Stock Repair - Posts MOVED from "Knot" thread

[OH Osthaus]

thanks Greg- i'll check with some speed shops and see if a small piece can be had

might work

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by Dean Romig

As I understand it the lead will build up a crusty layer of oxide from it's environment. This is how lead corrodes or oxidizes and this build-up is what will split the wood...

I don't believe it was poured into the cavity in a molten state or it would have charred the wood and eventually you would have a heavy lead slug sliding back and forth inside the stock. I believe the lead slug was tapped into the bored recess and waxed or glued into place.
The oxidation would have occurred from a damp or moist environment over time.
.

very possible - where would moisture come from with a duck gun

so - maybe sealing the lead with some modern waterproof product would work

I wonder if we should have this split into a new thread with its own title in the restoration forum and let this one get back to knots -- it would be interesting to keep this going -

a little help from a moderator please

[Big D]

Is it possible that the seback experienced when the gun is fired could cause the malleable lead rod to deform into a shorter, larger diameter piece, and that could cause the splitting?

[OH Osthaus]

Originally Posted by John Dallas

Is it possible that the seback experienced when the gun is fired could cause the malleable lead rod to deform into a shorter, larger diameter piece, and that could cause the splitting?

possible , but at least in this case- the plug is not loose and completely fills the hole

[Big D]

As I visualize it the plug would drift aft, and a void would be created in front of the plug. You couldn't see it. If my half-baked idea is close to right, the plug would not be loose. It would have swollen and would be jammed so tightly that it cause a wood split.

[Fishtail]

http://www.mcmaster.com/#tungsten-alloys/=120cdyn

"High strength durable tungsten" on this page is what you'd want. Not cheap, but not out of this world....$178 for 8" of 3/4 " diameter bar.

[Fishtail]

Originally Posted by John Dallas

Is it possible that the seback experienced when the gun is fired could cause the malleable lead rod to deform into a shorter, larger diameter piece, and that could cause the splitting?

No...lead is soft but it's not that soft.

[Eric Estes]

I believe it is as Dean and some others have said. Moisture over time corrodes lead into lead oxide or lead carbonate. This is less dense than lead itself and increases the volume as corrosion occurs. In time this will split the wood. I am no chemist, but after 100 years I would think that even the low moisture content of the wood itself would be enough to do this. Of course many guns have their wood exposed to considerable moisture helping the process along. It does not happen overnight.

[Phil C]

Here are my thoughts. Lead expands when heated and contracts when cooled. Lead coefficient of expansion in inches per inch of material per degree of F is 0.0000151. Lead melts at 621 degrees. So if the lead added to a hole drilled in a stock was one inch in diameter it would actually contract .008 when it cools. Resulting in just a few thousandths gap around the lead rod. I think my math is correct possibly not.
After the initial cool down the temperature expansion and contraction would be quite a bit less in the average hunting and storage environment.
I think Dean is correct in corrosion could result in expansion and cause splitting. I also think the wood expanding with humidity or wood constricting due drying out may result in the splitting. If my think is correct, which it might not be, then any heavy metal would resut in the same possibility of cracking the stock.

[Phil Yearout]

Knot and wood filler in my old 16ga Stevens 5100, in the wrist no less! I guess you can expect such in a Stevens, but it's still in one piece so far...