Basic Repairs With Brownells Acraglas

Some of my recent experience with Acraglas from Brownells I refinished a stock for my daughter Jessica. A few years ago, I had cut down a lightweight muzzleloading rifle to fit her, but after a few years she needed the stock restored to its original length of pull. Shaping the buttplate was not difficult, and most readers are likely to be familiar with this process.

The problem was that the plate was not made of solid plastic; it consists of several "cells" separated by ribs on the inside, with a stippled surface on the outside. In shaping the plate, the side became paper-thin in a couple of spots and broke through in another.

The fix was fairly straightforward Dye it black and dab it on with a fingertip for a cheap, strong fix that matches the original surface well. " The left end in the photo shows the repaired area filled with epoxy and fitted to the rifle. using Brownells Acraglas to fill the areas where the side was thin or missing.

The underside of the area to be filled was roughened with medium-grit sandpaper and degreased with rubbing alcohol. (A stronger solvent, such as acetone, might have melted the plastic.) Masking tape was placed on the side to act as a "dam" to hold the epoxy in place. resulted when I mixed the epoxy gel per the manufacturer’s instructions and dyed it black. Filling the cell with the mixture is simple, but be sure to work it in well to avoid any voids caused by large bubbles of air trapped in the epoxy.

Then it was set aside in a level place and given time to cure. After 24 hours, the tape was removed. Next, I used sandpaper on a wooden block to smooth the sides and to ensure that the back was flat. At this point, the buttplate fit very well. The only problem that remained was that the repaired surface, though well-fitting, was dull and smooth, and didn’t match the "stippling" on the rest of the buttplate.

I considered simply painting the thing, but paint would only make it more obvious that the repaired surface didn’t match the original (continued on page 21)

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surface. The solution was to again mix up some Acraglas and dye it black. Then I dabbed it on the entire buttplate using a fingertip. (Wearing a disposable glove makes your cleanup considerably easier.) A little epoxy goes along way, so each time you dab your fingertip into the epoxy you want to lightly dab several places on the butt-plate. To make handling the piece easier, I slipped two machine screws into the holes in the buttplate and secured them with nuts.

Then I drilled two matching holes in apiece of scrap wood to make a "handle" to use while applying the epoxy and while waiting for it to cure. Going over the entire buttplate made sure that the surface matched and had equal "shine." The dried surface was "bumpy," and this blended very well into the original stippling. Any broken buttplate or plastic stock of this type should be repairable in a similar manner. As another example, I have an old Normark lock-back knife that has a grip made of plastic.

It has "cells and ribs" just like the plastic buttplate. It had given me over 20 years of good service before the handle broke. I really wanted to save this "old friend." Using a Dremel tool, I carved a The epoxy was used to fill all the cells and to "bed" it when the mating surfaces were damaged. slot in the cell that ran across the broken area. A small piece cut from a brass screw was fitted into this slot to act as a splint and add strength to the break.

After securing the handle to apiece of scrap wood, I placed a small amount of epoxy into the slot. The splint was put in the slot and the rest of the cell filled with epoxy. After the repair cured for 24 hours, only a small amount of fitting was needed to reassemble the knife. This repair has held up through a lot of hard use since then. Multiple camp chores, cleaning fish, and skinning a caribou in Newfoundland have proven the strength of the repair.

It should work equally well on any broken plastic part of this type. Using the epoxy that’s probably already on your workbench, with the addition of the dyes made to color it to match, you can quickly tackle any number of plastic (or wood) repairs. And by the way, Jessica really enjoys shooting her muzzleloader, so I guess my customer is satisfied with the job. ■