| Brad Bachelder |
09-22-2009 10:12 PM |
stock head cracks
Hello all, yes I am still new to responding to threads, so if I make mistakes, bear with me. In the last thirty years I have had the chance to observe many, many cracks in stocks. I would feel confident in saying that at least one in three double stocks have head cracks, not just Parkers, but all makes.
The problem is two fold. the stock design incorporates many function necessary inlettings . These inlettings serve to weaken the longitudinal integrity of the wood. The bigger problem is the fact that early lubricants were animal based. Lard was the lube of choice for the Romans. For many decades, lubricants were organically based. The affect that these lubes had on the wood, were not considered by the design engineers. Animal based lubes contain fatty acids, these acids attack the wood. They compress the cells and basically rot. This causes shrinkage and discoloration. Thus the dark coloration where wood meets metal. As the wood softens with the absorbtion of oil, it becomes weaker and eventually yields to recoil, resulting in a split.
I have witnessed many different forms of repair attempts, most of which, compromise the integrity and appearance of the stock.
The only way to effectively repair a stock is to fully remove the offending oil,grease and fatty acids. Doing so allows you to utilize any of the modern,effective epoxies to bond the wood. Once repaired it should be stronger than the original configuration. With a little creative staining, the repair becomes invisible. The wood is proud on parkers as noted. I feel that this tolerance is more to avoid chipping than a consideration for rework. If you look closely, all wood to metal contact surfaces, have a slight inward bevel, to allow for compression.
There is no home process to acomplish this task. It needs to be done by a restoration specialist . I am sure that with some research, you can find someone that can do this for you. Anything else is nothing more than a quick fix.
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