One way to photograph a gun

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Standing Wolf

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The model I was scheduled to work with this morning called to cancel. That's more than a good many models do, and her excuse was inarguable: morning sickness. Oh, well!

As long as I had cameras and lenses and assorted other gadgetry out, I took some pictures of the flowers I bought yesterday. As always, some turned out well, some turned out badly, and most were mediocre. That's the norm for me, so I didn't mind the low ratio of keepers to tries.

By and bye, I decided to take a few shots of my new old Kimber. I bought the gun several years ago, and was well impressed with it. It's what Colts I bought years ago should have been. I bought a .22 long rifle slide for it this past summer. I assumed it would be a pretty good plinker. I was mistaken. It had the potential to be a match pistol. I turned it over to my gunsmith to concoct a second main spring for it, since out of the box, the slide functioned perfectly with high speed ammunition, less than reliably with the standard velocity I shoot bullseye with. As long as the gun was out of commission for awhile, I stripped the finish from the Fung stocks (http://jnb.com/~funggrip/index.html) and added some wing walk compound and refinished the walnut with tung oil. She's definitely a shooter! I can't still see the iron sights very well, but that's hardly the pistol's problem.

I set the pistol on a speaker, and leaned it carefully against a lens I wasn't using. I took a few shots. I set pistol and lens aside, arranged the back drop cloth to cover the speaker, and replaced lens and pistol on the cloth. I readjusted the pistol. I re-re-re-re-readjusted it to make sure it was stable. I took a step toward my camera, and the pistol hit the floor. The right grip panel and palm rest broke off.

If you happen to know of a glue that will let me save these truly excellent stocks, let me know, please.
 
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SW,

Sorry to hear about what happened to the grip.

A two-part epoxy adhesive is what I would recommend for permanent repair to the grip panel. Just make sure you get the slow-curing variety (i.e., 30 minutes or longer, as opposed to the more common 5-minute kind) to give yourself more time to work and to allow the epoxy to soak deeper into the wood for a stronger bond. Wipe off any excess epoxy that oozes out of the joint with a kitchen towel soaked with rubbing alcohol.

Complete curing can take up to 24 hours, after which the joint will be stronger than the rest of the wood.

Good luck!

DL
 
Yes, it can be repaired ... Don't ask how I know. :( :uhoh:

Strip the grip down to basics and then hollow out a little of the wood from the inside on each side of the grip screw hole and along the crack itself. You will be filling this void with fiberglass bedding compound.

Then bond the two halves back together using epoxy glass bedding gel. If the repar is done correctly the grip may break again if its dropped, but it won't be along this current split.

The gel, and excellent advise on what to do and how too do it can be obtained from Brownells at: www.brownells.com
 
SW, Titebond II is waterproof, Titebond I isn't.

My dad (professional antique furniture restorer) will work the Titebond into the smallest gaps with a little water and wipe off the excess with a damp rag. Titebond is water soluble but waterproof when dry.
 
I wouldnt go with epoxy. Epoxy works great on metals and plastics, but have had less then adequeat performance on most woods. THe problem is how it works it dosent always bond as well as most wood glues. This bit of info comes from way to much experince.

I cant however give you a good wood glue as I havent found one to my likeing yet. The gentlmen above are probably correct.
 
While some general purpose epoxy glues do not bond to wood very well, glass bedding compounds are fomulated too do so. As I pointed out the fine folks at Brownells can set you straight. Its a case of using the right stuff for the job.

Incidentally I have seen several rifle stocks where someone literally glued a barreled action to the stock because they didn't use enough releasing agent. This mistake was compounded when they used a rubber hammer and tried to break the metal parts loose. The stock ended up splitting, but the bond between the wood and compound didn't yield.
 
SW - sorry about the stocks, great pic nonetheless!

Well - I learned something from this thread. I've never heard of the Titebond stuff. I have always been a 24 hour Epoxy guy myself, always had great results.

So I get to see a great pic by someone I respect and learn about fixing stocks from more folks I respect.

Ain't the Internet Great! Thanks folks! :D
 
Um... have you actually tried using 2-part epoxy to join wood? The epoxied joint usually ends up being stronger than the surrounding wood.

I build and fly radio-controlled model aircraft, and for the ones built from balsa, lite-ply and a variety of hardwoods, two-part epoxy is the adhesive of choice for high-stress areas like engine mounts, firewalls, wing spars, shear webs and landing gear mounts.

Examining the wreckage of radio-controlled aircraft that have crashed (and yes, I have crashed a number of them due to pilot error :D ) usually reveals the wood breaking around the epoxied joint, rather than the joint itself.

Dumb_Pilot_Error.jpg

DL
 
Based on the hundred or so stocks I have repaired I would go with Brownell's Accuglass . It has never failed me .
 
go here

http://www.westsystem.com/

these people know more about glueing wood and repairing it than almost anyone on the planet. they have an A-1 service and support dept. too.

I have no connection to them but have used their products for years.

I would clean the stocks well and get some J&J paste wax for floors and wax the whole bottom end of the pistol so no epoxy will stick to it. Then cover the grip area with wax paper to cover any holes and use the gripframe as a splint to properly hold the grip in orientation. Pre mix some of the epoxy as per manufacturers recomendations and then pre clean the areas to be glued with several dips into acetone. Position the pieces in place and then use stretchy vinyl electricians tape to securely hold the parts in alignment till the glue has cured. You will have some careful x-acto and or dremmel work to clean up the glue line but once cleaned it will be stronger than before.

After the glue cures you might want to take both of the grips and dremmel or rout a narrow 1/16 x1/16 to 1/8x1/8 inch groove or slot on the back side of the grip and then roll some glass or kevlar cord in a epoxy mix and embed the cord into the slots finishing up with a little extra epoxy dribbled over the cord to ensure encapsulation. This will make the reinforced grips almost unbreakable. I have used this method to repair some very expensive ivory SAA grips and some carved and inlaid rosewood grips on a presentation 1911. I do not have any pics of those but the result was more than acceptable to the owner.

this link will give a better idea of what i am talking about (again I have no connection and only provide the link for education)

http://www.cuttsandcase.com/patented_method.html

I have used variations of this method to tame a Ruger RSI forearm that would walk about if you opened a window.
 
On the advice of a gunsmith friend, I repaired the cracked buttstock of a shotgun with Brownells' Acraglass bedding compound. According to him, the repaired crack is now stronger than the rest of the stock.
 
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