doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Best Glue for Stock Repairs??

I'm looking for opinions based on actual results from people who do restoration/repair work. I'm looking for the best glue for stock repair that will give a strong and near invisible joint after sanding and finishing. Today I cut and planed some strips of light and dark Black Walnut and glued up samples with Acraglas epoxy and Titebond type II. I wanted to try polyurethane (Gorilla Glue) but my bottle jelled up. Has anyone tried the polyurethanes for gunstock repair? I will sand and apply some finishes to my samples and try to break them apart. I'll post my results here in the near future but I'd like to hear about others' results. Thanks, Keith

Acraglas, with some walnut dust added, and some powdered dye to suit, has always worked wonders for me. IMHO it ends up being stronger than the wood if done carefully. For hairline cracks, the least viscous of the three cyanoacrylate glues sold by Satellite City is very good, wicking right into the cracks through capillary action because of its water-like consistency.

Google "zapca" and you should find a glue that is very strong. Supposedly, according to some friends that have used it, it shows no glue line and the joint is tougher than the wood. It is a super glue of sorts.

I use three glues for repairs, and they have already been listed by the previous two posters. AcraGlass, thin-viscosity cyanoacrylate (CA) and medium-viscosity CA. "Satellite City" and "Zap" are two different brands of the same thing - cyanoacrylate glues from the R/C aircraft hobby trade. The thin stuff wicks into all those hairline cracks and stabilizes them, and also toughens "punky" wood by soaking into the grain and setting hard. I wick/soak it over the entire inletting to toughen the wood and oil-proof it. It can also be used to toughen up punky wood that wants to tear when checkering. The medium-viscosity is better when replacing a broken piece of inletting, etc., and structural repairs with a reasonably good fit that can be set instantly without the need for repositioning. The AcraGlass is for major structural repairs (like a broken wrist) where both sides of the joint are easily accessible and can be thoroughly coated without difficulty, and when a long set-time is desirable for positioning. Also use it to fill minor gaps where wood is missing in inletting, and for bedding the action to the stock for helping to prevent future cracks by providing an evenly distributed bearing surface for recoil and eliminating stress risers. All adhesives still require that you remove as much oil as possible from the wood before repairs. That said, these three seem to be fairly tolerant when you can't seem to get that last little bit of oil to come out.

Ron, would the thinnest of the three be absorbed into a crack thinner than hairline, visible in good light, through checkering on one side of the wrist?

Keith
I carefully spread the crack as far as I can, then prop it open by shoving in a toothpick. Next I take slow-setting epoxy (1 hour set time) and, using a disposable glue syringe, inject epoxy as deep into the crack as I can, next I use compressed air to blow the epoxy further down into the crack. I repeat this process several times. Finally, I pull out the toothpick(s), wipe off the excess epoxy that squeezes from the crack, wrap the stock with rubber bands or rubber tubing and let the epoxy set up over night. If I can conceal it, after gluing, I will often drill a small hole, wipe in epoxy and screw a long fine-threaded stainless steel screw (one diameter larger then the hole) into the hole. I pre-measure the length of screw needed, then notch the screw with a file so that I can break it off below the level of the wood after its set in place).
steve

I have been using German MIXOL tints to color my epoxy. It is the very best dye I have ever used for coloring epoxy. I buy it at Woodcraft and I think a bottle will last a lifetime but you will need several to get the best match.
bill

On these posts I always add the following to the above good info.
1--If you tint the glue, tint it lighter than the stock. I have even used food coloring to tint epoxy, mixing the primary colors.

2--Always put a thin wax coating on the finished surfaces around the crack before gluing. This helps in not letting the excess glue adhere to the finish.

Thanks to all for the info. I have not used the CA glues on wood but will try them. I am most interested in the comments about invisible joints. I know CA glue is strongest in tension and relatively weak in shear on non-porous materials, so I wonder how it will hold up on splits at stock heads. I assume the dyes and walnut dust are mixed with epoxy where pieces or patches don't fit perfectly. I say this because it seems glue repairs are almost invariably visible because they are darker than surrounding wood. I also wonder if the glue joints tend to darken with age under the finish. My test samples with undyed epoxy and Titebond II are now virtually invisible, but I will apply several common stock finishes to see how that holds. And I'd still like to hear from anyone who has used the Polyurethane glues on walnut, so keep those cards and letters coming. Final test bed will be an Ithaca I bought with the intention of restocking. It has a broken piece at toe, and pieces split off and missing on both sides of top tang. I'm thinking it would be preferable to have original wood if it can be done nicely. This gun had a boars tooth screwed to the stock to cover the larger of the missing tang pieces. I told the seller it's not often we see a Flues with ivory inlays. Talk about your upgrades...

The only time I would use poly is when you must work with oily wood.
bill