Cracked stock repair. 1896 Krag carbine.

[five.five-six]

I’m beyond my depth on this one. The wood is very dry and I think it has cracked due to repeated and sustained exposure to moisture for decades. Oddly, the stock feels and sounds solid. The cracks can not be compressed by hand and I fear compressing in a vice will cause more damage.

The handguard is another problem. It’s already been “repaired” but the glue in the joint prevents it from pushing together neatly.

I think the first thing I will have to do is get all oil out of the cracks and the wood surrounding the cracks. I’ll probably use the old acitone bath and carb cleaner blast in the cracks.

I’m toying with 2 ideas on the stock. 1 is to just leave it be. The other is to fill the cracks with epoxy (I’ve been watching a lot of Mark Novak lately and acroglas fixes everything!)


For the handguard, I’m thinking of making a wooden cylinder shaped fixture to compress it back together and use wood glue or acroglas to the rescue. Also, I may just pony up the big bucks and buy a replacement forend because I’m not even sure that one is correct for the gun.


For the time being, I’m not doing anything until I find a path forward that makes sense.

 

[AR15barrels]

I don't know that this is actually a good idea, but on those toe cracks, how about splitting each piece the rest of the way off the stock and then gluing each whole piece back on and clamping it closed?
That gives you better access for de-oiling and it gets you full gluing access.
I'm clearly not a wood guy, but when I look at those cracks and the way the grain runs, that's what comes to my mind.

 

[five.five-six]

I don't know that this is actually a good idea, but on those toe cracks, how about splitting each piece the rest of the way off the stock and then gluing each whole piece back on and clamping it closed?
That gives you better access for de-oiling and it gets you full gluing access.
I'm clearly not a wood guy, but when I look at those cracks and the way the grain runs, that's what comes to my mind.

There’s a whole bunch of splits. This thing was getting wet annually for decades. I do know a wood guy but he’s likely to make it into some sort of Han Solo Star Wars blaster. Actually, his idea was to use a vacuum bag to squeeze epoxy into the cracks.

Lots and lots of little splits.




I thought I was done with the barrel but I picked at it and there are a few more rust shakers hiding in there.



The metal still has a little work to go but the wood is my real problem. Also, I’d like to shoot it to see what the bore looks like after I blow all the cobwebs out.

 

[five.five-six]

Well, I haven’t gotten to the stock yet but the metal is all better

And the bore looks about 1,000 X better

 

[Sheepdog1968]

Can you find a replacement stock from say Boyds? Might cost less to go this route.

 

[Gromann]

This is one of those situations where you'd need to work epoxy into it. Hell, I think MidwayUSA did a video on this - that is if Youtube didn't nuke it.

 

[Sheepdog1968]

This is one of those situations where you'd need to work epoxy into it. Hell, I think MidwayUSA did a video on this - that is if Youtube didn't nuke it.

If they did, Midway USA may have the video on their website.

 

[Gromann]

If they did, Midway USA may have the video on their website.

If I remember right, the process they had was taping the outside surfaces, drilling into the crack from what would be the end of the buttstock and pouring epoxy in the drilled hole and trying to flex the wood a bit to get it to fill the grain. Topping off as it started filling into the cracks.

Edit-

looks like the old midway videos are still around. I've got a Mosin M39 stock I've got to give this treatment to. The cracks you have are going to need something more substantial than poly glue though. Probably have to look into good epoxies for what you're doing, the rest of this is still likely applicable.

 

[five.five-six]

I think I may just acroglass it in a vacume bag. If I find the right person to do it right, I would spend real money on it.

 

[five.five-six]

Can you find a replacement stock from say Boyds? Might cost less to go this route.

That or a sporter stock for shooting it but the original stock is something else. Every now and again a correct cavalry carbine stock comes up on eBay but I would expect one in good condition with the correct cartouches would fetch $1k

This one would be a bargain if it wasn’t an obvious fake.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/398064186563?_skw=krag+carbine+stock&itmmeta=01KV73TZ7KXK3EPDK34T9Z10J8&hash=item5cae7974c3:g:5aYAAeSwXCJqLrvG&itmprp=enc%3AAQALAAAA8GfYFPkwiKCW4ZNSs2u11xBw89EfRYqIAkNCfDnatH%2FksDKUd%2B6r4KqaUDFamOlyT1PklMeor1BNd2gs1ynBKmdn0tv8XjAlNr1bUADeEkH29gZet4a05r1gbaKcQ4GE%2BT99tTQyf00P6HGBxo8wiiPSK1vXy09v4dnhhNn10wakGmZknCJRAbvUBzSitvbJJ9cbtbSujC7gReM6Lt%2BXrYPhIAuTWJQ0kZow1Qv9hc1TJRNaAHz7cTPOVN1GHy7vuy8P7%2FRwH4ITX6DWVtECNPPVlhneqLVG0RqWFvwdBy%2Fyhyn0JpwzISLk6JbM4Dj%2B%2Bg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR_rz6-PZZw