides.

View attachment 860082
View attachment 860083
View attachment 860084

Next was to drill the front.
If you just put resin in the crack, it will have very little surface to bond to and could fail to hold down the road.
Drilling into the crack allows for more surface for the resin to bond to, which will give you a stronger repair.
Again, the area is very thin and a small bit is needed.
Also clamping the cracks tight keeps any small pieces of wood from getting into the cracks while drilling.
View attachment 860085
View attachment 860086
View attachment 860087
View attachment 860088

Now to remove the oil from the area so that the repairs can be done. Letting the end of the stock soak in Denatured Alcohol should get the job done. This could take a day or two.
View attachment 860089

How do you feel about pinning cracks at a 90 degree angle? I've seen on old sporters, reinforcing in the stock like bowtie inlays at the crack's termination and/or beginning. I've also seen blind pinning with threaded brass rods, or even snipped trim panel nails, etc. that run at 90 degree from the crack especially in forends or forestocks that are used to reinforce the crack repair?

As a side comment, you must have a steady hand with a portable drill, I have to use a drill press if I was doing something that delicate.
 
How do you feel about pinning cracks at a 90 degree angle? I've seen on old sporters, reinforcing in the stock like bowtie inlays at the crack's termination and/or beginning. I've also seen blind pinning with threaded brass rods, or even snipped trim panel nails, etc. that run at 90 degree from the crack especially in forends or forestocks that are used to reinforce the crack repair?

As a side comment, you must have a steady hand with a portable drill, I have to use a drill press if I was doing something that delicate.
I don’t care for threaded brass rods. They will hold, but the wood around them can start to crack. I’ve repaired many Enfield fore stocks that cracked at the rear where the threaded pins were.
Over at Gunboards I posted a topic called Saving The Roo. It’s a complete repair of a No1 MkIII stock set.

I have a drill press, but it’s still in the box. I’ve been using a hand drill for so long that I find it easy.
 
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