Cyrano4747
Well-known member
Frankly if you're in this to the tune of $1k already I'd either cut my losses and sell the project on or try a repair with the understanding that it might not hold. At that point I'd be tempted to go a little nuclear and de-grease the whole area like a madman then try to shore up the whole area with acraglass or something similar. But if you're not wanting to cut on wood that's not going to be an option for you, and if you're unsure of your abilities to handle it it's something that could make the situation worse.
At this point your first thought of degrease the whole thing and epoxy like mad might not be the worst, but if you're not willing to drill and put some supporting dowels in I wouldn't put high odds on it holding.
If it were mine I'd do something similar to what Honkey Tonk described above - bleed the cosmo out with a heat gun as much as possible, then hit the whole area with a ton of acetone. I'd probably go that over denatured alcohol just because it evaporates more readily. Then I'd get a syringe and some quality wood glue, fill the syringe, and squirt it as deep into the cracks as I could. Then I'd use a hammer and dowel to tap the broken piece of wood forward. Let that dry. If that's as far as you're comfortable going I'd stop there, but understand that it might not hold long term. Keep an eye on that area to check for the cracks reappearing.
If it was my gun (and keep in mind I'm far from a shop wizard, I'm just a well meaning idiot - so none of this is crazy on required skill or equipment) then I'd probably top it off by drilling a hole through the stock sideways (so left to right if you're looking at it from above, parallel to the recoil lug), get a hardwood dowel the same size as the hole, coat it with wood glue and tap it into the hole I just drilled. Basically creating a backstop to the recoil lug to help shore up the prior repair. Wait for that to dry, trim the dowel to be flush with the stock. If you do it carefully enough with a very sharp knife and maybe a piece of sand paper folded over something very thin like shim stock (using the thin side to remove tiny bits of dowel) you might not mark the stock around it. It would be visible, but not awful looking. Let that dry.
After that if I was really ambitious I'd fill the setback area inside the lug cutout with acraglass or something similar, put some release agent on the lug, and screw it back together. Basically bedding the lug. Pretty sure I read that tip here - I think from Herk. That's a bit touchier because if you don't use enough release agent the lug is in there forever, and if you screwed up placing it you've got a fused together mess.
At this point your first thought of degrease the whole thing and epoxy like mad might not be the worst, but if you're not willing to drill and put some supporting dowels in I wouldn't put high odds on it holding.
If it were mine I'd do something similar to what Honkey Tonk described above - bleed the cosmo out with a heat gun as much as possible, then hit the whole area with a ton of acetone. I'd probably go that over denatured alcohol just because it evaporates more readily. Then I'd get a syringe and some quality wood glue, fill the syringe, and squirt it as deep into the cracks as I could. Then I'd use a hammer and dowel to tap the broken piece of wood forward. Let that dry. If that's as far as you're comfortable going I'd stop there, but understand that it might not hold long term. Keep an eye on that area to check for the cracks reappearing.
If it was my gun (and keep in mind I'm far from a shop wizard, I'm just a well meaning idiot - so none of this is crazy on required skill or equipment) then I'd probably top it off by drilling a hole through the stock sideways (so left to right if you're looking at it from above, parallel to the recoil lug), get a hardwood dowel the same size as the hole, coat it with wood glue and tap it into the hole I just drilled. Basically creating a backstop to the recoil lug to help shore up the prior repair. Wait for that to dry, trim the dowel to be flush with the stock. If you do it carefully enough with a very sharp knife and maybe a piece of sand paper folded over something very thin like shim stock (using the thin side to remove tiny bits of dowel) you might not mark the stock around it. It would be visible, but not awful looking. Let that dry.
After that if I was really ambitious I'd fill the setback area inside the lug cutout with acraglass or something similar, put some release agent on the lug, and screw it back together. Basically bedding the lug. Pretty sure I read that tip here - I think from Herk. That's a bit touchier because if you don't use enough release agent the lug is in there forever, and if you screwed up placing it you've got a fused together mess.
