I'm making some contender and Encore stocks and my first piece of Claro walnut has a soft spongy patch (very light in comparison to the rest of the wood) running thru it, but it's only a problem on the pistol grip part where it's indented-crumbled away. I paid a few $$ for it and don't want to toss it (lost my job today, so this isn't an option). Can I fill it with something?? I have some Bartley Wood Paste filler, but I don't know if this'll do it. What do you experienced stockmakers do?? besides toss it....

In the past I've gone to my 4X24 belt sander and retrieved a couple handfulls of walnut sawdust and mixed it heavily into Brownells (red box) glass bedding epoxy.

I've used this as a filler for larger areas of walnut when I have a huge desire to salvage a piece of wood. I've even used it as a filler for glass bedding into synthetic stocks when large amounts of void are to be filled.

It'll fill some large holes and leave a very hard and easy to work area but it's always visible to me. Some of my friends don't notice it but they wouldn't notice a lot of things like that.

Ity's not an expensive fix and it's better than throwing a piece of walnut away but it'll always be a visible patch no matter how good you do it.

I hope someone has a better way.

old4X4,

First off, sorry to hear about your job. Hope you land on your feet and come out even better.



I for one would send it back to where I got it. I only buy from folks who will let me send it back if the blank goes south. I assume that is not an option with this stock. I would then suggest that you try to impregnate some epoxy resin into the soft part and hope for the best. Actually I would toss it.

Sawdust and epoxy would replace the spot. But it will always look like a patch.

Devoe makes a clear super-thin epoxy called Pre-prime 167 that will penetrate into that spongy wood 1/4 to 1/2 inch and harden it up. This won't build up a damaged spot but it will make the rest of it hard as nails.

Unfortunately its $55 a gallon and you can't get it in smaller shots. If you want to attempt it send me a PM with your address and I'll mail you enough un-mixed to give it a try.

Do your best patch job. If not satisfied I would stipple the area; the entire grip if necessary .



My preferred patch would be to inlay a scrap of the blank with the best grain match possible. Ideally this should be done before shaping, but can certainly be done after.



If you go with tiggertate's suggestion it can be done with thinned epoxy but of course be sure you do any staining on the light area first.

I had to toss it. I found another spot and it just fell apart when I laid a file to it. Bummer. I DO have another piece coming, so I'll try try again. Thanx for the tips.