HOW TO CRACK A STOCK

[Kensal Rise]

In order to understand what happened here, and in many other attempts to revive classic double guns, certain truths must be accepted and allowed for:

1) Wood is a natural product of carbon-based life. It is not immortal. It also dries out with age. This cannot be changed.

2) The wood used in the gunstocks of old doubles is often more than 100 years old, as it was formed into a stock. Not including the time it took to grow. Some of that wood is Black Walnut, which was barely suitable going in.

3) The wood used in old gunstocks has been subjected to perhaps thousands of impact shocks. There is a limit to the number of such shocks each piece can withstand under the circumstances of its age and treatment.

4) The wood of old gunstocks is often oil soaked. This weakens the wood. Attempts to “remove” this oil most often make the wood more brittle and less able to resist shock. Leaving the oil in is bad, too. It’s Catch 22.

5) Shock loading such old wood to more than its limits often results in failure. Why? Because the wood is old. It’s been abused. And has reached a threshold in its application past which it cannot continue to hold up. And it splits, cracks and fails.

6) The design of old doubles provides a number to “wedge Points” that work to split the stocks. The top tang and rear curves of the lockplates are only a few. They drive back into old, brittle shrunken wood with every shot. There are few ways around this.

7) Moral: You can draw out oil and refinish old stocks. You can glass bed the stock head. But don’t expect such stocks to be as strong as they were when new. It’s still OLD wood. Respect that. Use light loads and be glad they still hold up for now.