The first step was to remove the superglue with acetone which also served to degrease the crack. Although using wood glue, when possible, is preferred because it does not darken edges, good ol’ liquid Acraglass was used here because this crack was practically a thin saw kerf; in other words, missing material needed to be replaced.

The clamping-up was the most critical step, as doing it wrong would put a twist or misalignment into the wood….suboptimal.

The next day, the clamps came off to reveal what looks like a helluva mess! But the alignment of the wood on both sides of the crack was spot-on, so we’re good.

 

The outer surface cleaned up pretty easily. However, you’ll notice the escutcheon is still swimming around in the hole. If left this way, it would spin around uselessly like AOC at a capitalism convention. And it’s ugly.

The next step was to simply glass bed the escutcheon by carefully dripping the liquid Acraglas around the escutcheon. Pretty simple:

After the glass dried, the escutcheon popped right out. And although it’s now perfectly functional at this point, the hole still had the appearance of being wallowed out:

So now comes round two of glass bedding the escutcheon. However, this time the escutcheon’s splines stay above the surface level of the wood:

After the Acraglas dried, I popped the escutcheon out and forgot to take a photo before shaping down the mound of hard Acraglas and slapping on some finish:

 

The next step was to simply glass bed the escutcheon by carefully dripping the liquid Acraglas around the escutcheon. After the glass dried, the escutcheon popped right out.

^ ^ ^ Hey Steven . . . please let us know if you forgot to mention a critical step with the initial glass-bedding of the escutcheon . . . i.e., release agent. Otherwise, I don't know how it "popped right out" afterward.

 

For good measure, the back end of the forearm got a dogbone reinforcement made from 3mm brass all-thread and two nuts shaped down from hexagonal to square to better fit in the limited space:

once the trench was carefully chiseled out and the dogbone test fit, it was fully glass bedded into place. I went ahead and glassed both the iron and the latch housing for maximal future crack mitigation:

Once the area-refinish is done, I’ll post a pic of the forearm on the gun.

 

Nicely done!

 

Sweet

 

Thanks for sharing your expertise and knowledge!! The pictures are great along with your perfection!!

 

That looks great Steven. Just an FYI ; I bought some superglue solvent on Amazon that works great for this repairs where the customer tried to help .

I really like the dog bone reinforcement.

 

Cool! I use acetone. Does this solvent work better in some way?

 

Outstanding writeup! The brass threaded dogbone is a genius move, great tip.

I didn't know that Acetone removed CA glue; I have used the solvent stuff but it's more toxic than the Epstein files

 

The solvent I bought works immediately and doesn’t even smell. I guess that doesn’t mean it’s not toxic. But I wouldn’t exactly drink acetone either.

 

Can you include a link to the product you bought?

 

Great work!

 

https://www.aramsco.com/1602-6787-super-solvent-us-1-2-oz-debonder168072.html

It just says that it is faster than acetone so it is less likely to ruin some finishes. I’m not sure that’s true. I think I bought it because I had to take apart a stock repair and I was afraid Acetone would wreck the finish.
Also since Brownelle’s ran out of aerosol acts-release I’ve been using Butche’s Bowling alley wax and I’m liking it better than the aerosol for the reasons Steven mentioned.

 

what attacks CA or Acrylic glues aggressively?

https://www.fishersci.com/store/msds?partNumber=D1514&productDescription=METHYLENE+CHLORIDE+OPTIMA+4L&vendorId=VN00033897&countryCode=US&language=en

I had a tiny little bottle of this stuff and always used it under a fume hood or outdoors. One of my projects involved gluing ceramic magnet bricks for MRI scanners, and if you screwed up, ungluing was a nightmare.

Good to know that for small jobs, acetone will work.

 

this stuff says it is Nitromethane. I can’t find the MSDS

 

one suggestion if I may
Dark brown ink or enamel over the translucent end to conceal the screw

 

It’s completely hidden under the forearm iron when reassembled. I always hide repairs and reinforcements whenever possible, preferably beneath metal components or in checkering.

 

Nice work! That dog bone trick was killer.
I think you did the right thing leaving it translucent. Sometime in the future it may need to be done again, and knowing that a pice of metal is embedded is nice for the person doing the work. As you stated, it is hidden. when the gun is assembled.

 

Nice work! That dog bone trick was killer.
I think you did the right thing leaving it translucent. Sometime in the future it may need to be done again, and knowing that a pice of metal is embedded is nice for the person doing the work. As you stated, it is hidden. when the gun is assembled.

Exactly right. I think it’s better for repairs to be easily visible when the gun is taken apart, but invisible when the gun is used normally for the reasons you mentioned. Though with this one, the giant crack repair will always be visible! More like a chasm than a crack 😂

 

I have a Franchi AL 48 that the forend broke while I stumbled through the rocks breaking the forend from rear all the way except the last 2 inches. I used wood blocks to hold the forearm in place as to not collapse it. I then used wood glue in the crack and wrapped it with surgical tubing. Once the glue was dry, I placed 1" wide fiberglass cloth the length of the forend inside the forend and painted it with epoxy resin. That's been 10 years ago and still holding up well. I really like the dog bone idea. (Great thought). I don't alot of stock repair and use tooth picks as dowels. Some can be hidden inside, but others have to be installed across the cracks. Nice job on the repair. Dave Beutler, Dave's gun cleaning and repair.

 

That is a nicely done repair. I use west systems thickened G-flex for a repair like that. My repair is stronger than the wood so I save the step of keying it. I use G-flex on instrument, gun and boat repairs where the slow cure time and extremely strong mechanical bond are required. Because of the slow cure, I am able to remove overflow before a hard set.

 

Thank you! West Systems’ stuff is better, yes, and I’ll switch to that once this Acraglas is used up. I’ve had extremely good luck with West Systems 105 resin and 207 Special Clear in specific applications where other liquid epoxy is too viscous—or if I need to build up material without adding color. Great stuff!

While I’ve not yet tried G/Flex, that looks super interesting. I like the idea that it stays somewhat pliable, which will be very useful in certain high-vibration applications.

 

That's craftsmanship. Nice work.

 

Thanks so much for the details! I appreciate the photos & explanations, since I own some older O/U & SxS’s.

 

For good measure, the back end of the forearm got a dogbone reinforcement made from 3mm brass all-thread and two nuts shaped down from hexagonal to square to better fit in the limited space:
View attachment 147960 View attachment 147961
once the trench was carefully chiseled out and the dogbone test fit, it was fully glass bedded into place. I went ahead and glassed both the iron and the latch housing for maximal future crack mitigation:

View attachment 147962
Once the area-refinish is done, I’ll post a pic of the forearm on the gun.

(Also posted on TS)
Usually it makes sense to replace a forearm this badly cracked, except that 1) this gun is of sentimental importance to its owner and 2) finding a forearm for a long-forearm-iron Citori is just not worth the chase. So this one got reconstructive surgery.

As you can see, the owner applied superglue some time ago. Oh, and the crack is enormous and the escutcheon hole was wallowed out so badly, the escutcheon itself just spins. Most fortunately, the screw going into the escutcheon came out easily.

Attached is the before photo. View attachment 147949

Thankyou for sharing , your patientience and thinking things out paid off .

 

Great work! Love to see some great craftsmanship.

 

Back to its owner

 

Awesome job. I’ll consider you methods if I have requirement.

 

Very detailed write up! Nice work!!!