The Pro Bed will darken when I polish it after it cures. What I did was to go down and whittle it away with a utility knife after about six hours to (in this case) its final form. If this were to be a stock I did not intentionally want to look distressed, I would have left it proud, but would still pare it down while the bedding compound is fully set, but not cured. That saves a lot of file, rasp and sand paper work.

I intend to put a few phony scratches and dents in it before I’m done. I’ll find the right slotted screw to put in this hole.

I‘m particularly fond of the initials carved in the stock. Hydrogen peroxide will probably rust the screw head up nicely. If not, I have a few other tricks up my sleve.

This is the result of a loose tang screw. It’s really bad. We will deal with it once I’ve got a victim in hand. I want it right, bedded to the actual trigger guard tangs we will be using, but I don’t want anyone to see that it is right. That tang is going to be fully supported, like it should be, and the tang bolt will be so tight in the hole that it will be a near interference fit in the stock. I’ll show you how I do that w/o gluing the tang bolt in permanently when I do it. Trust me, it is easier to glue one in than not, irrespective of what you use for release agent, if you want it to be a tight fit like it should be.

 

Here’s our slide handle. Other than the ratted out escutcheon holes, it’s rock solid. I’ve got a few ideas on how to deal with this.

 

I like to strip the stock an then use Acraglas gel, stained with a drop or two of Rustoelum 1 hour stain that I use to refinish the rest of the stock. If there are large holes or chips, I use hardwood edge banding material for plywood and line-up the grain, then feather-in the ends with an artist brush and acrylic paint. You can stain the stock, and use a smartphone color matching app in daylight to match the light a dark highlights and order small sample cans from Home Depot. Here is an example: https://www.rimfirecentral.com/posts/12878779/

 

Right on! Did you happen to see the crazy stock on this Remington 121? It’s like two different stocks depending on which side.

https://www.rimfirecentral.com/threads/remington-121-stock-refinish-project.1312325/page-2

That finishing technique would have worked really well on that stock.

You bet I’m going to bookmark that thread you linked above. Boy if that method wouldn’t work great on birch stocks.

 

Found a gooned butt plate screw to use on the left side of the wrist. I knew I had to have one here somewhere. I filed it down a bit and put hydrogen peroxide on the screw heads and it’s out in the back yard. Should have some nice rust in a few hours.

The Bondo job is blending in. I’ve been putting Pro Custom oil on it w/o washing my hands first. I’m going to give that Pro Bed a few more days to cure then distress it a bit.

 

The screw heads are rusting up nicely. The butt plate screw is starting to get some going on the area I left the bluing on. Its been in the damp garage, I’ll give it week or so then move it into the house and just let the rust slowly develop on it. Once I'm satisfied I’ll give it the kerosene/linseed oil treatment. I’m not big on vinegar/salt in the first place, in this case, since I want the bluing under the rust vinegar would screw that up anyway. I just don‘t care for the use of salt anywhere near a wood stock. Maybe it’s OK and you can get it all gone, but I’m satisfied letting others experiment with that.

 

This is a better photo of the ratted out tang screw hole. I repaired what I could at this time with Devcon Two Ton epoxy. The stock was split from stem to stern. The “frontier repair” is absolutely solid and the stock is solid as can be. The split is clearly visible, as are the pins used for the repair.

The fresh file marks in the wood will cover just fine. When I card the screw head and put some kerosene and linseed oil on the screw it will dirty it up real nice. I wanted the screw head to look like it wore down from handling.

Rusting perfectly, once it is covering all of the bright and more into the bluing I’ll set it in the garage for a week or two and let it get some depth and even look before carding it and putting linseed oil on it.

My inclination is that the stock was completely split, repaired and there had been a screw put in then the head was filed down to match the grip contour at both locations the screws occupied holes in the wrist when I got it. Then, at a future time, the rifle was used with the tang bolt loose, which resulted in ratting out the hole and damaging the wood on both sides where the receiver was levered down into it… AND THEN it suffered another catastrophic event resulting in that split the wrist. The initial incident resulting in the slab split impresses me as horse related damage. The second, who knows? But in order to effect a repair subsequent to the wrist being split, the screws put in during the first repair had to go. That explains the stock being all dug out. In order to get the screws out the surgeon probably had to use a pliers because the slot was either completely gone or mostly gone. In order to get hold of what was there to be got, some wood had to go.

When I got it it had a pair of flat head countersink wood screws. Both with the head proud of the wood. I reused used one and replaced the other with a gooned butt plate screw.

i don’t want anything that looks like a contemporary repair. The butt plate screw will help with that I hope.

 

I may have a rifle located. I thought I had one cornered, but it is too nice. Actually, it is way too nice to break it down and use it for a project of this nature. Supposedly there are a couple that are pretty rough coming into a LGS in the next month or so.

 

i thought one of mine looked bad , wow , your saving one id not have attempted

 

Well, nothing much happening other than I set the pump handle escutcheons in epoxy so they are solid, but did it in a way that it doesn’t show on the exterior. I haven’t yet located a suitable donor but not for lack of effort.

As a by product of my search I did pick up a nice Second Model 1890 and bought a Model 61 for way under market price. The 1890 needs a liner in the barrel, I’m thinking I want to keep it otherwise original. Not as easy as it sounds when friends are already egging me on. I haven’t seen the 61, but it was described as 85% w/perfect bore. I‘m not inclined to do anything to a rifle like that other than give it a good cleaning. If it’s not in the condition described, I can back out and have my money refunded.

 

Still looking for the right junker. I picked up another second model, but once again it’s too nice to use for a project.

 

I picked up a Second Model and am going to utilize it. It's pretty rough looking, about what I was after. I put a 1:20 liner in the barrel, it's just hanging out until I fetch my '06 barrel home and put a liner in it. That way I can set both up and chamber them at the same time.