Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Savage Collectors Buttstock repair procedure

Today I received a very nice Model 20/26. Unfortunately, during shipping the box must have been dropped hard on the end, and the toe of the buttstock split. I have the piece that broke off, and when it is put in place there is only a very faint line to indicate where the break occurred. I would like to glue it back in place, but I would like to do so without damaging the finish on the buttstock.

What should I use for a glue, and what procedure should be followed to prevent damage to the finish?

Thanks for any help.

Oh boy are you gonna get a lot of responses....

I personally make "V"s with a gouge, but not all the way to the edges, of the damaged area on both sides. Then use a good epoxy, although good wood glue should work too, and clamp the pieces together. I personally use the flexible latex or rubber tubing used in hospitals or that some people use to bleed car brakes to clamp and hold the pieces together.

The idea for the V grooves is it provides more surface area for the adhesive and also gives the adhesive a place to go when you clamp the pieces together.

Epoxy. Definitely epoxy. Mask it off as close to the break as you can manage. Figure out how you'll clamp it before starting the operation (big rubber bands work well on a tapered/cambered surface), apply thin coat of epoxy - don't goober it up - wipe away the squeezeout with alcohol dampened rag or paper towel, wait a bit and wipe again. When you're satisfied that no more epoxy will weep out remove the tape. Go slow and be careful - you'll do alright.

Why epoxy? Strength mainly, and easy clean up. Super glue is strong but inordinately hard and unyielding, but mainly because it dries fast and it might set up before you're done finagling the broken piece perfectly in position and traces of it may harden on the surface before you can wipe it clean. Yellow glue always wants to leave a raised glue line that begs to be sanded flush after it cures - even at that I would use yellow glue before super glue. Gorilla glue? I honestly don't use it enough to pass judgement.

Depends on which type of gorilla glue maybe, but all of I've used expands a bit and makes a mess. Not bad if you're refinishing and it's strong stuff but makes a mess.

As the others have said, I get bike inertubes, cut them in tow or strips, and wrap the wood parts with them. Glue tends to not stick to the intertube strips. I learned this from Selfbow maker John Strunk.

And if nothing else works there's always JB Weld!

Just Kidding!

Gorilla glue.

Before-




After-

Impressive. Didn't the glue expand quite a bit? When I used it on something non-gun related it expanded into a hard, foam like mess. I cleaned it up at first, but it kept expanding slowly during curing. What type of gorilla glue did you use?

I have had no problems like that. I use ratcheting pistol grip clamps with rubber padded jaws. Glue it, wipe it off, come back tomorrow. Couldn't be any easier.

Don't specifically remember *which* gorilla glue. Two part epoxy. Someone will probably tell me it's wrong but it's not. Done too many splits to buy it.

Oh ok, it was the epoxy. That's the same epoxy I generally use too. Good stuff.

The original gorilla glue is the foaming stuff I was referring to

https://www.gorillatough.com/product/original-gorilla-glue/

Nice work on that blown up 99.

Oops. I too assumed the foamy stuff.

We used West System epoxy by the 50 gallon drums in our boat building shop. That kind of usage warranted WS to send a tech advisor around frequently. I still use West System exclusively (although in way smaller quantities!). A tech guy told me once that most all epoxy resins come out of the same spigot, figuratively speaking, that the differences between brands of epoxy lies mainly in the hardeners.

I have used Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue on a stock the OP explained above. After the repair you cannot tell where the line is ....has been used many years after the repair and no problems. Have used this on many wood projects, and cannot get a repair to break where the original repair was at. Good stuff.

++ for Titebond III (water clean-up, water-proof set-up) especially for a stock toe, clean split, no stress glue joint. It will not work over varnished or oily woods

Thanks to everyone for their input. I elected to go with the Titebond III primarily for the reasons Jeff G cited. It resulted in a very satisfactory repair.