Originally Posted by
Stretch32
Gents,
Thanks for all the replies and the suggestions, I really appreciate the help.
I saw on YouTube where guys were soaking the ends to be glued in a bucket of acetone to get as much grease and crud out as possible prior to gluing. They were using this method on newer hunting stocks so I'm not sure if it's a safe idea to try on a 70 year old USGI stock. Any thoughts or is there a better was to degrease the parts prior to gluing?
I was told and have read that gel Acra-glass (from Brownell's) was a good adhesive but I've never tried it. I've also heard, although I have no experience so please tighten me up if I'm wrong, that JB Weld isn't ideal for wood. I use it for all sorts of stuff and have had really good luck with it but I think it's too hard(?) and would crack after repeatedly being shocked from the rifle shooting. I've tried filling wood glues so far but those are the glues that are cracking after only a few rounds. I do need a glue that has some gap filing capabilities since the two halves to be glued, while fairly straight and even, are not perfectly smooth after 2 attempts at trying attach and then sanding the old glue off. I don't want to do too much more sanding since I'm concerned I'll shorten the pieces to an unacceptable length causing problems with over all stock length.
11mm, I was planning to build a bridge but wasn't sure how. The way you did yours was what I was thinking so I'll give that a try. Should I used one of the suggested woods or will a chunk of old walnut work? My concern, and I may be over thinking it from an engineering standpoint, is the walnut bridge would flex and give just like the original stock pieces would since it's the same material. If there were different types of wood used I thought it might not flex or give the same when the rifle was fired and lead to cracking or splitting. I already have holes drilled for dowels but was thinking of drilling them out and using brass all-thread this go round to go with the bridge.
As a note, I was going to pin the stock halves with 3 brass all-thread pins prior to gluing I together and building the bridge. Is this overkill or would it be a good idea? I was thinking the 3 pins would provide the added strength needed to prevent it from splitting apart later and would compliment the bridge between the 2 pieces.
Really sorry for all the dumb questions but I'm pretty inexperienced with the whole process (woodworking and rifles). If I'm out to lunch on anything please let me know and if you have any more suggestions or thoughts on my planned repair process I'm open to suggestions.
Thanks again,
Stretch