Repairing a cracke forend

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
I acquired a nice original Winchester High Wall in .32-40. At the time, the rifle was so nice, my primary concern was the bore which looked great. Then, when I got the time to take a closer look, I found a small crack in the original forend. It was a Grrrrrrrr moment for sure. But I'm not one to cry over spilled milk and I've fixed wood boo-boos before. I glued the crack only to have it split open when I removed the clamp. There was over 100 years worth of oil in the wood and I was foolish to think that Titebond (which I've used to great success in the past) would stick. I cleaned the area with acetone, trying to not destroy the original finish. I thought I had it oil free and tried a JB Weld epoxy product that I've had great success with on ceramic repairs. It held for about a week. During that week I'd blended in the finish and was filling the slight valley left by the crack. The valley kept getting bigger. The epoxy was failing.

So, I reached out to our in-house expert on anything gun wood repair related, JW Fillipski. He said to use lacquer thinner and not to be shy with it. Then said that Acraglas was all he used to fix things like this. He then wished me luck and said he is glad it is not him who had to clean the old epoxy out of that crack.

Fortunately, the epoxy failure was 100% and with some dental tools and lacquer thinner, I was able to mine it all out of the crack. I flushed the area with lacquer thinner over and over. I packed whiting into the area and then injected lacquer thinner in thru the crack from the other side.

JW and I had a back and forth about Acraglass. I have West Systems epoxy here which is top shelf stuff. But all Jim could do was wish me luck. He ended that with "I've only been doing this for 50 years.". Okay... message received. Acraglas ordered from Brownells. It arrived today. So, here is a short pictorial blow by blow.

This is the forend crack after being thoroughly cleaned. 20230209_185753.jpg

There is no dent or gouge indicating that it cracked from an impact. My guess is the wood dried out and it simply split. It was much less noticeable before I cleaned out the area. Picture a blued barrel behind it and it is not something that jumps out at you.

This is the stuff that Jim recommended. Another friend of mine uses this to glue barrel liners in.

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It is mixed by volume, 4:1. They give you two small medical paper cups with measurements on them. I hate to waste stuff and I cut the minimum mix in half. They recommend 1 oz resin and 1/4 oz hardener. I did 1/2 and 1/8. The resin is crystal clear. Seeing the markings thru the cup is a challenge. Note that there is only 1/4 oz as the smallest graduation.20230216_153824.jpg

Included in the kit are two tube of dye, black and brown. 1 drop goes a long way. I used less than one drop. Instructions say to make it lighter than the wood. One drop made it almost the same as the wood. Too late. Live with it. Here is the mix. It's hard now. Needless to day, I did not use much for the crack.

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Here is the crack, clamped and awaiting the chemical gods to work their magic. I left it proud so I could work it down flush and not have to fill the crack. That valley left behind when I made my first attempts made me take this route. Jim suggested a piece of electrical tape and it would come out flush. But there is so little room to work that I went with too much so I could take it down later. 20230216_153845.jpg

Here is another view showing the little piece of wood I fit to the forend and then glued a riser so the clamp would grip at an angle to hold the crack closed. It's little tricks like this that you have to work out before you glue anything so the final product is what you want. I spent a good deal of time clamping the piece dry to see how the crack closed up. When you do it with your fingers, you are exerting force in mutiple directions which can give you a false sense of security that a clamp will do the same. IT WON'T!! It only puts force in one direction. So, you need to assure that the vector of that single force pushes things where you want them. I'm sure that Jim can speak volumes on this subject alone. By the way, there is Scotch tape between that wood spacer and the inside of the forend. Gluing the spacer to the forend would make for a bad day.

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The Acraglass is hard. I have a 100 watt bulb helping speed up the process. Should be ready for the clamp to come off tomorrow. I'll then trim down the excess and start the blending process for the finish. I plan to shoot this rifle in out VT match this weekend.

DAMN!!!! Hit SUBMIT and then noticed that I left the D off of CRACKED in the title. I can't seem to edit the title. Grrrrrrrrrr.....
 
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Ian

Notorious member
I was advised many moons ago to only repair gunstock wood with AcraGlas and have only deviated once, that was this past weekend when I used CA glue because I was in a hurry. AcraGlas is Nylon epoxy, the only one of its kind easily obtainable. It is really, really close to wood in the way it behaves so it stays put.

The only thing I would have done differently is ONLY use black tint with it. Grain is black, not brown, though most people make the mistake of trying to dye the epoxy the same general color as the wood. To hide a crack it is easiest to make it look like grain, so black hides better in most instances.

The gel stuff is good too, you can force it down into the crack with a popsicle stick. Best to do that from the back side and when you clamp it let the excess squeeze out and avoid the temptation to wipe it off. Wait until it dries and just break off the extruded excess. If you wipe it, now you have to get it all with a rag soaked in vinegar or your ruin the finish trying to shave, scrape, or sand it off later.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Here's how NOT to do a stock repair. A straight line at an angle will never hide. (Doh!) A fingernail-thick sliver cannot he clamped tightly, make it thick and chisel off the excess. Make a clamping jig if necessary to put the pressure in the right place to close the gap. I looked at some photos of Jim's excellent historical restorations to get an idea but didn't quite understand some of the fundamentals, it's not as easy as it looks! It's really difficult if you don't have access to the correct piece of wood, either. I had the right species and color but not the right grain.

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Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
Have no fear, Ian. This ain't my first rodeo. First ride with Acraglas.

I did a blonde wood Browning Light 12 Auto that had been dropped and the toe sheared off at the bottom buttplate screw. When they repaired it, it slipped. Left a gap along the bottom and a step at the butt. Made both disappear.
 

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
Here's how NOT to do a stock repair. A straight line at an angle will never hide. (Doh!) A fingernail-thick sliver cannot he clamped tightly, make it thick and chisel off the excess. Make a clamping jig if necessary to put the pressure in the right place to close the gap. I looked at some photos of Jim's excellent historical restorations to get an idea but didn't quite understand some of the fundamentals, it's not as easy as it looks! It's really difficult if you don't have access to the correct piece of wood, either. I had the right species and color but not the right grain.

View attachment 32593
Light wood is probably the hardest. Another quality of the wood is how it refracts light. I did a repair on my 52B that I was quite proud of. But if you turn the rifle the right way the color of the replacement wood get significantly lighter due to refraction. It's a shooter and only I see it. But it was an eye-opener.
 
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JWFilips

Well-Known Member
If One were to apply Black electrical Tape over the acca glassed crack before it is clamped That forces most of the overflow inside! Then clamped Very little sanding or filing of any clean up! Usually when I repair damage the tape makes the ooze flush with the stock. Old Kit Ravenshire trick! He was a master! I learned a lot
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
i probably wouldn't have clamped it.
just taped the outside to hold the glue in place, then filled the crack with the glass and a little piece of wood to fill it up from the inside.
clamping it just forces the spread out wood back under tension in the direction it doesn't want to go.
if i had to clamp it i'd back the crack side to side [across the crack] to make it stay where i put it.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I have a 12 string guitar with a cracked heel, the part of the neck that interfaces with the body and provides the strength to keep the neck in plane as the strings are tightened. I've been putting off repairing it as I couldn't find a glue I thought was truly strong enough and appropriate. DUH! Never gave Acraglass a thought!!! Thanks for the reminder there's something out there I've worked with a bunch that is perfect for the job!
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
...Old Kit Ravenshire trick! He was a master! I learned a lot

Wow! There's a big name from the past!

I like the idea of "engraving" grain lines. I learned this one on a white oak, Arts & Crafts-style desk I made with through-tenons and... polyurethane glue. Had to hide it at my folks' house so my daughter didn't see it before her birthday, so I did my glue-up, loaded it into the car and hauled it to their place to cure overnight. When I went to get it the next day, the glue had oozed out the pores and through the mortises and filled the open surface grain around the joinery - what a mess.

I spent a full day, plus in the shop, scratching polyurethane out of the open grain with a super-sharp, hardened awl. I wanted to set the blasted thing on fire, but I had so much work in it by the time I did my glue-up that there was no turning back. Aliphatic resins will NOT scratch out like poly or epoxy though - it's too resilient.
 

Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
i probably wouldn't have clamped it.
I thought about that point. There is very little force involved. Moving the wood back into place with my fingers took no effort to speak of.

Jim suggested I back the crack with a thin piece of linen. But there is really no room for it as the forend is tight to the barrel. I could have removed some wood to make room, but that area is so thin to begin with, I decided against it.
 
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Snakeoil

Well-Known Member
Forend spent the night baking under a 100 watt light bulb. Probably about 100F surface temp on the forend. Dressed down the excess Acraglas on the outside surface. There was a little oozing under the tap on the inside. But that was just a couple licks with a small file and done.

Here is the surface ready to blend in the color to the original Winchester finish on the rest of the forend.

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As JW can attest to, it's hard to get the camera to portray the colors as you see them with your eye. The last one above is just about how it looked after light sanding in prep for finishing. Those tiny white dots in the repair were bubbles in the Acraglas that trapped sawdust during sanding. They should disappear in the finishing process.

Here is the area after blending in the color.

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I baked the area under the light again while I did other things. Then I put the first rubbed on coat of Tru-Oil on to blend with the original finish. That is currently baking under the light and should be ready for another coat in a couple hours.
 

Gary

SE Kansas
Excellent repair SO; I'll file the Accra Glass tip in my must do category. Jim is a master artisan.