I have a crack in a walnut stock on the bottom of a 1903 springfield. What kind of glue should I use. The crack is thin but wide and hard to seperate enough to place anything in there. Would a syringe with white glue work?

I use a thin epoxy then heat it to make it thinner then use a syringe to work it in. If possible draw a vacuum on the other side. Anyway to put pressure in the action area to spread it?

Chic Worthing mentioned a great idea for getting the epoxy into the crack. He would spread the crack and cover with epoxy. Then he would use compressed air to force the epoxy into the crack.

Fairly low pressure is the trick.

Brownell's "Hot Stuff" works real well. It's a fast-flowing liquid that will get down into thin cracks. After applying it, if possible...wrap the cracked area TIGHTLY with several wraps of rubber tubing. Tie it off, and leave it overnight.

You can also thin the epoxy with lacquer thinner and then use the air to "inject" it.

My method is to spread a bead of Acra-Glas on the crack, then heat it with a hair dryer. The heat lowers the viscosity of the epoxy to about like water and it'll flow into the crack. Other epoxy may work too but I've never tried any other than Acra-Glas as I always have it on hand.

All of the above methods work. Another method is to drill a hole along the crack line from the inside of the stock. Put glue in the hole and use a dowel the same size to force the glue into the hole as a plunger. I make a dowel from a similar type of wood with great grain flow so it will plug the hole. Make sure the glue is thinned properly as to factory directions. Make sure the hole is full of glue as it will be forced into the crack by hydraulic pressure.

thanks guys, I got a syringe from a drugstore and it just barely fits with some effort truying to bend the stock. I think I'm going to use the syringe first, then use compressed air to get it as far in as possible.

The outside of the crack is feathered but still in tact and everything looks like it should fit back together perfectly.

I know that I only got one shot at this.

So the next question is, how to make sure that the thin feathered part of the crack remains where it should be once it is covered and pressure is applied with clamps

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how to make sure that the thin feathered part of the crack remains where it should be once it is covered and pressure is applied with clamps

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The compressed air works well. I just used it to fix a Anschutz thumbhole stock. Super glues for the small cracks and epoxy for the larger ones.

I have made similar repairs to M1903 stocks, usually on the top. The cracks are caused by the recoil of the receiver without the stock being properly relieved. What with all the replacement GI stocks put on M1903 rifles during rebuild, this is not uncommon.

The best product and the one I recommend is the aforementioned "Hot Stuff" from Brownell's. It comes in a small needle point bottle and the glue will "wick" into the crack, can be sanded and stained and becomes virtually invisible.

I began my US military firearm collection with the M1903 rifles and still have 10 variants of the rifle. I have restored and refinished the American Black Walnut stocks on many of them.

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Originally posted by thelongranger:
So the next question is, how to make sure that the thin feathered part of the crack remains where it should be once it is covered and pressure is applied with clamps

Rubber surgical tubing works well. Stretch the tubing as you wrap the stock. It should squeeze it together and epoxy doesn't stick to it.

thanks, I'll get some surgical tubing and do some practice runs before I finally give it a try. I keep hearin g about Hot Stuff. I think I'm going to give it a try. Thankyou

went with 2 pc epoxy. Successful . Thanks guys