New Curley Maple stock having shallow cracks - What to do?

[Brokenbear]

Place the stock in a climate controlled area
Take off the butt plate and seal the end grain with TruOil or latex paint
Place a fan on it to blow down the stock for about a week
Measure your moisture content BEFORE your do anything
You have to get wood to no more than 8% moisture content then seal it with finishing
Unless the crack is structural no holes, pins or epoxies please
Once dry make some fine sawdust from your stock scraps and then start packing the saw dust into your fissure rubbing dust perpendicular to the fissure with your thumb
Continue to add dust until it will take no more into the fissure
With 220 sandpaper in hand run a bead of super glue along in the fissure rewetting it until the last pass stays slightly moist
Sand with the grain lightly to ensure finger pressure through the sandpaper does not “dip out” the fissure .. change often the sandpaper contact area as it will fill quickly
Sand until you have the wood along the fissure dry looking (keep changing sandpaper contact points to achieve drawing in dry surrounding wood to decorate the fissure) and the ONLY very small damp line of the fissure is showing .. the sanding phase once the super glue is applied )should take less than a couple of minutes
Depending where your stock is currently finish wise refinish to match

Moisture tester Harbor Freight $20

Original Super Glue red cap yellow
label/packaging 2 to a pack from Dollar Tree

Only you and the Shadow will ever know there was a fissure

Bear

 

[Terrier]

Famowood wood filler seems to work pretty well, and takes stain well.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I fil a lot of cracks in bow wood, thins superglue works for me, I fill the crack, tapping the wood as do to get the air bubbles out as I do. Superglue hardens the wood and turns it into concrete, properly filled the wood won't crack anymore. You will have a black line with a superglue filled crack, this is better this having crack. I have repaired hundreds of drying cracks in wood.

SMR crack repair, 3" long, it starts above the pin and angles down to the left. I got the kit second hand, the previous owner apparently tried to grab the barrel in one hand and the forestock in the other and yank the barrel out of the inlet cracking the forestock, the barrel fit was exceptionally tight. It took me about 5 minutes of inverted buttstock tapping to get it to release from the stock.

Bow wood cracks in a shooting bow, properly filled they are never a problem.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Eric has the correct answer here. Don't be fooling around with saw dust and colored glue.

 

[Brokenbear]

Eric has the correct answer here. Don't be fooling around with saw dust and colored glue.

I agree Eric's fix has strength and I agree there is not in this universe a man made product that will take stain, dye, color,, tinting etc. etc. like the actual wood itself ..
Sir I respectfully suggest that before poo pooing sanding into the final layer before the superglue kicks a layer of the surrounding wood dust seriously diminishes the "black line effect" shown in the above cracked bow repair picture
The discussion is not just about an effective repair for strength which I agree the bow repair is.. but the man has a priceless piece of wood whose appearance is at risk if the repair is not blended to it's surrounding ..
I am a professional grip carver and have shipped over 10,000 pairs of hand made grips world wide working with exotic burls and such from every corner of this planet..I have tried every idea imaginable and have determined that surrounding wood dust incorporated into the fissure to be currently the best and am just trying to share what I have proven to work many many times...
I read these post constantly looking to learn better ways ..and try some out when they sound feasible ..most fail because of lack of surrounding blend ..others are strength failures, cost of material or time consumption (labor intensive) are other causes
For you guys doing kits ..borrow or buy a moisture meter and get the wood to 8% then go to work
..if you have to dry wood seal the end grains and put a fan on the wood in a humidity controlled environment (AC/Heat)

Bear

 

[45man]

I would just wait too. It is not that bad. I color Accra glass to match and fill with my fingers. All my cracks vanish with finish.

 

[Billy Boy]

I purchased a Curley Maple stock from a main supplier of wood everyone said to use. He told me he had a really good hard maple stock with good curl that was really old. I got the stock and it seemed a little heavy, but he told me it was a really old hard stock. The stock looked good so I proceeded to shape the wood blank. I got to the finish work and I noticed a hairline crack in the butt plate in two different places. both were an inch long and not very detectable. I drilled 1/16" holes and filled with Triu-bond and a hypodermic needle. That process didn't even slow the one crack. It is now 2 1/2" long, but it doesn't not seem to go really deep. After many, many hours of work it looks terrible. I am not going to mention who the supplier is -Yet, but plan on hearing their response. Aggravating to say the least! I am sure they sent me green wood.

Responses would be appreciated on what to do about the supplier, but mainly how to disguise the crack and any other information I can get.

Wood or metal, you have to drill a crack at the head to stop it

I purchased a Curley Maple stock from a main supplier of wood everyone said to use. He told me he had a really good hard maple stock with good curl that was really old. I got the stock and it seemed a little heavy, but he told me it was a really old hard stock. The stock looked good so I proceeded to shape the wood blank. I got to the finish work and I noticed a hairline crack in the butt plate in two different places. both were an inch long and not very detectable. I drilled 1/16" holes and filled with Triu-bond and a hypodermic needle. That process didn't even slow the one crack. It is now 2 1/2" long, but it doesn't not seem to go really deep. After many, many hours of work it looks terrible. I am not going to mention who the supplier is -Yet, but plan on hearing their response. Aggravating to say the least! I am sure they sent me green wood.

Responses would be appreciated on what to do about the supplier, but mainly how to disguise the crack and any other information I can get.

For me Iv’e always had to drill a hole (smallest possible) at the head of the crack to stop it - metal or wood. Putting’fill’ in it
can act as a wedge. This is a 110 yr old Rem pump

 

[bud in pa]

I drilled a hole in the end of a crack , epoxied it in the hole on my grandfather's 1929 Ithica 12 ga. double about 60 years ago. My son still uses it. The crack is in the wrist. Can't imagine how many times it has been shot, and it is still solid.

 

[Frontstuffer3491]

I didn't weight it four months ago, but it was way heavier than any other blank I have finished which have been quite a few. Now the gun is nearly finished and the cracked is showing up. I can almost guarantee it was green just because of the excessive weight. I was told a green blanks will dry 1" per year and I was told this was a very old piece of wood by the supplier. There were no cracks when I started and these seem like a surface crack maybe 1/8" deep is my guess. The crack is now very noticeable and at least to me looks like a drying crack.

When I first noticed the crack I tried to stop it from the butt plate, but it didn't work.

A question - is the prevalent humidity in the suppliers area higher than the humidity in your area? If so it’s possible that drying would be from a change in local humidity.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

Oh good golly . I've been making a living doing this for over 40 years. I wouldn't pay attention to anything I say.

 

[Relic shooter]

Wood or metal, you have to drill a crack at the head to stop it

For me Iv’e always had to drill a hole (smallest possible) at the head of the crack to stop it - metal or wood. Putting’fill’ in it
can act as a wedge. This is a 110 yr old Rem pumpView attachment 222216

Before I became a relic I had to drill numerous unsightly holes in my aircraft to stop vibration cracks in the cowlings.
Always found that wood cracks on fine antique firearms could be repaired

Wood or metal, you have to drill a crack at the head to stop it

For me Iv’e always had to drill a hole (smallest possible) at the head of the crack to stop it - metal or wood. Putting’fill’ in it
can act as a wedge. This is a 110 yr old Rem pumpView attachment 222216

Stop drilling cracks in metal cowlings of my aircraft then covering the unsightly hole with a rivet & touchup paint was always a great fix. Some of my old bird beaks looked like they had acne.

As Eric states, the narrow wood cracks I've had to repair on fine antique firearms with wood dust & thin liquid epoxy has always made invisible repairs that would hold up to shooting.

On utube I'm seeing folks repairing 'large cracks' & even places where slivers of wood is missing by using masking tape to create dams & filling the voids with a mixture of 'baking soda' & sawdust before adding an extra thin liquid epoxy similar to what I use called Stick Fast Instant CA Adhesive. Very deep cracks or voids it might require 2 or more applications
I've also had good luck using epoxy tints with some slower acting epoxies to acquire good wood color matches.
Using baking soda is a new twist to this relic.
Relic shooter

 

[Flint n Steel]

I purchased a new Kibler SMR a year ago and have been procrastinating the build. Should I wait even longer to ensure a completely dry stock..?

 

[oldwood]

Epoxie will likely stop the crack process. take all the useless saw dust out of it with a dental pick , or air compressor nozzle , also , always stain the epoxie when mixing , with the end color of the final wood stock color of stain. Wood worker store will have the dye to mix with the epoxie. Brownells also. Have fixed bunches of cracks using this process.

 

[SDSmlf]

Famowood wood filler seems to work pretty well, and takes stain well.

Some may like the stuff, but the few finished products I have seen using Flamowood looked like they were patched with regular old plastic wood.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Go ahead with your Kibler build, a year is way more than enough to stabilize a skinny stock like the SMR has. Kibler stock blanks are kiln dried initially and shouldn't require any stabilization.

 

[Flint n Steel]

Go ahead with your Kibler build, a year is way more than enough to stabilize a skinny stock like the SMR has. Kibler stock blanks are kiln dried initially and shouldn't require any stabilization.

Thank you Sir!

 

[James Kibler]

Actually, the longer you wait to assemble, the more chance there is of wood movement and tight parts etc. Yes, we kiln dry our wood, but a thin piece of wood like a longrifle stock can move around over time if parts aren't fit. I always suggest at least installing the barrel at the outset.

 

[Flint n Steel]

Actually, the longer you wait to assemble, the more chance there is of wood movement and tight parts etc. Yes, we kiln dry our wood, but a thin piece of wood like a longrifle stock can move around over time if parts aren't fit. I always suggest at least installing the barrel at the outset.

Thank you, Mr. Kibler!

-m

 

[Kevin Houlihan]

I purchased a new Kibler SMR a year ago and have been procrastinating the build. Should I wait even longer to ensure a completely dry stock..?

No. Build it. It’s dry.

 

[cannonball1]

Relay all your concerns and problems to the supplier and see what they have to say.

I did just that and they are sending me out a much better piece of wood than I have ever seen. After all those hours of making that gun I'm sure that is all I can expect or should expect. I guess I will see what the wood looks like when it gets here. Mistakes happen and I don't wish to tarnish their name when they are trying to take care of me the best they can.