I have an O/U shotgun, with 2 cracks in the wrist. No wood is missing, and the cracks are NOT completely through the wood. They look to be shallow, but I am concerned. Is there a way I can "stabilize" these by myself??...or should I send the stock to an expert?? ....if to an expert, please suggest one or 2.
THANKS!!
Alex

You did not mention the type of shotgun. However, if it is a high-end value shotgun I would send it to Todd Ramirez at Customgun.com

It is a Breda with engraved sidelocks....really pretty, but not a high-end gun.

Here's some interesting stock repairs. Seems appropriate for this thread.
The guy does excellent work.


http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?&p=999&uid=651...852&&imgid=229656429

Don

Nice post, Don-

Is this the same shotgun that was featured in the Winter editon of "Gunmaker"?

flaco

go to www.lcsmith.org
It is the LC Smith Collectors assoc. Click on the "Photo Trail" link on the left side. Scroll down to "General Interest" and click on "Repairs and Restorations". In there you will see some of the most unbelieveable, and I mean unbelieveable, wrist repairs I have ever seen. Even if you don't contact the folks, it is entertaining to see the magic they have performed. Stocks that were absolutely disintegrated were reassembled and you can barely tell a repair was done! Worth a look. I think DMB two posts prior to mine has the same idea.

Thanks very much, gentlemen.

quote:

Originally posted by conifer:
I have an O/U shotgun, with 2 cracks in the wrist. No wood is missing, and the cracks are NOT completely through the wood. They look to be shallow, but I am concerned. Is there a way I can "stabilize" these by myself??...or should I send the stock to an expert?? ....if to an expert, please suggest one or 2.
THANKS!!
Alex

You can probably repair it yourself. On those, I take good epoxy (not the junk at walmart) and heat it to @ 150 deg where it becomes about water thin. With the stock off and the cracks forced apart with some sort of wedge (you can use a thin drywall screw) inject the epoxy into the cracks until it comes out at the bottom. then remove the wedges & clamp or use rubber bands to hold the cracks together. Wipe off the excess while it's fresh. Don't use thinned epoxy as it is much weaker.
A couple years ago, a customer brought in a weatherby MkV(270 WM) that his dumb brother-in-law tried to shoot 270 win in. The stock exploded through the magazine area & was in 5 pieces. I made a jig & epoxied it back together and, while you can find the lines, it is holding up fine.
Sometimes older cracks have oil in them which makes it hard to repair without removing the oil. I use brake cleaner for that which usually works.

brayhaven,

Good point about doing it yourself.
I cracked the wrist on a rifle stock that has beautiful wood. I did the repair myself by drilling holes in both directions, and installed a hardwood dowel with epoxy to put the thing back together.
This is easier said than done as it took lots of time to get it aligned properly and held till the epoxy cured. But, the stock looks very good after the fix, and you have to look real close to see a small line where the joint is located.
It is the only stock I ever built initially from a blank a guy gave me.

Don

pretty much what brayhaven says, but take a air compressor and blow the epoxy into the crack, that way it will get to the bottom, and then when done wipe the surface clean with a rag soaked in vinegar, which will cut the epoxy