doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com adding an extension ?

Hope I'm not asking for any trade secrets, but how does one hide the glue line when adding an extension ? When ever I do it, it always shows. Any help would be much appreciated. Paul

Either you live with it or have someone like Mark Larson faux grain it.
This is what I did when someone cut the stock to 12 1/2"

Travis Sims might comment

Lefever before



After

amazing!

I have been asking the same questions about wood extensions. It is hard to match the wood in the first place and the glue line is something I always thought we would have to live with but now I see there are "options".

I have been asking the same questions about wood extensions. It is hard to match the wood in the first place and the glue line is something I always thought we would have to live with but now I see there are "options".

We know that Mark Larson can paint them, but who can make the extension invisible? I understand Mark doesn't do that part.

No, that's exactly what Mark does do. He has an EE Lefever of mine right now that has a real poorly matched extension that I picked up pretty cheap. He says you won't see it when he is done.

Please review this

http://www.marklarsongunart.com/#!extension-blending-portfolio

since the link has a # sign in it, you will have to copy and paste to see

Mike

When it comes blending an extension and when it comes back from Mark Larson it looked wonderful, and still does.

However if it is a heavily used gun the epoxy coat will take its nicks and the line where the extension meets the buttstock it will become visable over time in the right light if you know it is there.

I see the use of an extension a good interim step on an otherwise unshootable gun. On a field grade gun whether blended or not it is an excellent long term option.

On a high grade gun it is an option that allows you to shoot the gun until you decide if you like it enough to restock it. Moreover given the waiting time for some craftsmen the extension is the only option until they can do the job. Further Mark Larson's blending wile not a permanent solution for a high grade gun is one I took and I am very happy with the result.

No one said what they do - but that's ok. I've used stain to try and hide it. I once looked at a gun that Brad Bachelder had put wood on the space right behind the receiver on each side on a box lock to hide the bolt going through. He did such a good job I couldn't see the glue line. I was amazed. I believe he once said he worked for "Grand Rapids Furniture " and that would explain a lot. Paul

One option that has not been mentioned in this thread is the Butt Transplant. If done nicely, most of the glue joint will end up in the bottom of a row of re-cut checkering, and thus should be all but invisible.

http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/16839920

This procedure is also covered pretty thoroughly in Shotgun Technicana. I'm thinking about trying this out on a VH Parker that I bought cheaply because of its' bad buttstock. It has about a 12" length of pull, however a Butt Transplant would only be for experimental purposes as it has also been pinned through the stock cheeks. Doing the Transplant would also give me a pattern stock with pull and drop dimensions of my liking.

If the head of your stock is sound and has good inletting, this might be something to consider versus adding an extension and doing grain painting which might eventually show being repaired.

So far, I do not believe anyone has made the seam absolutely invisible, but Mark Larson has come so close on guns of mine that I have to point out to people who are admiring the stocks that they include stock extensions! Here is a Lefever F grade stock followed by a B grade, both with extensions of about 1 1/2". The extensions were made by Dave Wills and Mark did the grain/figure matching to make the seam so close to invisible that most admiring observers will not see the seam.

I sure can't see the extension line in the 2 photos provided. How does the finish Mark uses compare to a typical English gun, oil finish? From what I've seen, I think Mark Larson does very nice work indeed!

Buzz,

Mark's website (Marklarsongunart.com) describes his finishes under FAQs. He uses a variety of finishes but an oil/urethane mix most often, which holds up but has the look of a traditional oil finish. I think he is constantly perfecting his own tricks of the trade for concealing or minimizing the visibility of the seam. Although Dave Wills in Montgomery, AL. made the extensions for me, on which Mark did his magic grain and figure blending, Mark's website indicates that he may now also be able to provide the wood extensions.

I needed to add an extension of about 2" to a Brno 22H stock. Did it a little bit differently but learned a lot. I cut the stock on a diagonal from the left side of the butt plate to the pistol grip on the right, just missing the cheek rest on top.

I then glued a nice piece of walnut onto the stock and shaped it.
Scratched the cut line runing with the grain and filled the scratches with brown epoxy. Smoothed this out, made finer scratches and filled with black epoxy, smoothed everything out and the line has disappeared

I think I'm ready to d a shotgun stock only adding nice wood to both sides.

I have a few pics. I can Email to anyone interested in seeing / posting here.

FWIW --- John

John, I'd like to see some photos of how you did the extension. Sounds interesting. I've done two butt transplants and that went well but I am always interested in other methods.

Ron
email: rfankhauser@citlink.net

John, I like your method of scratches and epoxy - next time I'll try it. Paul

John, that sounds like a very interesting technique. Would love to see pics sometime.

Thought you all might enjoy seeing some pics of a Fox C grade I just finished. It was a wreck, with a short stock, screw plugs and a grafted piece of walnut through the head, and a crack through the checkering. I added a 2" extension to a checkered butt, added 1/2" comb height so it fits him better, fixed the crack and covered the screw holes and graft, and recut the checkering fore and aft. It was a lot of work, but it turned out really nice, and my customer was ecstatic. He's local, so we're going to go shooting together in a week. I even fixed an ejector that wasn't working, so I feel good about it too.

Nicely done and a proper working tool

Mark, don't be telling people that you fix ejectors. What are you thinking?

Mark does do a great job, but my question is who is chopping all the stocks off? To me its as bad as cutting the barrels off. 20 years ago you didn't see this and now its everywhere. If you need a stock ext. go to Galco. If your going to shoot an old gun...shoot an old gun. If you want a modern gun shoot an RBL.