doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Appreciate some guidance

I recall hearing of a very clever technique that involved a light sanding the area (maybe with some sort of glue?), and using the sawdust from the sand to fill damaged area...does this ring any bells with woodworkers out there?

Sorry, guess I should have read the entire thread first, that sounds like what I had heard!

Doug

I have a suggestion from repairs I have made to chips and the like. I do not know what your gun looks lke exactly, but if it has a butt plate you can remove some wood from beneath it. Same for under the receiver, you can take some small shavings in areas that are not critical to bearing. This wood will provide the closest match you will find.

John Mann, Just for interest's sake....on our 'Site' under Historical Guns, Maharaja Duleep Singh, Purdey 12b Hammer gun. A Leather cover over 'Horse-Hair' Cheek-Piece. I have several others in my "Collection of Olde Stuff". Some have had Bits of Royal Bodies Pressed against them!!!I had a 10b Parker Bros.D/B years ago, that had a Leather covered Cheek Piece on the Right Side of the Stock'Was it Original Parker Installation?? cc

The most idiotic thing I've seen was a Parker that someone had won in a trap shoot, probably a piece in the DGJ. He asked for and was accomodated by Parker, in having the area where his cheek would rest, CHECKERED!
JL

Hi John,
Good to see you active on the bbs again.

On one of the other threads about bending stocks, Fred posted a link to a source of stock repairs. http://www.stockfixrs.com/

You might call these guys for a consultation.

Hi John,

Current or contemporary fine finish repairs are effected by an update of the old shellac stick technique. There are better materials available now, with much less brittleness and shrinkage characteristics.

The filler needs to be translucent because wood is translucent at a cellular dimension. It needs to flexible because wood changes dimension, however slighty, in response to relative humidity. The material needs to have application characteristics that do not mar the existing finish during the process. And lastly, it is quite useful if the material's color can be blended from existing samples, or dyed, or pigmented to inconspicuously match the base color of the exact figure around the holes [s].

The most common tool in the furniture repairman's kit until recently is the electrically heated 'knife', which allowed him to heat an updated 'laquer stick' of the right color, push the hole full of the material and level it off. A master repairman can do a very good, almost invisible job, indeed. However, a 'dub' can scar the stock and finish to the point of mucking it up for semi-refinish. There is no need to refinish the stock, of course.

More modern usage is from a German outfit that has a propane powered 'heat knife' at an exact temp, which uses a propriatary blend of stick, and it's own method of leveling and finishing. It is quite intriging, and if I weren't already relatively pleased with my current method, I would be happy to use it.

However, being pretty cheap and prone to 'do it myself', I make my own custom-colored wax sticks by melting hard, pelletized, high molecular weight waxes. Tinting them during the melt with pigments and dyes for the job to hand, works fine. Its application is also non-destructive to the surrounding materials. The process is pretty much a standard technique among the conservation 'Wooden Artifacts' crowd.

In all cases, the material used is at the mercy of the practitioner. In the case of gunstocks, it would be fine for the small repairs required in your case. For larger voids, especially where unprotected exposure to solvents in finish material may come into play, it wouldn't be suitable.

In the latter case, a two part resin, properly tinted to translucency and possibly bulked judiciously with micro-balloons, can do a very credible infill on wood defects and other larger cosmetic repairs. To obtain a proper surface texture, it may be necessary to replicate the surrounding wood pore pattern with a suitable tool.

A good repair person should be able to do your job in a short afternoon. The New England area is rife with under-employed furniture conservators. ;~`) Check the American Institute for Consevation's on-line listing. If you choose to go that route, give me an E-holla and we can discuss who would be suitable for you. Is Boston not too far to take the stock? If so, I have a specific person in mind, then.

Happy Hunting,

John

Hmmmm....can't seem to find the edit feature, so --

http://www.stockfixrs.com/

Thanks to Chuck for posting; these fellows appear to have the technique to do decent and appropriate repairs for 'guns already done wrong to" and which will be put to use once again.

They are certainly a lot more sensitive to the material than that certain other well-publicized 'master gunsmith'! ;~`)

At any rate, there are many approaches to a problem, but not always the same ends. For John's particular damage, it appears that a knowledgable minimalist approach would meet his specs.

Well how about on a Purdey muzzle loader? Found this on GB. Can't tell if the gun is even worth the trouble, but thought of John's dilemma.



I have no connection to this auction.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=63509926

Pete

I stand by my original post that you can't steam out holes from tacks. These cut the wood rather than just dent it. I'd forgotten about stick shellac until it was mentioned above. Skillfully applied a repair could be effected without disturbing the original surounding surface.
That picture posted above may be an original example of a butt pad but it's "Butt ugly" IMO!
Jim