Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Repairing a wood stock- Recommendation Please

Mr. Sitka deer:
Your comment,"I have not had an epoxy-repaired stock break anywhere near the epoxy" reminded me of one of my more memorable stock repair jobs.

I repaired a friend�s 1950�s vintage beech stocked Husquarna that cracked in the tang area. I�ve had to do maybe a half dozen of the beech Husqvarna stocks over the years, so I�m guessing it is either a quirk of the wood species or perhaps how wet the wood was when the stocks were made.

Anyway, about 2 years later he phoned me up to say that I need to do some warranty work on the stock repair. I said no problem, bring it by and since he�s a good friend I�d charge the same as last time which was nothing. I was wondering however what happened to cause my repair to fail.

He brought the stock over and it was split from the tip of the fore end through magazine area and into the grip! As you said, the original repair looked as good as the day I�d done it. The wood broke away beside the repaired area.

It seems the hill my friend tried to climb with his quad was steeper than he�d figured and he�d flipped the quad backward down the mountain several times spewing various quad accessories as it went. Part of the departing accessories was the plastic scabbard with the Husky in it.

I�m sure you guessed that the quad needed a bit of touch up work as well. Luckily, the driver was no worse for the experience beyond damaged pride and the quad parts.

Well, I thought you might enjoy the story before an Easter weekend. Happy Easter to you and yours as well as all Campfire members.

Regards,
Dwayne

Thanks Dwayne.

I hope this one stays put as I am buying it as is.....

Rancho Loco
There should not be much stress in the area in a typical stock. It really does nothing beyond acting as a stablizer bar between the sides. The recoil is supposed to work on the lug and be directed down the sides of the magazine box to the butt. Inertia in the rifle and shoulder allow some to be translated to the sides, but not much.

Crossbolts are really designed to spread recoil across more wood, not hold the sides together under recoil..
art

This is what has me bothered a little. I have seen plenty of stocks crack in this area but never open up enough to have the bottom metal have a gap. Plus the fact the current owner says he can't squeeze it together by hand.

We'll see.........

Dwayne
It was that son of a beech that got you! Beech is okay for stock wood, but not much beyond... Relatively short fibers and not near the shock strength and split resistance of walnut.

Always cracks me up when I read "Beechwood Aged!" Beech is used in the food industry because it imparts no taste to the food product... Why not age in stainless?
art

Sitka: Could you enlighten me a bit as to the issues with aluminum and stocks? I'm in the infancy stages of stockbuilding and know just enough now that I would never ever pursue it professionally. There's always a chance though that I'll have to salvage some screw up of mine in the future.

I see aluminum mentioned for bedding blocks from time to time and indeed I think that's what Weatherby has beneath my 30-378 Accumark. Yes, I'm ashamed it does carry a plastic stock. Aluminum's appeal is that one does not need industrial grade machinery and tools for relatively crude workups. Are there other metals that might be more amendable to such repairs? Thanks in advance, 1Minute

Edited in: How about a cross bolt with with polished nuts or washers fitted in flush with the stocks exterior surface??? That would be a bit more work, but would offer a bit of squeeze in that area. From the photos there was obviously some stress to part the wood there. The question might be whether the wood itself was the source or a fitting issue. Given the void with no metal present, the wood just might be the problem.

Art,

This is my day I guess for asking dumb questions. Do you do stock work for the public? Thanks...Bill.

I have 3 older Huskies with Beech stocks and all but 1 of these (a 6.5x55) had developed fore and aft cracks somewhere behind the recoil lug. A couple had cracks both in the magazine area and the tang. My 4th Husky (30-06) has a walnut stock, and when I bought it, it had a crack that ran from the lug area all the way back through the wrist. I seem to recall from the Swede Sporter board on Gunboards that the Huskies were prone to cracking because of improper inletting at the lug. I have repaired them all using Sitka's approach, plus glas bedded the action and relieved the space between tang and wood a bit. So far so good. That Acra-glas is goood stuff. DonW

I understand that, but in this particular stock, it's developed some kind of stree/warpage that has split the wood in that area.

In my experiences with old furniture and cabinets, this situation would call for some mechanical joining, or a spline (or splines) installed with a good epoxy; west systems in my case.. Love the stuff.

Not saying this is the fix in this case, just looking for more edumication. I wouldn't mind messing around with stocks one day.

I'm no expert (as you'll see from the linked thread) and I'm not suggesting you do what I did. I'm just pointing to this thread in case it has anything that might be found helpful. So,
Crackle-doodle-doo

Bingo. The fix in that thread was exactly what I came up with last night at 2 AM while staring at the ceiling. Thickened west system dovetailed into the sides and web to act as a spline.

It was good to finally think about something else besides the damn $50 million dollar house I'm working on.

1minute
The issue here is the fact the wood is pulling back from the action. There is not really a strength issue as there would be in your 30-378. Stockbolts, as I said earlier are not warranted except to distribute recoil. They must be installed carefully and prefectly or they create more problems than they solve. Epoxy makes the fit perfect, distributes forces more evenly and requires nothing on the surface.

Stockbolts made sense before epoxy.

Aluminum IME does not play well with others. It moves so much with temp cahnges and does not stick to epoxy well. Over time the adhesive lock is lost. A wood dowel in the long run will be stronger because it will move about the same as epoxy and the two will act together.

I have never understood the concept of aluminum bedding blocks, for example. It is a big variable standing between two steady players... It weighs more than wood and IMO adds nothing. If I am adding weight to a rifle I want it to add something... balance, accuracy, strength, beauty, whatever. I see none of that in aluminum.

A proper piece of wood does not benefit and there are far better ways to stregthen one that does need help.

Sections from broken fishing poles are far more useful, IME&O.

model70man
I tend not to do stock work for the public, but I have done quite a bit and mostly limit it to more difficult jobs like big dings in pricey wood rather than cracks hidden inside a piece of beech.
art

macrabbit
Thanks for linking that thread. I forgot the braided line fix stocker posted and really like it.
art

A Canadian importer has bunch of used Huskys,half of the write ups say "cracked at tang".I had one too.I think the beech is too soft for the size of the mauser recoil lug allowing the action to move back. The late sixties Sakos used cross bolt against the recoil lug.