I explained the stock was riddled with fractures on the other thread, but I never uploaded photos of the damage. Here is what improper drying technique looks like....
Money's very tight right now. She will have to wait to claim custom status for a while.
Sir:
If your wood has drying cracks in it if it was me I'd try Brownells Acra-glass! You could still inlet and shape and you could match the glass to the grain! I'd try it - it would be as strong as new.
Harry B.
Thanks for the suggestion Harry. The cracks are larger and deeper than appear on photography. It may be salvageable, but I'm afraid any acraglass or epoxy would be so smooth in color next to the burl eyes and swirls that it would be obvious it's a second (or third) quality reject. The forearm will be mannlicher style. I think acraglass might seal it and remove any stability issues, but I'm not sure when I think about 20 inches of barrel I will cover.
Here is the gun I am trying to put new britches on. Ruger has really started to pick the dregs for their once top flight rifle.
Fish: Harry is 100% right as for the cracks and the colored epoxy. As i was cutting mine to a (close to) finial shape i ran into a couple of caverns also, hell that burl. I stopped and filled em in and let hardened up and then made other cuts, and as the blank got closer to finial size i actually got to wood that wasnt a problem. It is not concidered bad practis to fill in burl with epoxy, in fact most will have an issue here and there, its common in that type of wood! I would use the epoxy that has a more liquid type texture to it and let it run as deep as it can, means you have to stand over it and watch the air bubbles come up and add more until it wont take anymore or it flashes over on ya! Unless the wood has a lot of warpage or shrunken spots in it, from the pictures i cant see that there is any of that going on, it may be alright? In the buttstock i have one spot that has a pin hole that may need filled, i'll fill it first and may lose it anyway in the final shaping of the stock! (it's to size, but still in block form) I dont think an outside vender would spend the time to do this without $, but you may be able to do the outside, and still end up with a fair peice with minor filling latter. A good stockmaker should be able to work around some of it anyway. If its a fair size chunk to begin with, what is on the outside may not be on the inside, dont know untill you look. After all it is mother nature and yes she can be fooled!
How thick is it, thoes look more like bark inclusions then it does anything else?
Did you see how that so called expert (on other forum) had an opion on everything that came up, thats as expert for ya!
It's about 4 1/2 inches at it's thinnest. It's not bark inclusions. You can see the stress on the wood fiber in person.
I have always planned on sealing it with epoxy. Oil finish looks nice, but I don't want to have to baby it in the field. I think I can get the oil look with a rotten stone. Maybe I will still send it into GAGS. I'm not in a hurry. I'll probably hunt with it in it's factory stick this year and hopefully get 'er dressed next year.
I refinished my Win 94 with superglue. It took FOREVER. It look great though. I'll have to get a photo up some day.
4 1/2" THICK, good greif man you got alot to work with, most blanks are only 2 1/2 thick! Take it to someone with a band saw and lightly cut some of it and see what you get! Worth a try.
I'd very much like to see a super glue finish gunstock. Got any brain cells left! LOL...
I read an article about finishing a stock in superglue by a fella named Sitka Deer on another forum (I believe you might know who he is). My father-in-law had just given my this beat up 30/30 with latex paint on the stock. I figured I couldn't do any worse.
I have enough brain cells left to cover the vital functions. Not much more sadly.
I have yet to foul the barrel. I have been traveling for 2 weeks straight since a coworker was in a car accident (he is OK, but without transportation). I'm not complaining. I should get my check next Friday and then I move to a new job. I will not be traveling (except in town). My range time should be restored to former status of infrequent instead of nonexistant. Wife is working weekends and I can't cart the 1 year old to the range. Life is good even if I have trouble getting to the range.