Stock repair recommendations?

R

Roger S

Senior Member
Anybody have a recommendation or good experience with somebody who does stock repairs? Have a bcd no letter block I got at a show a few years ago. It was in a reproduction stock but they had the original numbered stock still. Sadly it is broken through at the wrist and is in two pieces. Getting it fixed someday was on the to do list. Would not normally mess with a stock but seeing as it is in two it can't be made any worse. Bummer is it is otherwise not in bad shape.
It is out of the repro and in a Walther stock now but would be nice to put it back. Cosmetic fix would be fine by me, I would never ever shoot a bcd anyway.

Any recommendations are welcome.
 
The wrist is a tough place for a break because the barrel and receiver can’t act as a splint to hold things together. A good wood glue will probably hold it, but for how long?
 
Like GunKraut said, Acraglas is the way to go but the wrist is a hard area to repair and have it be strong enough. It is always the weakest point in the stock.
 
Last edited:
There is a difference between repair and restoration.

Restoration is reassembling the pieces and patching it with matching wood such that any break is indiscernable. Hide glue is often used because it can be undone with a heat gun. It probably however would not be strong enough to use. Frank House and Hershel House do great work (but they work mostly on old flintlocks) as does Jack Brooks of Colorodo. Hershel restored Davy Crockett's first rifle that is displayed at the Eastern Tennesee Historical Society in Knoxville, TN. Hugh Toenes also does good work and I've seen a Revolutionary War era rifle that he reassembled from pieces. The owner wanted to take it shooting at which point Toenes told him to have a replica stock made (or better yet, a replica rifle based on the original).

Repair is where the broken object is fixed such that it can be used again (shot in this case). I would drill a hole through the wrist and insert a dowel rod and acraglass the two halves together. Looks like h*ll but strong enough to use. The hole would run from the bottom of where a grip cap would be towards the receiver. The smith would have to sink and acraglass the dowel in and then make a plug to hide the dowel.
 
Last edited:
There is a site called Stock Doc. You send it to them they fix it, send it back.
 
I'd recommend a fellow by the name of Paul Dees. He's repaired a few pieces for me, including a surplus FAL furniture set, and a Carcano handguard. He does good work, and his rates are quite reasonable. His email is yellowhand11a@gmail.com
 
Don't use wood glue.
Acraglas, as has been pointed out, is really the best, maybe the only choice.
Go look at some of Mark Novak's videos on YouTube. The one where he repairs an Arisaka duffel cut, and a Gewehr 91. And make one M1903 out of two.


You may not want to dive in and do this yourself, but at least you'll have an idea of how it can be done, and with what, with what expectation of results.

On the other hand, if you have a fairly well equipped shop, are reasonably handy, and this is a repro stock so not that big a deal if you ruin it, this may be a good place to start learning.
 
Gerst said:
There is a site called Stock Doc. You send it to them they fix it, send it back.
Click to expand...
If it is the guy in Wisconsin don't, he butchered what should have been a relatively straightforward duffle cut repair on a g43 stock of mine. I could have done 10 times better.
 
KSH67 said:
If it is the guy in Wisconsin don't, he butchered what should have been a relatively straightforward duffle cut repair on a g43 stock of mine. I could have done 10 times better.
Click to expand...
Oh the humanity. :(

I would buy a replica stock if it was going to the range. The original I would have "restored" (lotsa hide glue) and not repaired. The current thought among museum conservators is to arrest deterioration and to preserve it. It is thought that someday a superior methodology will be found so nothing permanent must be done. That's why hide glue is used (comes apart with heat).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top