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Stocker, or anybody have any ideas how to fix a wood stock? I have a piece broken out of my old Savage 24D 410/22 buttstock, the piece of course is missing, so want to put a piece in and reshape, tried some epoxy glue and put a small piece on but it didn't clamp on straight and had to take it off by putting a small thin blade in and cut through the epoxy. So am wondering if there is a better glue to use or is this the only way to replace the chip. I figured if I can get a piece on close and then reshape and refinish it, it should work. Any ideas?

Parts: You didn't mention just where the piece is broken away from ie: toe of the butt, tang area or????. Anyhow if you are missing the part then first thing is to shape the break into a form that can be duplicated, be it square, triangle or what ever. If it's on the toe I suggest drilling both pieces to install a hidden section of hardwood dowel. Just make sure you don't drill the new piece so deeply that the dowel will show when you shape it. This piece of dowel really helps to hold things in line when you are gluing and clamping. Also improves shear strength. Epoxy glues and resins make a strong joint although there is often a visible glue line. Avoid the 5 minute epoxies. Good cabinet makers glue is also very strong when properly clamped provided the wood is well fitted and is usually less visible. You are not necessarily restricted to using mechanical clamps and they are often difficult to get to hold evenly on some shapes. An alternate is to purchase some bulk 1/4" bungee cord (several feet) and wrap the patch under heavy tension with the cord. In areas such as tangs you may have to fit temporary blocks in the openings to prevent collapse of the stockwood. If you can get 4 to 6 closely spaced wraps (or more) a lot of compression will be exerted on the patch. The cord usually doesn't make any mark on reasonably hard wood but you should pad the wood with a thin piece of leather or inner tube just in case. If the break is in the tang area I like to glue it up and then reinforce it either with dowels (preferably from the inside) I've also used case hardened ringed panelling nails (the precoloured type) with the heads cut off and cut to appropriate lengths. Pre drill where you want them and set them in with glass bedding compound. If you have to do this from the exterior set them slightly below the level of the wood so you can fill the very top of the hole with a filler that matches the wood color. I often use a dab of melted lacquer stick (available from Lee Valley Tools) for this job. The drilled hole is just a tad bigger than the nail and try to work bedding compound right to the bottom with a needle or toothpick before inserting the metal reinforcer which should be coated with bedding compound before you push it in. Sidelock shotgun stocks are frequently badly broken up in the tangs and inletting and that seems to work as well as anything in supporting thin wood sections.
<br>Just holler if anything isn't clear. besto.

That is great, I should have said it was the tang area where the buttstock meets the reciever. They are cut to fit around it and a bit of a step to fit the tang. I actually did try the 5 minute epoxy and it did not work too good. It is not a big piece but about 2 or so Inches long by about a 1/2 to 3/4" thick, so I had tried to clean it down to a flat surface to try and mate with a rectangular piece of wood to see if I could shape it back down. Will have to try your ideas as anchoring it would make it a lot easier. Thanks for the info.
<br>Bill

Parts: One other way you might want to consider, especially if you can't get an exact fit underneath and you have to fill voids is to use straight bedding compound as the adhesive. You can cut matching sets of indents in the stock and the patch so that the compound forms supporting shoulders into the stock and patch. It's not always easy to get a good color match on the exposed seams however. luck.

Must agree with everything Stocker says, though I seldom use pin nails. A secret to reduce the pin holes on show surfaces is to counter-sink your pins, then wet-sand the bare wood. Dry the wet spot with a blow dryer or heat gun and sand again. Most times the nail hole will vanish.
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<br>I try to follow an annual ring, removing a piece of wood that will allow me to glue in my patch which need only match the curve of the growth ring. It also hides the glueline right where a line would be anyway.
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<br>As that Savage stock likely has a heavy stain on it anyway, matching the stain is usually the issue. My color matching ability is actually incredible... I ask my wife. She looks at my sorry attempt and tells me exactly how much of which color I need to fix it. She is truly gifted with color, as I clearly am not.
<br>art

Thanks again Stocker and Sitka, I did not get a chance to do it tonight, but hope to work on it tomorrow. Will see how it goes.

For colour match you can make up your own "stain " from aniline dye ,also from Lee Valley.I once dyed fir (orange ) to match fumed oak. www.leevalley.com