doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Broken wrist of a nice L.C. Smith

I have a nice 85% to 90% L.C. Smith FW in 12ga. I bought the gun knowing that the wrist was broken. I would like to fix it in the near future and wondered what glue would be the best to use. I want to fix it where one won't see the glue lines. No, I don't plan on selling it after the repair. I would like to use a glue that will make the repair as strong as possible.

Regards
M.L.

I would think that acraglas sold by Brownells would be good. Although I've never made such a repair, I know that most who have a reputation for high quality work make sure that any oil that has soaked into the wood is completely removed before bonding and in most cases use dowels and/or metal reinforcing pins (and other shapes when needed) to add strength to the repair. Bill Frech

ML: you can see some examples of repair techniques here
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=17090409
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery.fcgi?p=999&gid=15127852
Unfortunately, it is very likely that your broken wrist is associated with cracks (as in many) extending into the head of the stock, and proper repair is a big task.
You might discuss things with Jim Greenwood in Augusta, Kansas
316-775-0161 http://www.greenwoodstocks.com
or Champlin Arms in Enid
http://www.champlinarms.com/Default.aspx?tabid=28
I'd be happy to provide some other names if you'd like to e-mail me at revdoc2@cox.net

ML, I made a similar post here this past winter as I have seen many hideous repairs over the years. I have been trying to satisfy my curiosity about the best and strongest glues recently. I planed some close grained and small pored black walnut and matched pairs of lighter and darker colored samples. I then glued them with Acraglas, DAP epoxy (slow set), Titebond II wood glue, Titebond Polyurethane glue, and a thin viscosity 1:1 boatbuilders epoxy. I took it a step further and put on a single coat of several common stock finishes to see if any was better or worse of concealing or accentuating the glue joints. My next step when I get some free time will be to clamp my pretty glued, sanded, and finished samples in a vise and smack 'em with a hammer to roughly guage the strength of the various glue joints. What I can tell you so far is that Titebond II is the least visible, closely followed by Acraglas, DAP, and Polyurethane in that order. The thin boatbuilder epoxy was worse, but it seems the closeness of the joint during preparation is the most important factor in getting a near invisible joint. The foam-out of the Polyurethane was messier and seemed to stain the wood a little deeper and took more sanding to clean up. The biggest surprise so far is the variation in appearance given by the various stock finishes. I plan to post my results in the future, but suffice to say that you can't just wet a piece of wood with water or alcohol and know exactly what the finished stock will look like. As the gunsmith in the first link provided by Revdocdrew pointed out, the darker finishes seem best at concealing the joint, but with a close fit and close match of grain and pore orientation, it can be near impossible to tell it was two pieces of wood. Hopefully, you have a nice clean break that fits back together well, with no missing pieces, and far enough back to avoid the inletting, and be concealed by the grip checkering. We should all be so lucky. And don't forget the re-bar.

It's ugly stuff, but, 3M 2216 Structural Adhesive has no peer for sticking one thing to another. My brother owns a Savage Fox that had a nice, clean, complete break off of a chunk of wood near the top of the action, and it has held for more than a decade. The only thing he shoots with that gun are 2 3/4 inch magnum Federal slugs. I also used it to glue the stock of the duckboat gun, (wood painted black, so I didn't give a rats behind about how it looked) which has clattered about in pickups, duckboat, and the hands of exited newbies to the game for just as long. No problems.

In both cases, after I clamped it, I wiped most of the evil grey colored glue that oozed out of the crack off with a single edge razor blade. After it dried, I refinished the stock. Invisible, to all but me.

You can't buy this stuff at the hardware store, or 7-eleven. The engineering data sheet that comes with it gives you info about sheer strength, flex at temperature extremes, resistance to hot salt spray, and any other tests the eggheads at 3M could come up with, which leaves most any other glue out of the running. Check with the local industrial jobber.

Best,
Ted

ML,
I fixed the stock of a friend's Parker using Titebond II. He had dropped it and it broke cleanly from the butt to almost the pistol grip. There was nothing to clean, clean break no oil, glued it, clamped it and put a new Parker replacement butt plate and refinished just that area. You would have to look very hard to see the glue line.
I have done a lot of woodworking and have used different types of wood glue. Have glued scrap pieces using either Elmers Wood Glue or Tite Bond II or III, and in purposely breaking wood have NEVER had one break on the glue line.
If it is broken like you said, you will have to make sure that there is no oil, either from gun oil, or oil from your hands. Clean with acetone. Dry fit pieces together and clamp to see how well it looks. If you can see a highly visible joint now, you will see it once it is glued.
Becasue the piece is irregular, clamping could be tricky, if you have any surgical tubing or wood clamps that clamp on an angle that will help you.
If joint looks good, don't remove any finish from wood, clamp and then wipe excess glue with damp cloth. If you had removed finish and then wiped excess glue it will seep into pores and fill wood and finish won't come out right.

Good luck and let us know how you make out.

I really appreciate all the replies to my post. Just wondered if anyone had ever tried the glue that kit built airplane builders use to put the wings together. I believe it is a two part glue. I had a good friend build a small bi-plane, the frame was wood and I never seen a better job of glueing wood together. If anyone has any thoughts of the subject, please reply.

Regards
M.L.

ML,
Still need to know if the wood is clean no matter what kind of glue you use.
Most models I believe are made of Balsa wood, very porus, and I'm sure there is a glue that doesn't add weight to the finished product.
All I can add is that what I have used from experience in furniture making and repair as a hobby and guns as a hobby with very good success in using the glues I mentioned.
If like I stated the wood doesn't "go together" dry fitted, it won't go together glued, then you will have to rely on a gap filling glue which is usually an epoxy, and most of which you will probably see a glue line?

I'm surprised crosschisels has not responded to this, or SDH or any stock maker, fixer.

Thanks of thinking of me, JDW, but I have very little experience repairing broken stocks.
That said, I am not as big a fan of epoxy, acraglass or super glue as some.
I prefer Titebond for installing ebony forend tips and othe major wood to wood adhesion. And Duco Cement for lesser stock repairs and checkering fixes. Either will take stain and will not show a shiny glue line.

I purchased Homeless jOe's 12 gauge T . Newton - and I have noticed that the Back Actioned Locks look Identicle to some Cogswell 7 Harrison Locks I have seen.