[Daly]

I bought a Parker VHE 20ga shotgun at a DEEP discount because the toe had be split off and lost. This is a gun worth somewhere around $5500 on the market. I cut the surface of the damage area flat and square to the side of the stock. Next I found a piece of walnut very similar in grain and made up a matching piece with a tenon on the mating surface to fit into a slot I cut into the butt stock. Make sure these fit accurately on the edges by filing a slight draft on the added piece edges they will clamp tightly at the edges. Titebond glue and rubber tube clamp. Finish the addition down to proper profile stain and finish it to match the rest of the stock. Hand rub on a thin varnish finish without running it onto the original stock until the very last coat. The repair has lasted 30 years and because I colored the line and finish with some lamp black mix the whole thing is now invisible. I got the gun for less than half of its value. There are professionals will do this work for you for a modest fee. Better if you find the missing sliver of wood though.

 

[Daly]

Fillers are never as effective in making a proper repair as adding real wood which can be stained and finished to match. Fillers always look like fillers.

 

[Daly]

Tite bond is a paintable wood glue. Acraglas is great but it isn't going to take paint. If you get a thin line of glue showing, a little judicious artistry with some artist oil paint in a darker color can be used to blend that line into a grain stripe. There are guys now who paint very plain wood and various repairs into a stock with the appearance of exhibition grade wood. This is not a major repair, it is not in an area subject to great stress as the wrist and stock head would be. The current state of the art in stock repairs has reached the point where stock transplants are used, broken wrists repaired with milled slots through the broken area filled with high grade plywood fillets and covered with matching stock material. We are a long way beyond bondo patches, steel threaded stock, dowels and. I will fnd some examples for you to look at before you go off with poor concepts.

 

[Daly]

Go to the website below to see the latest techniques in major stock repair. The first few photos are not very instructive but continue on to see techniques for major repairs. Also the names of some of the firms are given in the captions should you want to make contack and get back a gun without blemish.


http://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/slideshow/15127852