Friends & neighbors,
 
Well, here we go.........BAD NEWS.........In checking the stock and attempting to get good photos -- well found another crack!!!  This may become a study in hopelessness and frustration........but we will press on and see what happens.
 
First some historical data.....My particular rifle was manufactured approximately 1948.....The model number is designated by caliber......8x57 Mauser equals Model 648.  These rifles had three similiar but different actions.  The Swede Model 96 (small ring, cock on close), FN 98 (large ring, military version with thumb cut and clip guide--MINE) and the FN 98 Commercial (no thumb cut and no clip guide.  From what info I have been able to obtain, stock wood was either birch or beech.  I believe mine to be BEECH!  Here is the original pic to familiarize you with what we are talking about.

Continuing on here are some pics to illustrate the problems (opportunities) we are dealing with here. The entire area of inletting for the action has cracks and the crack extends into the wrist of the stock. The cracked area has been highlighted with yellow paint so you can see what we are dealing with here. Here are three pics for your perusal. As I stated, this may be a study in frustration but we are going to attempt repairs and see what happens. Your observations and suggestions are appreciated............Ol' John:(

As a side note, our next little "opportunity" deals with the FN action itself.  Back in those days, scopes(such as they were) used a side mount rather than mounts on top of the action.  Since this rifle was manufactured in Sweden I am guessing it was drilled and tapped using metric screws and threads.  Hopefully our members/friends across the Atlantic pond can give me suggestions for possible "filler screws" to plug these atrocious holes in the action.  Need help here folks!  Here is a pic of what we are dealing with..........aarrrgggghhhh!  Ol' John:mad:

John;
How about a bunch of wet towels and a MIG or TIG welder?
Too close to the locking lugs?
On the stock, high quality CA thin glue will penetrate the smallest cracks and has a very high strength, have some padded clamps ready, put a few drops in the cracks and clamp immediately, then let cure overnight.
It has no color and will not interfere with a restain and refinish.

Don

Quote from: drinksginJohn;
How about a bunch of wet towels and a MIG or TIG welder?
Too close to the locking lugs? My concern is the inside rails using a TIG/MIG welder. Want to get filler screws, grind the edges and then weld.
On the stock, high quality CA thin glue will penetrate the smallest cracks and has a very high strength, have some padded clamps ready, put a few drops in the cracks and clamp immediately, then let cure overnight.
It has no color and will not interfere with a restain and refinish. Don, what is CA glue....my ignorance knows no bounds! Is that something like "GORILLA GLUE"? That CA glue...what is the setup time? Any brand names you can provide?
Ol' John


Don

Any other info you can provide will be greatly appreciated.

John;
Mono, alpha , cyranoacralate, also known as crazy glue.
The stuff at the hardware or Walmart is a cheap grade, if you want something good, raid your cousin's model shop, modelers who crash much, which is all most all of us,keep a supply on hand , afetr a few flights, most models have a bunch of repairs, epoxy adds weight quick and does not penetrate small cracks nearly as well as CA, also the thin CA sets in seconds, but is stronger if cured a while.
The brand I usually buy is ZAP, but most anything a model shop carries is good , modelers are a picky bunch, sorta like gun nuts.
The quick setting part is why I said have the clamps ready beforehand.
Polyester glue, Gorilla Glue and several other brands is great stuff, it will glue anything to anything, if a bit of moisture is present for it to react with, but does need to have the oil and grease removed, CA will work on balsa that is soaked with castor oil from the glow fuel.
Don
Don

I think you're onto something there Don, BUT... CA is very brittle. It's used mostly in places where shear isn't too big a factor. However, I "hear" you when you say it gets into cracks. It's practically like a wetting agent. I'd think it might work well, or it might fail under recoil. I've used it to repair small end-checks in nice pieces of expensive lumber. In those cases though, shear wasn't really an issue. Personally, I'd try it.
 
Paul

some high quality slow cure epoxy thin enough to seep all the way down PLUS cross pins made of brass or iron, such as headless finishing nails, behind the recoil lug and behind the mag box. if you use 3/32nds or bigger, you can drive the pins far enough in to cover with a hardwood plug on either side. the plugs would look sort of natural, a la big bore. i think i'd put pins in the wrist, too. but man, that's some pretty good damage. trying to match the old stock with a new one might be the best way to go if you're going to shoot it a bunch. you can save the old stock so it stays original.
go get 'em.

I agree with Fish. Brownell's offers stock pin kits in two sizes that include the correct size drills to match minor diameter of threaded brass stock pins. I've used them in the past to repair a rifle stock in three pieces, gun run over by owner in truck. You use the pins with brownells acraglass epoxy compound. Comes in several formulars thick to thin consistency.
 
Good Luck. Have Fun. Go Slow !

John,
 
One negative of the crazy glue (if its the same stuff we get over here), is that you get only one try.  The glue will not stick to a surface that was previously covered with the glue. As has been mentioned, the stuff also dries very quickly so you have to put the necessary pressure on it before it dries out.
 
What all of this means is that you need to test your clamp set-up to make sure it will exert pressure over the whole length of the crack.  You have to look to see if you will be able to wet the whole area of the cracks in a very short time (may even be worthwhile to drill a couple of tiny vertical holes into the crackline to help with getting the glue in).
 
It might even be a good call to have an assistant on hand to help with the "quick application / quick clamping".
 
If the first attemp fails, there will be nothing for it but to break the stock in 2 along the crackline so that you can remove the glue from the surfaces before trying again.
 
 
 
Regards.
 
C

My biggest concerns with the CA glue have already been mentioned.  The stuff is awesome when it works but it sets up quick and you onely get one chance with it.  Hondo, is there any flex in the wood at the crack.  I mean can you open the crack a bit to ease application of the glue?  

I've only used the Gorilla glue on one application and was very impressed with it.  I'm not saying it's the glue for this job as I just don't know; I'm just making an observation.
 
I've also used a syringe to "inject" glue into cracks before.  Just a thought.
 
Mike

Well.... it's generally true for most glues, and especially epoxies, tha if you don't get it "right" the first time, you'll have to break it to do it again. The big advantage of epoxies, is that they are 'gap fillers' - some more than others. Generally, the thinner they are, the less strength they have in bridging gaps. You could use hide glue; easily 'reversed', pretty good shear strength (but not as good as epoxy), and good gap-filling. About the same amount of 'pain' to mix and heat as epoxy.
 
Paul

Gents,

My thanks to you for the suggestions and I am taking them under advisement and will make some decisions in a day or two.
 
My knowledge of beech wood is definitely lacking......seems this wood is used quite a bit in Europe but not much here in the 50 states.  Looking at the inletting on the stock there seems to be a lot of wood compression behind the recoil lug indicating a somewhat soft wood but then looking at all the cracks I get the impression the wood is quite brittle.  Is it possible to soft and brittle at the same time?????  The stock had been previously repaired for cracks so perhaps the wood had not been cured properly and had stress buildup.
 
Hmmmmm!  We shall proceed with the repairs in a coupla days!  Thanks again for your suggestions and words of encouragement.  Greatly appreciated, amigos!
 
Ol' John..

Actually John, you're probably  more familiar with beech than you think. It is the most common wood used for the manufacture of wooden rulers. From that, you can reasonably assume it is a fairly stable wood.
 
The excessive compression behind the recoil lug could be from an otherwise 'loose' bedding job, leaving the wood behind the recoil lug to absorb all or most of the recoil.
 
Paul

John;
Yes, a good example of hard brittle wood is southern red cedar, actually a juniper.
Another use of CA in modeling is to harden wood, such as driving wood screws in balsa, you run the screw in then take it out and put a drop or two of CA in the hole, after it sets, the wood will hold the screw much better.
Epoxy can be thinned with acetone, but it loses some strength when it is thinned, polyester glue, the Gorilla glue, actually foams up when it gets some moisture, but it is not a penetrator at all, best used where something is broken completely off, but can be put back in exact alignment.
Another possible solution would be to use a dremel saw blade, cut slots across the cracks and use polyester or epoxy to bond pins in the slots, would not be seen from the outside at all, then after that has cured, put CA in the cracks to be sure.
Ca comes as thin, thick which will fill some and takes a little longer to set up, and a very thick which is even slower and will fill cracks better, however, the thicker the CA, the less strong it is.
Don