doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com What glue do you use?

I am refinishing my duck sxs. A field grade ejector LC Smith Long Range. The stock had a few cracks that need repair, but a lot of oil in the head. I know from pass experience most glues won't adhere with that condition. Somewhere I was told to try using degreaser to get out the oil. I have used it a limited amount before successfully.

This stock was really black so I soaked the entire stock in the degreaser. In a few days the stock was covered with a scum and the degreaser black. I then soaked the stock in acetone and it came out great.....except it shrank and the cracks opened wider

Here is the question. What glue do you guys use for this type of repair?

In the past I use a lot of acraglas for big gaps and plain epoxy for little gaps and for splits that I push back together the cyanoacrylate glues.

I have a friend who uses gorilla glue a lot. It made me think.....maybe I should soak the stock in water remove it and while it is wet, use gorilla glue with clamps. Would that put less stress on the joints that just gluing and clamping the wood while dry?

What do to guys think. Advice is appreciated

Jerry

Acraglas is made thin and thick. Use the thin as it will run anywhere and into the smallest cracks.

You can heat accraglass as well. Once warmed it has the viscosity of water. Elmers white glue is the best to hide repairs. Gorilla glue is highly visible, I would not use that stuff ion a gun period.

After soaking in acetone I soak in alcohol. If you have a lot of shrinkage it might be due to too much moisture being pulled out of the wood. Let it sit a few days and it should return to a more natural state by replacing the lost moisture in the wood from the high humidity in the air. I don't use urethane glues in any place that shows. As SKB notes it always shows. For repairs in hidden places it is fine. Acurglass works well in almost any repair.

The real issue to all repairs is prep work, good clamping and letting it fully cure. Do those things and almost any glue or adhesive will do the job. None like oil or even too much moisture. You can't over clamp it so all the glue is forced out.

One other overlooked thing is to figure out why the crack happened in the first place. Bad grain will not be fixed long term by any glue. (A knot is a knot). If a stock is poorly inlet glue won't make it suddenly stronger. Sometimes after the repair you will find a complete glass bedding is needed to make the stock right. Half effort repairs will rarely last and the first thing blamed will be the glue.

I use a bit of fiberglass cloth at the rear of the tangs, glass bed the entire action and of course fill the cracks with dyed epoxy. Epoxy ,just mixed, can be thinned with common isopropyl
alcohol. Add tiny amounts until you get the viscosity you need. It will harden on time and strength won't be bothered. I use it to wash off excess epoxy from the exterior of just repaired stocks.

bill

+1 on the avoid gorilla glue

Putting water on a stock for any reason should be avoided as well tho I understand that some strippers need a rinse. Like KYJon says the wood will return to its normal if just left alone for a while. Seems like glas cloth is a bit much and I'd think a PITA to use since acraglas has the chipped up stuff to mix in.

Bedding tangs is pretty much an SOP activity on every new stock for me.

JMO of course

CascoPHENE ! (NOT CascoMITE)
if structural, needs to be clamped good for 24 hours
if filling gaps, just trickle it in and clean.
colour is dark brown - fits most gun stock shades
never had a fail on structural repairs of broken stocks
Gunter (England)
NRA Life 1974

I don't think the polyurethane glues such as Gorilla Glue are highly visible in a joint. Actually, in my own tests, they do very well in a close fitted joint, even better than clear epoxy. But the foam-out into the surrounding wood shows up under the new finish unless you can scrape or sand away the foam-out mess. Used inside of a stock where the joint wouldn't be visible, they might do very well, but I would not use them on an exterior crack. The shelf life is horrible too, and I've thrown away much more than I've ever used.

I like Titebond II for the most invisible joint in wood that isn't oily. If your stock was heavily oiled and blackened, I really doubt if you got all of it out, and it will migrate back to the surface over time. For this reason, any glue repairs should be done fairly soon after de-oiling. The polyurethane glues are recommended for oily woods, but they are very messy to work with. Epoxy is also good if the surface is free of oil, with thicker epoxy such as Acraglas Gel being better for filling larger gaps or cracks that cannot be pulled completely closed. Of course, wetting the wood to pull the cracks closed will not work with epoxy. KY Jon is probably correct that normal atmospheric humidity will migrate back into the wood to close the cracks that opened due to excess drying from the solvent baths. But it will be a horse race, because oil deep within the wood will also be coming up to compromise the glue joint. Considering that the wood may be weakened due to the long term oiling, and the harsh organic solvents, you may be wise to strengthen the inletting and head by soaking it with a cyanoacrylate glue.

Thanks All Good advice... No one uses the cyanoacrylates?

Jerry

I use loctite 4011. My brother is in thebio medical industry and introduced me to it. He says it is used on parts in the human body and generally not bothered by contaminants (oil). It has done everything I asked without fail.