Tear-out repair around sling swivel

[pdmoderator]

Hi, all,

While installing a recessed sling swivel, I inflicted some tear-out on the stock. My options for repairing it seem to be inlaying something around the swivel or trying to fill it with one of Brownell's shellac sticks.

If you've done this sort of repair in the past, do you have any opinions on what's best, or any alternatives?

Thanks,
- pdmoderator

[James K]

If you have the chip, use some Elmers carpenters glue. If not, the shellac stick (you can also get them at paint stores or furniture repair shops) will have to do. I can assure you that you are not the first nor will you be the last to chip a stock when installing a swivel, recoil pad, etc.

Gunsmiths have a very professional method of dealing with the problem. It is called "patch it as best you can and hope the customer doesn't notice."

Jim

[pdmoderator]

Something else I thought of... since this is a laminated stock, I'd like the laminations to show through. So I went out over lunchtime and bought some clear casting resin (as is used to coat tabletops and the like.) I ought to be able to put it on thick enough for this job.

Another alternative for the pros would be a Modified Medical Arabesque: "The stock was cracked where I drilled for the sling swivel and the patient died -- er -- the wood chipped out."

- pdmoderator

[cntryboy1289]

I use acraglass gel and lots of saw dust from the butt of the gun whenever I need to patch a deep spot. Mix the dust in when you would normally mix in the dye. You may still need to add a touch of the dye if you have a dark stained stock. If it is a shallow spot, I would use Arrow wood finish on it and follow their directions. It fills the spot and blends everything in very nicely and most of the time no one can tell where the spot was when you're dfinished.

[yorec]

I use the same technique as cntryboy1289 with very good results. Even had to repair some 1/2 inch holes on one stock wiht it - no clue what they were from for sure, some sort of large diameter screw. This method even fixed those with only a little shading difference to tell where they had been. Also was strong enough that one of the sling swivel screws I then installed went directly through one of the patches.

[pdmoderator]

In my case, this wouldn't have worked very well. The stock is laminated, and a sawdust/Acraglas mix would have stood out.

I wound up doing something similar, though... used clear casting resin (actually, the stuff that's used to coat tables and the like), lightly sanded for a translucent finish. Looks almost invisible, and somewhat like it's meant to be there.

Not perfect, but live and learn.

Thanks for all,
- pdmoderator