Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Can cracks in a wood stock be repaired and still be usable?

The rifle is a mid-1970's Weatherby Mark V in .300 WBY MAG. (minty) I shot it for the first time in over 25 years today. (Rifle belongs to my father-in-law) About round number eight I noticed a fracture (slight) from the top of the rear tang back through the pistol grip about 2 inches and on the bottom of the grip about the same size.
The wood is very nice and he wants to repair it if at all possible, and hopefully still be usable. If so, any suggestions on who could/should do the work?

These folks http://www.bosesofnebraska.com/ have done some nice repairs for some of the members of the Savage collectors forum. Post your question there for a personal recommendation.

Thanks

I had a 1970s M70 develop a crack in the inletting and my smith fixed it when he glass bedded it. Talk to a good smith and you should be fine.

So long as the crack is not oil soaked...

Yes, it can be repaired easily and be very hard to see, but you can always see those repairs in strong sunlight if your looking for them..

Uncas,
You can get the oil out of wood..I start with using a torch very carefully so as not to scorch the wood and as the oil boils out I wipe it off...then I pack the crack and around the crack with Brownells oil removing powder and let it sit for severak days or even weeks, until the wood is basically white..then finish it up.

Thanks for the info. guys.

Just finishing up a Wby. MK V, chamberedin .375 H&H

Badly cracked,.......way foward of Mag / Lug area ( and 1/2 way up forend)

all throught the action bed,...into the wrist.

Some "Hydration",....and clamping,...... saw it back in skew.

Coupla' the now discontinued " B-Square " through bolts, and some serious milling of cavities for Acra-Glas,...and svelte re-bar sees this thing lookin' strong.

6 month job,....the Hydration and clamping can't be rushed,....it's WOOD.

Worse part of this deal,....having to go out and shoot it in,....dial in the scope,....try to break it ,.....yadda,......

over the coming week,....sigh,.....life is tough.

That particular genre of Wby. looks prone to crack,...as delivered....and I'll stick to that story.

GTC

Yup, I do most if not all of the repairs for SSK ind.
I've seen some jigsaw puzzles come in, LOL.
Modern glues are extraordinary. Most two parts kinds, if mixed right, wood prepped correctly you could swing the stock on a concrete floor, snap it in half and you can see the glue line- holding strong, a fresh break just a 1/4" from the old repair.
Once its stripped the repair done (tip time:) use a fine oil paint brush and progressively paint around the stain to hide it, if you use a matte finish, you'll never see the repair- even under light. High gloss finishes are a bit tougher, especially if chips were missing when it arrived. Progressive repairs with differing amounts of die to make it look normal, tough but doable. Again, high gloss is a biotch to hide, but matte/oils far easier.
For a convincing example, laminate is nothing more than glued thin crappy layers of a soft wood. well built furniture you can climb on etc isn't one piece.
CWG

crossfire,

Can you elaborate on the "hydration.....6 months, etc."?

Thanks.

Paul

Paul, this rifle may well have spent the bulk of it's life in Phoenix and it's environs,......suffice it to say that the dense , nicely figured wood was REALLY dry,.....and the crack
was a large and rather "Sprung open" looking affair, .....requiring lotsa' clamping force to close .
Leaving it clamped dry,....for a month made no differance.

So,I Kept a sponge damp,....inside of a large capped PVC tube , with the stock ( actually below the stock )......I had to dampen the sponge pretty frequently,....at first,.......At about a month the clamping force required was WAY less. Subsequent months saw it relax further,....to the point that I could just about squeeze it shut by hand.At no point did the stock appear "wet",.....but it certainly took on a lot of moisture.

Failed prior attempted repairs ( of who knows what age) was than excavated outta' the recoil abutment section, and the web between the Mag well and trigger area. The crack was glued,....clamped,....and than the excavations cast in resin. Once set,.....2 through bolts were installed ( glued as well as screwed ), and all allowed to cure,.....The stock had "Moved" quite a bit over the years,....and throught it's cracked to repaired condition,.....so some regular Chisel and scrape inletting was needed,.....prior to final Glass-Bedding.

I think the repair outlined is a good one,.....and reckon the wood got no more exposure to wet than it would on a 2 week hunt in Alaska or B.C.

If doing it this way is bad theory / practice,.....I'd really like to know,.....in this case it seemed to work,......but I was winging it all the way through,....and have tremendous respect for some of the Masters that share their secrets and experience with us, on this board.

I 'spose "Hyrdration" is the right word ?

GTC

Was hoping Sitka Deer would comment, .....condemn or recomend,......as to whether this "Hydration" bit was on track,.....or just another whacky experiment.

Fellow's forgotten more about wood than I currently know.

so BTT

GTC

If these are hairline cracks (in other words, you can press them together and they disappear), I would suggest the original Hot Stuff from brownells. Look it up. It can be sanded and brought to the same luster as the surrounding finish. I've had a lot of success with this "stuff".

Wood dried to 6% or less will take a set awfully hard to turn around... Phoenix can get wood that dry, I am certain...

Rehydrating simply starts the process all over again. Boring a large blind hole through the grip, starting inside the action will allow a piece of dry stable wood to be epoxied in. It will never split again.

The web material is of no importance in strength.

I am not fond of super glues in stock work as the shock strength is very lacking. Small chips can be put in with it, but colored epoxy is more user-friendly.
art

Yup. And the quality dies they make today for epoxies actually thin the epoxy out a bit- warm the stock with infra red lamps ( I have a stock bending jig- two 500 watt lamps make it easy) when you touch the mix to the crack it sucks right in, flex the crack gently and it pulls in quite a ways.

A grateful sigh of relief,.....breathed ( heaved ?) here.

There's little left of the whole problem that started this.

Sitka,.......WAS 'Re-Hydration the smart way to go,.....or was just blowing all the "Torque Effect" wood outta' the way the better way to go ?

I'm thinking that mebbe I just "Re-started the process,.....like the built in "Torque" in a nicely "Figured" blank,.....Vs real world .

And,.....

THANKS for the rapido response, Sir.

GTC

No excuse for incoherant tech text.

............Last post a "Tail Chaser if I've seen one.

"Shell" the Warped wood and go with a good (wood) insert,....re-bed / inlet.

Think I've got this figured.

Sitka deer for a big glass of good brew.

GTC

This has seemed to work for the last four years: