I am finishing a Claro stock for a friend and have run into a small check in the wood. It's not really a crack, but it will not not disappear no matter how much finish I sand into it, still appears as crack in the surface of the finish. I suppose it could be veed out and filled with colored AccraGlas, but that would not look that great. Any suggestions on how to deal with this would be appreciated.

Try wet sanding a slurry on the top of the stock and wipe it into the check, Rub it in, attempting to get the slurry deep into the void. Then let it dry for a week and wet sand back flush. You may need to wet sand a bit more with ever smaller grits to get a uniform texture.

for small check cracks, I fill them with cyanocryolate (superglue), in the thin formulation. But you may be past that point now. I do it before any finish is applied.

Brent

In my experience, slurry takes too long and superglue or epoxy will show shiny when done. I mix very fine sanding dust with Duco Cement which is a rubber based contact cement. Pack it in, leave a bit above the crack and let it dry completely. Sand as normal. It will not show a shiny spot and will take stain. I use the same for repairing checkering.

Thanks for the great tip, Mr. Hughes.

Steve, are you in such a big hurry to have it done that you can discount that method? It works fine and does not leave a shine and I have never had it fail. If you do it as an initial part of the original finish you don't have to "repair" it later.

EZ Chic.
I said epoxy will leave a shiny spot. I do all these repairs long before I start finishing. Gives it a bit of time to settle in if it's going to. Duco is great stuff, give it a try.
As for being in a hurry, for this nitpicky stuff, yes I don't waste any time.
As for inletting a barreled action, every time I read you saying it only takes a few hours after machining, I always want to ask you, "what's your hurry, this is the stuff that really matters?"
I'll take most of a day to inlett a machined High Wall buttstock, much longer to head-up a sidelock. And I get them machined by the best in the business. I consider this to be one of the very most critical operations in making a quality custom gun.
I'm a very fast worker, but I don't hurry when it counts. I got fast by paying attention to tips and processes given to me by more experienced craftsman over the past 27 years of fulltime gunmaking.

SDH

Who is the "best" in the business in your opinion when it comes to machining blanks. Is the best done by a Hoenig Rodman machine, or have you had experience that other machines are capable of providing best quality work.

Blue

Steve, I was not talking about epoxy, I would not use it myself. It was obvious from my comment that I was talking about a slurry. It is not a time consuming task and from my experience gives me the best finishing base.



The duco cement that I am familiar with has been around for ages and is a model cement and is not a rubber cement formulation. If you are talking about a specific formulation of that brand then I am unfamiliar with it. I am very happy to try anything and will try that. Not because of your 27 years of gunsmithing, but because it may have some good use. There is a lot of advice and comments on here that are worthwhile that come from neophites in the trade and you will do well to at least consider them. I gained a vast part of my experience at the side of Ray Price and Maurice Ottmar. I have also learned a great deal from gems gleaned from rookies. The important thing is to keep an open mind and not try to weigh the experience o f the person and whether his advice is worthy of your efforts. I am also going to give the super glue a try, it is amazing stuff and woodcraft sells it in quantities so that it does not cost an arm and a leg.



When I spoke of taking two hours to inlet a bolt rifle that is taking my time and doing an excellent job and you have to know that you were taking the quote out of context for whatever purpose. My statement was made relative to the best inletting on the best machines versus having it done as a 95% and saving $150 and then having to spend 20 hours getting it to the place whre on a superior machine, I can do it in 2. Inletting IS a very critical part of the job, whether it be a sidelock or a bolt gun or a single shot, we certainly agree on that. I would imagine that we would also agree that a sidelock it is not a 2 hour job, far from it but that was not what I was talking about. And it has little to do with the discussion on the table, that was about filling checks. I go fast when the step will allow it and I take my time where the work demands it.

Gene Simillion (970-641-1126) in Gunnison, CO does most of my machining and uses a Hoenig machine.
This, Chic, is the third or fourth time I've read that statement from you and I still can't imagaine completely inletting a bolt action brld action in two hours no matter how much was done by machine? Sorry, I guess it's been a long time since I've done one, or they are a lot easier to inlet than anything I work on.
I knew Maurice as well as anyone in the trade did. He would have laughted out loud about guys getting their feathers ruffled over such nonsence.

Steve,



You are glamorizing your position to think that your comments can "ruffle my feathers". I have seen Ray Price do a highwall that he duplicated on his Hoenig and it did not take a great deal more, far from all day. It is in the quality of the pattern, but I will certainly not even try to educate you as I do not have the years of wisdom that would qualify me.



You did not know Maurice as well as you thought. I do remember him gettin a big laugh out of an "invitation" to an open house to a shop opening.

""OUCH"""

The reason I enjoyed Ottmar so much was that he laughed about a lot of things.



You did not know Maurice as well as you thought. I do remember him gettin a big laugh out of an "invitation" to an open house to a shop opening.

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That was a petty thing to say.

To all interested in custom gunmaking, please read my post on the Gunsmiths Excise Tax issue. This is the kind of thing I spend much of my online time doing.