Wood Filler by the Germans??

[Bob in OHIO]

Bruce mentioned WF a few weeks ago on a byf41... Post #7

http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread.php?2627-byf41-early-a-block-flat-butt-non-slotted-front-sight

Do we know whether Germans really used this stuff

I have two candidates for consideration...

1) byf44 L block, C* lam stock, and apparent tear out at the bolt cut out.
2) Depot rework near the trigger guard, Walnut stock

 

[Hambone]

BiO. They surely did use it. Identifying German period filler from postwar is the trick. I think the rifles you depict here have original filler.

 

[Loewe]

I agree, they almost certainly used some sort of wood filler. In the Imperial era you see them use a type of resin, it is fairly common really and I have owned two rifles with it. It tends to be fragile, due to time, and not too stable. It cracks easily.

 

[Bob in OHIO]

Filler or Pith?

Thx Graf and Ham... interesting.

Now changing gears to long linear defects in the wood that Bruce referred to earlier on a byf41. I have a similiar defect coincidentally on a byf41. Both rifles have long and narrow defects... and in multiple locations. If you look closely at both rifle's defect, you can see there is some "anatomy" to the fill that to my eyes look like ray cells.

I am quite convinced this is pith, the center most portion of the tree that has less wood like properties. The pith, of course, is long and linear and runs the whole length of the tree and is in every branch in the center. This idea of pith is certainly consistent with the defect that is observed in both rifle stocks. I attribute the dark color to the way the pith took the stain.

Here's a link to Bruce's rifle... post #7. http://www.k98kforum.com/showthread....ed-front-sight

Interesting too how the defect on my rifle was E/655 inspected.

A sample of pith from a small oak branch is also shown.

 

[Loewe]

I am no wood connoisseur but the waffenamt next to the flaw seems to indicate it is a manufacturing defect (flaw observed at the time of manufacture and deemed acceptable) like the S&S/43 bridge flaws that are well documented.

JoeS wrote some comments on C/RC, and its equivalent in the Weimar-nazi era, and brought this up with this example (the S&S/43 bridge flaws).

Anyway, not sure about what it is in this case (pith or filler), but I agree that it is most likely something that was natural, and not filler to correct damage.

 

[31pickemup]

filler

Here's filler on a SWP45 SM rifle I just received. Stock has only some minor handling marks but it had a factory defect in the laminate that runs from the buttplate to the sling cut out.

 

[yellowkid]

I have dot 1944 KM rifles with original wood filler and also the full KM dou 45 pinstripe stock had what I believe was original filler.

 

[Hambone]

To presume that the Germans didn't use wood filler would require the presumption that their wood and stocks were flawless. We know that is not the case, so certainly they used it. The trick is IDing period materials and work vs. postwar.