20 years ago I was given an old beater
of a .22. Stock had been broken in half 6" long
thru the action area. Heavily painted brown, looks like brushed on.

Looked it over the other day and it's a Rem M 33 single shot.

I just got a tube of bluing and thought I might clean it up a bit and wipe it on for lack of anything else constructive to do.

There was some of the original bluing left under the action so I've sanded the rust off and it's soaking in the cream.

Got to looking at the broken stock. Only a small sliver holding it together. Wood is oil soaked.

What would you use for glue to just hold it together?

I know Elmer's carpenter type won't hold. I didn't have much luck with gorilla glue on another project.

No matter what, it's still going to be UGLY. I just want it to hold together.

Thanks,

George

I would use acetone on it and let it dry real good you may want to coat it several times. I have used Titebond II with good success on non crital areas. After it’s set up and tight I’d sand it down and spray paint with some texture paint to cover any imperfections.

It ought to make a nice little knock about rifle. I did this for my grandkids rifle.

Soak the whole stock in TSP for 30 minutes. I assume you want to remove the oil and finish from the whole thing. Xylene will remove oil quicker than anything, but it is banned in California.
Then use epoxy to fix the wood; you can mix sawdust in it to fill gaps. Once stained it will look ok.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:

Xylene will remove oil quicker than anything, but it is banned in California.

He doesn't live in CA.

Didn't say he did. Just pointing out a fact. Germane; if something works very well, it will be banned in CA, which opts for environmentally and animal safe modified lemon juice, which doesn't work at all.

The bluing came out looking quite decent.

As for the stock, there's no way to sand or soak
that much shit off. besides that, there's other deep cracks where it has been broken.

I don't have any of those things. A gunny friend said to use alcohol. I've soaked it three times today for a few hours each time on the broken areas I want to glue up.

Am thinking IF the epoxy he suggested will bleed out of the cracks. Might be able to sand them flush. If so, then I could fill the other cracks. Then a sprayed texture paint might camo it good enough.

As it is now, it looks like junk. Though the metal now looks good enough to have a decent looking stock on it, will have to see.

Thanks much, appreciate the input.

George

Try sitting the stock in a protected area outside in the hot sun. I bet a lot of the oil will bleed out over a few days.

I told what to do; alcohol will not work. and neither will the sun. Not my first stock resurrection. Use TSP or Xylene and soak the entire stock for 30 minutes; I use a long plastic plant container to do it. Half measures will result in disappointment.

What dcpd said.
I've had to do it with several SxS shotgun stocks. Never tried TSP as I always used Acetone. Let it soak. Repeat if necessary. Use a good epoxy to glue it back and mix some epoxy with fine sawdust to fill any imperfections and sand smooth when dry. I have a Remington 33 that I refinished as well. Good luck.

I've done several shotgun butt stocks too.
I too have used acetone, completely submerging the stock. I've got an deep stainless steel steam table tray. Stocks have been in the acetone longer than 30 minutes. One in particular for several days then after changing the discolored acetone another day or so.
I let them hang for days after removal.

No one remembers good old resorcinol, sadly.

On really bad stocks I boil them in water with a little A&H Washing Soda. Pretty drastic treatment but it’s always worked for me. Once it dries you’ll have no trouble gluing it and refinishing.

Ok, Resorcinal glue is unsuitable for gun stock repair when you have large cracks to bridge and gaps to fill. It is also dark brown, which is usually not a good thing on a stock. It is best used on tightly fitting joints, which is why we have not used it in the many decades since we got epoxy. Boiled horse hide glue works too if you want to be authentic 19th century.
As for washing soda, it is sodium carbonate; it does work, but TSP (tri sodium phosphate) works much better. You don't have to boil it. Don't get it on your skin. The ENE solvents work the best, but are much more expensive when you need two or 3 gallons.

quote:

Originally posted by Toomany Tools:
On really bad stocks I boil them in water with a little A&H Washing Soda. Pretty drastic treatment but it’s always worked for me. Once it dries you’ll have no trouble gluing it and refinishing.

This works well, very well.

I'll be darned. I've set many military surplus rifle stocks in the sun. It's amazing how much oil came out of the wood. I guess it only works in New Mexico.

The sun will NOT pull out as much oil as TSP or solvents will. I've done that too and it's fine for wood that you aren't gluing back together. But I have not done it in NM, so it must be different there. For gluing, there must be NO oil left. None.

WOW, I opened the right can this time!

Thank you all.

After the alcohol treatments I set it in front of the fan all day to evaporate. Set in the sun a couple hours, then and wiped it with a white tee shirt and no stain came out on it. Called that good.

Used clear 5 minute JB weld epoxy. After setting at least 20 hours. I dropped it on the carpeted floor while stumbling around and it didn't break. Figure that's about as good as I can do with it.

Had some jars of wood filler. Used a chisel to press blade that into the holes, dents and cracks yesterday. Didn't even look at it today. Will when I get around to it again.

IF it stays like I hope it will. Then will start sanding on it. I may have a can of spackling type spray paint. IF not, will go buy a can. It's handy to have around.

The way this stock was broken it looks to me like someone fell on it. Not only broken in half thru the action, there was a big slab broken out on one side. Seems solid so I left it alone.

No matter how well it turns out, it's not going to be much more than a beater to use in town keeping the birds and squirrels alive a bit longer.

Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences. Lots of good ideas. None of which I have equipment for.

George

I should have said use Acraglas Gel; it comes with brown stain, and will fill cracks, gouges and missing wood.

My method is use lacquer thinner to soak oily stock in as a first treatment.

Instead of using a pan or tank big enough to submerge the entire stock and enough lac-thinner to cover it, I will often use double bagged ZipLoc Heavy Duty bags.
That way I can place the stock inside the bag(s) and then pour enough of the thinner in.
Loosly roll up the bag so the thinner completely covers the wood and let it set for a couple days.

The thinner will be dark brown after that.
Dump it and recharge with fresh stuff and go for another session.

When you pull the stock out the final time, the thinner will evaporate out of the wood in a few minutes. But leave it for 24hrs if you are going straight to finishing.

But here I start using Whiting Powder (Calcium Carbonate/chalk?). A slurry made with alcohol painted onto the surfaces and left to hang for a few days to a week at a time. Then it brushes off easily.
I sometimes have several stocks in rotation and plenty of other work to do, so it's not a case of waiting around for the whiting powder to do it's work. A few I have actually forgotten about and the coating left on the surface for a couple weeks and more.
No harm, just more time to pull oil out.
The brite white powder coating will turn yellow/brown as it slowly does it's work.

I apply more coatings till there is no oil being drawn from the wood.
Letting the stock set for a time after you think all the oil is out will tell you the truth.
If there is any still down in there,,it will come to the surface as small black dots through the wood pores.

It's a long process, yes. But to ensure the complete removal, that is what must be done before spending all the time and work on a piece that deserves it.

Oven cleaner (lye) will remove surface oil and that which is slightly below the surface of the wood. It turns the oil & grease to soap so water can easily clear it from the surface.
But the deep down oil is still there and has to be drawn off of the surface as it weeps out.

Once the process is completed the stock can be rinsed. Then I use a wood bleach soln to even up the wood color prior to sanding and staining.
Wood Bleach is Oxalic Acid. It's made for this (and a whole lot of other things).

Don't use laundry bleach though it will 'bleach' the wood surface. The Sodium Hypochlorite chemical in it is very aggressive in producing rust. Any left in the wood can easily rust metal that contacts it later on especially if humidity or excess water are an issue.

Just a note...important to neutralize oxalic acid before applying finish. Daly's has their own product, but I'd bet baking soda will also do the trick

Brownells sells some stuff that works real well, i restored a 375 H&H owned by a croc hunter. It was a white powder I buried the stock in it for a day or two..it took the oil out..Looked bleached..

Georgeld asked that I post some pics of my Remington 33 that I referenced earlier. I restored this thing 25 years ago. Would probably do some things differently now but I'm leaving it alone.

Mighty nice. Thank you.

George

quote:

Originally posted by Atkinson:
Brownells sells some stuff that works real well, i restored a 375 H&H owned by a croc hunter. It was a white powder I buried the stock in it for a day or two..it took the oil out..Looked bleached..

Whiting?

That sounds right, burried the stock in it for several days, ended up matching the old wood to a new blank and useing that stock for a pattern stock..I traded that gun to a fine gentleman on AR at the time for a double rifle in 450-400 as the gun was an original H&H junker so to speak..He then traded the gun to a friend and the last time I saw the gun it was being advertised for sale by W.R. in a new case and more money than my farm

Goerge. First thing comes to mind is Prepsol or similar to get the oil off of the gluing area. Been using it prior to auto painting for years. Titebond wood glue is my go-to for wood now.

I think I'd just use it for a pattern stock and build a new one to my liking...