Lost your toe? Make a new one!

[Gunfreak25]

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

http://i43.tinypic.com/10pbl93.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/akwmy9.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/11bur1w.jpg

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.

http://i42.tinypic.com/2epken6.jpg

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.

http://i39.tinypic.com/hu4nf7.jpg


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.

http://i40.tinypic.com/ndle9h.jpg

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.

http://i39.tinypic.com/rlm1ok.jpg

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.

http://i41.tinypic.com/166lj7p.jpg

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

http://i40.tinypic.com/2qb6o79.jpg

Continued....

[Gunfreak25]

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.

http://i44.tinypic.com/2ppalnn.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/ws75dw.jpg

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.

http://i42.tinypic.com/hug20j.jpg

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

http://i40.tinypic.com/vucdu.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/2ustyd5.jpg

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.

http://i44.tinypic.com/52fifn.jpg

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.

http://i41.tinypic.com/i20ln4.jpg

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.

http://i43.tinypic.com/2ed4i2f.jpg

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.

http://i43.tinypic.com/2ed4i2f.jpg

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....

[Gunfreak25]

http://i39.tinypic.com/2ujo3l0.jpg

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.

http://i41.tinypic.com/5y701t.jpg


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! :D -Tom

[zomby woof]

Nice job...beautiful.

[Lucky Joe]

Tom,

Thank you for taking the time to show us what you can do and how you do it. Fantastic and admirable work.

[Ernest]

I wish I was that talented and patient!!!

[gnoahhh]

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!

[Gunfreak25]

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.

[44fanatic]

They look great.

Do you only do repair work or custom stocks also?

[ph4570]

Great looking stock repair work.

[zac0419]

Man, I could read these all day. Real nice work..

[Gunfreak25]

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

[steg]

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

[captain-03]

EXCELLENT work!! Thanks for sharing!!

[Slow Elk 45/70]

OK , nice , but what the heck has this to do with Boolit trep ideas

[Gunfreak25]

These were originally posted in in the gunsmithing tips and tricks section, but the mods suggested they be put in this section.

[RP]

the mods are mostly morons I know most of them just kidding nice job looks good,

[NoZombies]

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.

[Chunky Monkey]

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

[Patrick L]

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!

[Acronn]

I've been there Patrick. Don't count your chickens before they hatch. If it disappears out of the estate, even with it -and your name- written in the will, and you go looking for it, and then get informed he "gave it away" to someone else on his death bed you just got screwed. That's what I learned about wills. Of course this Belgian Auto 5 20 gauge won't be discovered to have a price tag deemed by others to be worth the effort so you will most likely get what your friend does will to you, but this is experience talkin' here.

Nice stock repair! This technique would be good for all sorts of wood repairs, not limited only to stocks.

[Lavid2002]

I have a ithica 37, on the *top* of the stock, the highest, foremost part of the stock. Right where the wood meets the receiver, the wood has chipped off. I was thinking I would do the same thing you did, but I have a couple questions
*When you drilled the holes, why not insert wooden dowels in those holes? Wouldn't it make it stronger?

*What kind of wood should I use? The same wood you used?


Thanks!

-Dave

[Gunfreak25]

Dave, this is a common break on shotguns because the tang is high stress area. First see if it's birchwood or walnut your buttstock is made of. If you post a pic I can tell you which it is.

The holes I drilled weren't even necessary really. When I make repairs, I am sure that the area being repaired will end up stronger than it was before it broke. If I were to take this stock now and slam it on the ground repeatedly as hard as I could, the toe would surely break, but further up and not where I made my repair.
Devcon is a very strong resin (as is acraglas) and with this much surface area having been covered with the resin, the repair will last well into my grandchildren dying day's.

Since your dealing with a high stress area on your shotgun, once you have the new top piece glassed on and filed down flush, I would drill a couple 1 inch deep holes into the seam of the repair starting from the front of the buttstock where it mates with the receiver. Get yourself some bamboo skewers and wrap them in some fiberglass cloth, fill your holes with resin and then insert your fiberglassed dowels. Once cured, file flush with the face of the buttstock. This will give the receiver something rock hard to butt against during recoil. Also, when you drill your holes be sure to drill them at an downwards angle into the buttstock. This will ensure that your repair never gets knocked off from the excessive recoil of the shotgun.

[Lavid2002]

Heres the stock
http://i152.photobucket.com/albums/s161/lavid2002/IMGP0567.jpg


I appreciate the help : D

[Gunfreak25]

Okay, I thought from your description that it was chipped and there was a missing chunk of wood. This is a clean break and can be easily repaired. If you'd like i'd be happy to do the repair for you at a cheap price, it's a pretty simple repair. The trickiest part is repairing it without getting any resin in the checkering.

Step 1. Clean both areas to receive resin with denatured alcohol.
Step 2. With the broken piece in place on the stock (as it is now) carefuly apply some paste wax to the checkering if your stock as well as the surrounding area, try not to get any in the crack. The paste wax will keep the resin from adhering to the checkering, so you can go back later and just chip off the cured resin with your thumbnail or a toothpick.
3.Now that the checkering is waxed and you are ready to glass you two pieces together, mix up some resin and apply it to both broken pieces.
4.To get a clean bond you will need to clamp the pieces together, however this is a tricky area due to the curvature of the tang. Instead, you will wrap some wax paper around the entire repair, then take some nylon string and wrap it around the area as tight as you can. The string will clamp down the repair for you, and the wax paper beneath the string will keep the string from sticking together.
5. Once cured for 24 hours, remove the string and wax paper. Now you may begin the process of cleaning up your repair. If you've applied your wax properly and enough of it, any run over of your resin can be easily removed with a toothpick or your thumbnail. For the face of the buttstock, you can file away the exess resin.
6. If you removed any of the stocks varnish or stain you will want to hide this with some new stain and a light layer of varnish.
7. Dowel the repaired piece from the front of the stock as I described earlier.

That's pretty much it. If you don't feel up to the repair, just drop me a PM and I'd be happy to do it for you. I could have the stock back to you in a couple weeks (I work on many stocks all at once). -Tom

[Lavid2002]

Sorry, forgot to explain

When I made this *Repair* I used epoxy putty, it looks like garbage. I will have to separate the wood again, and when I strip the epoxy off the wood will come with it. How do you suggest I go about it like this?

[Gunfreak25]

Klean Strip Strip X in the gold can will remove glues, adhesives and other resins from wood. It's what I use to remove old glues from improperly repaired stocks. Crack that piece of wood back off, remove the glue, and use the steps I posted above to get a good solid looking repair on your buttstock.

[Lavid2002]

thank you...ill keep you informed : )

[fatelk]

If you're careful, that old Ithaca will turn out great. I repaired an old model 37 just like that (c.1943) for a friend, and it turned out great. I used 2-ton epoxy on it, and it was actually cracked worse than yours. If you look carefully you can still see the crack, but otherwise it looks really good.

Gunfreak, very nice work on the Mosin stock! I've done a few things like that and it is fun to take something that looks like junk and make it look nice again. It definitely takes an eye for detail and a lot of patience. One of these days I should post photos of a couple projects, just for fun.

[Gunfreak25]

Glad to be of help.

[Gunfreak25]

Here you have a great work done and have a complete instruction to make a new and repair the damage toe..
But I think we also need for all the relevant tools, then we can make this possible..
Thanks for sharing this..

And your a spam bot, mods would you be so kind to delete this member? Damn spammers are gettin crafty.

[Smoke4320]

That is a great repair .. many thanks for poting all the steps ..
I broke off a toe once but since the wife said I had a lead foot I just poured me a new one :) :)

[Garyshome]

Nice Job. I have a cabinet door that is cracked think you might help me out?

[Multigunner]

And your a spam bot, mods would you be so kind to delete this member? Damn spammers are gettin crafty.

Are you sure he's a spammer?
His other posts look legit.
I see this sort of rambling post a lot from those who don't speak English and use translator programs.

As for this stock repair. Great work.
To get a true flat surface I glue 100 grit sand paper, the reddish brown type with a cloth backing, to a steel slab. I move the wood back and forth along the grain rather than moving the slab. Its easier to maintain the same angle that way.

[waksupi]

And your a spam bot, mods would you be so kind to delete this member? Damn spammers are gettin crafty.

Got an eye on him.

Update;

Trey has successfully launched a nuclear strike on his **** hole Pakistani village, and he no longer exists.

[KCSO]

Just an addition to this, I save all the broken stocks that I can get and then use these for donor's on toe repair as ususally I can find one with wood that matches the broken stock.

[Fetzner808]

Man that sure is nice looking. Good work!

[Bazoo]

As a professional carpenter, I can say, excellent work sir.

[1Shirt]

Super post! Good Job!
1Shirt!

[ncbearman]

"Repairing the repair"
Tom, I think I can do this. I just might need a little babysitting as its my first time. Remington 1889 Side by Side Hammer Gun. Let me begin by saying that although I love this gun I am not concerned about protecting its collector value. In other words if I did have such a concern I would have bought a different gun. Eventually I would like to do some unorthodox things to this to bling it up a little. So with that understood here we go. This was obviously a well used tool back in the day. At some point the toe broke and he field repaired it and used the existing butt plate. I would like to repair and use the new butt plate so it will fit nicely. Please review the pics and let me know your thoughts. Thanks. -Russ

Old Butt Plate
118773 118774 118775

New Butt Plate
118776 118777 118778 118779

[jonp]

Top Middle...that's a nice holster. Woe to the burghler when you and the missus are watching TV

[308Man]

Good Job, Thanks For the info!

[Pumpkinheaver]

That looks great! I did something similar to a 10/22 stock only I added height to the comb for a better cheek weld when using a scope.

[flyin brian]

I've fixed a lot of cracks but never had to replace missing material... if I ever do, I hope it turns out even half as good as yours!!

[Rubino1988]

Looks good nice!