Stock repair advise for old Savage

[tmd16556]

I have a few repairs to make on an old Savage model 20 stock. There is a split inside where the action screws and trigger are. I only found them when taking the action out. They aren’t anywhere near the recoil lug in the front and we’re completely invisible and in noticeable from the outside.

Since they don’t seem to impact function or cosmetics so far out of sight out of mind has worked, but I wonder if there is a simple way to patch them up. The other mark pictured is just a ding it took somewhere in the past century. I figure if there is a good way to fill it it’s worth a shot too.

The wood is linseed oil finished is otherwise good for something that hasn’t been a tree since Woodrow Wilson was President at the latest.

 

[Blue68f100]

The first thing your going to have to do is remove all the oil from the crack area. This will be required in order for the epoxy to stick. Once you remove all the oil from the area you will find out how far the crack actually runs. I used denatured alcohol. It penetrated through the crack and areas around it evaporated first allowing you to see the wet area/crack. The crack may go all the way into the wrist area. You need to find the end of the crack to be able to stop it from running. Is the side view (hole) where the cross screw was in the stock?

The cause is the rifle action is not fit properly to the stock. The Barrel lug is not contacting the front impact area of the stock. So there is going to be other work needed so the repairs will hold. GunnyUSMC is our stock repair master, he normally checks in on a regular basis. He will probably need pictures of the front impact area too.

GunnyUSMC has been posting How To Repair Cracked and badly damage stocks. He guided me through one on a Rem 7 last summer, that most considered was not repairable.

 

[tmd16556]

So that sounds like a gap between the recoil lug and stock was causing the recoil to be transferred through the magazine and floor plate screws instead of the front lug. Who knows how long that could have been going on.

 

[BBBBill]

Best way to get his attention is to post this - @GunnyUSMC

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Best way to get his attention is to post this - @GunnyUSMC

Yep, that’s the way to get my attention.

@Blue68f100 is correct. You need to clean the area to really see if there is any other damage. You must also determine the cause of the damage. If the cause is not corrected, you could just be wasting time on making repairs.
Now for that deep ding on the stock, that’s a quick and easy repair. You just drill out the damaged area and fill it with a cross grain plug.
#1 Use a Forstner bit just a little wider then the area.
#2 Drill approximately a quarter inch or so down into the stock.


#3 Get a piece of wood that closely matches the stock to make a cross grain plug.


#4 Use a plug cutter bit to cut a plug from the wood, be sure that you cut the plug cross grain.


#5 You want a snug fit. If your plug is a little over size, just taper it. You also want your plug to be longer then the depth of the hole.

#6 Put a little epoxy in the hole, then line up the grain in the plug with the grain in the stock and stick it in and let the epoxy cure.


#7 shave off the excess of the plug and sand smooth.


The repair in the pics were made to fill a nail that I removed from a stock that was improperly repaired. Here’s a before and after pics.

 

[film495]

Looks like you're pretty good at this stuff. If that last pic is a ding - sort of a gash you mention, can't see why you couldn't carefully drill it and put in a small plug. The plug you did in the pictures seems to have a good clean look to it to my eyes.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

Looks like you're pretty good at this stuff. If that last pic is a ding - sort of a gash you mention, can't see why you couldn't carefully drill it and put in a small plug. The plug you did in the pictures seems to have a good clean look to it to my eyes.

Cross grain plugs always look better then end grain plugs. End grain plugs soak up stains and finishes much more then cross grain plugs and become very dark.
Cross grain plugs blend in so much better.
Years ago a guy sent me a 22 rifle stock that had pretty much split in half from the fore end to the back of the action. Someone had glued and nailed it back together. There where 9 nails in the stock, with several going all the way through from side to side.
The guy asked if I could fix it and make it look nice.
The stock was walnut, but covered with paint.
I ended up putting 12 cross grain walnut plugs in the stock and applying a BLO finish. If came out looking good. The guy was so happy with the stock that he paid me more the I charged for the repairs.
I can’t find a finished pic of the stock, but here’s one of if after I finished the repairs and drilled the holes for the plugs.

 

[tmd16556]

Thanks @GunnyUSMC. The cross grain plug looks good for the hole. The crack in the center doesn’t look like it goes into the wrist. I’m assuming that it’s more of a clean and epoxy sort of thing once the original problem is fixed. I suspect this damage was done in the 1930s. It’s a 250-3000 so not a hard recoiling round, but showing no outward signs means it could have hidden a while.

This one isn’t a project I’m going to jump into right away, but I do want to get an idea of what needs to be done.