Breathing New Life Into A Shattered Old Gunstock

A customer approached me with a really old 10-gauge Burkhard double shotgun with a badly broken buttstock. He wondered if the old stock could be restored. The stock was hanging loosely to the action, held by four splint-like brass braces. The braces were mortised deeply in place and retained by four dozen small brass screws. My first impression was to turn this job down.

The damage incurred to this old gunstock appeared irreparable, however, as I learned more about the history surrounding this old gun, it would be like breathing new life into an old fallen general. The owners were well apprised on the background of this 130 year old 10-gauge shotgun. The gun was made by Wm. R. Burkhard, a gunmaker from St. Paul, Minnesota between 1855 and 1880, hence the gun’s name. The gun had been owned by James J. Hill, famed railroad builder, also from St. Paul, Minnesota, dur- R.

Burkhard shotgun as received for evaluation and possible reconstruction of the stock. ing the same era. Mr. Hill later gave the shotgun to Mike Loso, the great grandfather of the wife of the couple now owning it. With such an interesting history following this old shotgun I decided to take on the job. Getting On With The Job The complicated order of repair would involve a well organized sequence, some parts of which would beafirst time experience for me.

I really didn’t know what was in store before disassembly of the stock. I couldn’t risk removal of the part of the stock forward of the point of the comb. There was a comminuted transverse break from mid stock immediately forward of the comb. This involved multiple splintering of the wood with a large, loose piece extending from mid stock to the point of the comb. As I slowly removed the many brass screws from each of the four brass repair inlays, the stock separated in my hands.

Still, I couldn’t help but marvel at the courageous work by some old gunsmith who meticulously fitted the brass repair

inlays, held in place by at least four dozen screws. This must have been accomplished before the advent of epoxies available today, involving much time and patience. Examination of the internal exposed wood appeared quite clean and sound for a gun 130 years old. There appeared to be no major oilsoaked areas within the break that would have rendered epoxy repair a marginal situation at best. At this point I assembled the pieces and held them in place as the finished stock would be.

They actually fit together quite well, which offered a ray of hope. I then bonded the major back portion of the stock together with dyed epoxy mixture to match the anticipated dark color of the original parts. I made sure all the cracks were drawn tightly together just as they were separated. I used Brownells Steel-Bed for the initial stock repair work colored with the dark brown dye provided in the kit. I thought about J-B Cold Weld here, but this material is quite thin and runs easily.

I really couldn’t risk that. I had to be sure epoxy wouldn’t ooze into the projected splinters and interfere with the second stage as the two major stock pieces would later be united together. The stock was left over night to set. With the major stock pieces bonded solidly together, I held my breath as Ifi tted the two parts into one another. There were multiple spiculelike splinters that had to fit together.

It appeared at this stage irreparable damage had been done to the stock but the customer wanted the old gun repaired if at all possible. Luckily, they did. So the next order of business would be attaching these two parts together. Bringing Things Together As the two major stock parts were coated with Steel-Bed epoxy I carefully aligned the two parts and pushed them quite forcefully together. They were secured this way until set solidly. Thus far I was pleased with the way things were going.

It actually began to look like a gunstock, but I had much more work to do. The repaired crack nearly matches the looks of natural wood grain. During the next phase Ifi lled in the four gaping mortises formerly used for the brass repair braces. I had thought of making walnut wood inlays to fi ll the slots but matching the color and grain would be difficult and time consuming. I decided on using dyed epoxy material. The remaining stock was very dark—almost black in color—so tinting the epoxy material was in order.

Trial and error yielded a satisfactory color and Ifi lled the open inlay slots a bit over-full to allow for fi nal shaping and finishing.

The inner surfaces of the broken stock were deeply etched with a tool bit to help promote epoxy bonding. The longer replacement screw, extending through the tail-band of metal, extends from trigger guard to pistol grip cap. The trigger guard later serves to help support the stock. Applying The Final Stock Finish In the repair process there was apiece of the plastic buttplate missing that I had also repaired and couldn’t finish the stock until this was done. I’ll cover this repair in another article later.

By now I had learned more about mixing dye into the Steel-Bed epoxy and was about to try some of the Brownells epoxy dye in Birchwood Casey Tru-Oil. I tried a small batch on some wood to see how it covered to be sure the dye didn’t interfere with the drying process. Things were fine there. What I really needed was a darker stock finish to match the color of the forend and the undisturbed front portion of the buttstock. Following some experimentation, Ifi nally arrived at a color blend that worked.

About 10 drops of Brownells black This was the first positive indication that the repair would really work.

Here a special blend of dyed Birchwood Casey True-Oil is used to match the color of the forend and part of the stock attached to receiver. dye in an ounce of Tru-Oil made a stock finish that very closely matched the old stock. As I applied it, I had to use a dab and wipe technique to blend things just right. I really didn’t want a sheen finish, so things would match the color and texture of the old antique gunstock. After much wiping and blending, I set the gun aside to dry.

A glance at the old gun showed a transformation that suited me just fine. I had shown pictures of the broken gun to my wife as it was torn down and again later after finishing it. She was quite amazed. In the early stage of repair I had also called the owners to view the many broken parts of the old gun. Given the condition of the stock, a successful repair did not appear a sure thing. As the owners viewed the finished work, they were pleased to see the old gun closely restored to its original condition.

They had a special place all picked out for it. R. Burkhard shotgun shows a result beyond expectations. The color blend was a near perfect match with the forend. The before-and-after left the owners in awe. Conclusions As gunsmiths, we are often offered uncertain jobs but this doesn’t always mean we shouldn’t try, especially if there is hope of helping a customer. A seemingly impossible repair may have a reasonable fix. This can lead to a great deal of satisfaction for all. AG