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Thread: Lost your toe? Make a new one!

  1. #1
    Boolit Buddy Gunfreak25's Avatar
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    Lost your toe? Make a new one!

    This is a Mosin Nagant M44 stock that had the toe cracked off it, the toe wasn't even with the stock, so a new one would have to be made from scratch.

    Here's the stock at my friends house before he shipped it to me







    The first thing I did was start on the area of the toe that would need to be filed perfectly flat. As it was very uneven. This is the piece of birchwood that would become the toe.



    Here are the tools I used to get the toe of the stock flat. A flat file is really all that's needed. But I had some fingerprinting dust laying around that my aunt had given me, she was a CSI several years ago and used to get a lot of the stuff. What I did was dust the bottom of the slice of birchwood, then placed it on the toe of the stock, and pressing down I rubbed it back and forth across the toe of the stock. The black dust that's on the birch will rub onto the stock, showing where the high spots are.




    I then either filed the black area's down until the soot was gone, or used my sandpaper block if I needed more precision and less wood to be taken away than with a file. After this you just re dust the area, rub it on the stock, and repeat the filing or sanding process until the black is rubbing onto the stock very evenly.



    When the stock was even enough to satisfy me, I then proceeded to start attaching the birchwood to the stock. The first thing I did was drill some shallow holes in the birchwood, and the stock. This will create a stronger bond, sort of a mechanical lock with the epoxy resin. It's not necessary though.



    I mixed up enough Devcon 2 ton clear epoxy weld to completely cover the bottom of the stock, and the bottom of the birchwood piece, as well as fill in the holes. I then clamped it onto the stock with another piece of wood on top to prevent the clamp from gouging the wood. I put some paste wax along the edges of the stock near the seam of the repair, in case any epoxy seeped out, that way if any does seep out it will chip off when dry. Be sure not to get any wax in your crack though.



    With the buttplate on just to show how much wood I had to work with. Using a bigger piece of birch would have helped.



    Continued....
    Last edited by Buckshot; 04-10-2010 at 02:07 AM.
    "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." -Thomas Jefferson

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy Gunfreak25's Avatar
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    I waited 48 hours before starting the slow process of shaping. This is the hardest part of putting on a toe from scratch. One slip up, and you have to restart. So take it slow. Each person will find what technique works for them as far as how to shape it. I like to start with the sides, getting the curvature of the sides of the stock correct, then work on the very top (bottom really) of the toe, getting the geometry of the bottom of the stock correct. Whatever works best for you, the key is PATIENCE
    You will want to keep the buttplate taped on while shaping, to prevent removing too much wood from the bottom of your toe, buttplate overhang is unsightly, trust me.





    And after 3 or 4 days of filing. This is what I came to. Almost done, still a bit to fat though. What helps is every mosin stock is differently shaped, so it's not like i'm following a bluebrint here.



    This is the stock after 2 strippings with StripX. Which is covered in many other posts by Candyman and 1 post by me.





    What the rear looks like. Yes, I had to epoxy two pieces of birch to make one large piece big enough for this toe repair. As I didn't have access to a larger chunk of birch. When doing this, you can epoxy your toe onto the stock seam side down, so it doesn't show, and still looks like a 1 piece toe from the sides of the rifle.



    Here's the stock after a good sanding with 100 grit. Try to avoid touching the fingergrooves of the stock at all. To prevent from rounding the edges. This will also make a stock look pretty ugly. I used an electric hand orbital sander. I only do this when i'm using a relatively low grit paper, to prevent from turning my stock into a toothpick. This will also create sanding swirls in the stock, so you'll have to sand those out manually with some finer grit paper and a sanding block. Always use a block. Usually I advise against sanding, but in this case it's a stock with zero collectability value, so I wasn't worried about it. I also made sure to keep away from the edges to prevent rounding, and buttplate overhang.



    I used chestnut ridge alcohol based stain on the stock. It's dark walnut with a red tint. Use gloves when using it, don't be too stingy with it, and always use a painting sponge or something similar to apply it. Paper towels will soak it up, and you'll end up using wasting more stain to get the stock to a color you could get with alot less stain using a sponge.



    Alcohol does raise the grain, so you will want to steel wool it vigorously with 0000 steel wool. I do it just enough to smooth the whiskers out, if it lightens up too much you can apply a second coat of stain, it will not raise the grain nearly as much and will darken it a little more than the first coat. Let the stain cure for about an hour, or 30 minutes in warmer temps.



    You can see where the grain on the left of the new toe is "wilder" than the right side. It also came out a bit lighter, this area of the wood is denser, and doesn't accept stain as well as other less dense parts of the wood.

    Continued....
    "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." -Thomas Jefferson

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy Gunfreak25's Avatar
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    And here is the end result! After a few weeks of applying my Tru Oil finish, and letting it cure for awhile. I have a new stock on my M44 that I like alot better than my old one.




    I do stock work for forum members all the time. If you have any questions about a DIY project or would like me to give attention to a stock you may have, just drop me a PM! -Tom
    Last edited by Gunfreak25; 04-04-2010 at 04:43 PM.
    "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." -Thomas Jefferson

  4. #4
    Boolit Master
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    Nice job...beautiful.

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    Tom,

    Thank you for taking the time to show us what you can do and how you do it. Fantastic and admirable work.
    Lucky Joe
    "There's always a way."

  6. #6
    Boolit Buddy
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    I wish I was that talented and patient!!!

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    Looks like yours wasn't the first repair of that nature on that stock judging from the glue line directly above yours. I know almost nothing about these rifles, so out of ignorance will ask if they were made like that. Sort of like the Arisaka stocks- lower half of the butt glued on. At any rate, nice job of work on your part. The only thing I would have done differently would have been to skip the dowels. The end product is handsome indeed. I won't turn my nose up at greasy old Mosins anymore now that I know what kind of jewel may be hidden inside!

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy Gunfreak25's Avatar
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    I didn't use any dowels in this toe repair. The holes were drilled so that when filled with resin it would help create a mechanical lock. However this probably wasn't even necessary either. With the amount of resin and surface area on this type of repair, you could bang on it all day with a hammer and the stock would break in a different place first. With my repair work, I make the area being repaired stronger than the area that broke in the first place.

    It was common practice for Military's in that era to use smaller cuts of wood to carve their stocks. This sped up production as they weren't reliant on finding tree's large enough in diameter to make single piece stocks from. On stocks that were carved without a toe, they simple went back with scrap wood later and dovetailed on a new toe. Glue was almost always used, however in the case of the Japanese glue wasn't used. The buttplate and the swivel on the side of the stock is what was used to keep the spliced toe in place, that and a dovetail. And good eye! I didn't realize this particular M44 stock already had the remains of an old toe splice above the toe I was putting onto it until I had it stripped and saw the difference in grain.
    "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." -Thomas Jefferson

  9. #9
    Boolit Buddy
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    They look great.

    Do you only do repair work or custom stocks also?

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    Great looking stock repair work.
    ph4570

  11. #11
    Boolit Man zac0419's Avatar
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    Man, I could read these all day. Real nice work..

  12. #12
    Boolit Buddy Gunfreak25's Avatar
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    Thanks guys. I noticed the mods didn't seperate my M44 post from the Beaumont stock post, they were supposed to be seperate stickies....

    44fanatic, I don't do just stock work. I do restoration and minor gunsmithing as well.
    I usually only do my gunsmithing work locally to avoid the whole shipping and dealer thing (unless it's an antique) but sometimes people will send me their C&R rifles to play with. My ex step dad has his C&R so I still go through him when I need to.
    So I mainly stick with stock work. As for new stocks, can I make them? Sure, but it's not easy work and is VERY time and labor intensive. -Tom
    "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." -Thomas Jefferson

  13. #13
    Boolit Buddy
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    Great work, I didn't think the first one was even good for firewood, before you worked on it, you have a great talent, and you use it to make other people happy, that makes it even better..........steg

  14. #14
    Boolit Master captain-03's Avatar
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    EXCELLENT work!! Thanks for sharing!!

  15. #15
    Boolit Master Slow Elk 45/70's Avatar
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    OK , nice , but what the heck has this to do with Boolit trep ideas
    Slow Elk 45/70

    Praise the Lord & Pass the Ammo

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy Gunfreak25's Avatar
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    These were originally posted in in the gunsmithing tips and tricks section, but the mods suggested they be put in this section.
    "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." -Thomas Jefferson

  17. #17
    In Remembrance - Super Moderator & Official Cast Boolits Sketch Artist

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    the mods are mostly morons I know most of them just kidding nice job looks good,
    Reloading to save money I am sure the saving is going to start soon

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ricky P View Post
    the mods are mostly morons I know most of them just kidding nice job looks good,
    Ricky... You know you're gonna get booted from chat a lot for that

    And very nice stock work, I never have bothered with drilling holes for the mechanical lock, and never had a problem with a repair.

    For the guys doing this on stocks that you don't want to show the repair, get a piece of wood without much grain, and get the "wood grain repair pens" available at some DIY places. The pens usually come in sets of 3 or 4, and that's sometimes enough but furniture repair guys will have 100+ shades of them. Going slow and carefully, you can make an invisible repair.
    Nozombies.com Practical Zombie Survival

    Collecting .32 molds. Please let me know if you have one you don't need, cause I might "need" it!

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy Chunky Monkey's Avatar
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    Gotta say that is a very nice looking stock!! Great work.

    I just got an M44 and I'm not a big fan of the blonde finish. I have M1's carbines and Garands and I really like my walnut.

    Been thinking of finishing the M44 to a finish like yours. I shoot my guns but also like to keep them as original as possible. I don't want to destroy the collectability. What are your thoughts on changing the finish on a perfectly fine gun?

    Thanks
    CM
    "A gun in the hands of a bad man is a very dangerous thing. A gun in the hands of a good person is no danger to anyone except the bad guys." ~ Charlton Heston, 1997

  20. #20
    Boolit Master


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    You do nice work sir!

    This reminds me of a neighbor's Belgian Auto 5 20 gauge I fixed about 20 yrs ago. He had dropped it on a hard stone floor and broken off two pieces; one about 5 inches long, and the actual toe itself measuring about 3/4 of an inch. That second piece was never found.

    I glued in the long piece, then cut the stock for a 1 inch recoil pad. The hard part was trying to match the finish to the forearm. It was one of those "blonde" A5s, with a very light high gloss finish. In retrospect, I probably should have refinished the whole thing.

    Anyhow, he was delighted. We then argued over whether he should pay me or not, as I was just glad to work on such a fine gun, but he was insistent since I had put a lot of hours into it. In the end, I asked him to just will the gun to me. He had no children, so who else would it go to? He agreed, so someday I'll have a nice Belgian 20 ga Auto 5!

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
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LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check