Whitneyville 1861 springfield stock repair gone south

[John Westenberger]

Howdy gents,

Picked up an 1861 Springfield with a Whitneyville lock for a measly 400$ recently. The metal was all there, the bore was lightly pitted, and the rifling was strong. The stock needed a little love. It was refinished at some point in it's life, and it hid a lot of the crimes. This is where the problem lies...

I stripped the old finish to see the extent of the old repairs, and to get the poly or shellac off, and put linseed oil on. But what I found showed I needed some repairs first. I initially thought there was a slight repair on the one side stock where the breech meets the stock. I thought this was strong, since I couldn't get it to flex with my hands, I thought it was stable and good to go. I did notice a crack between the ramrod spoon going in the direction of the lock mortise (Pictured first). This was not all the way through. I figured it would be okay with a little acraglas bedding shoved into the crack, and bedding the whole area to take the stress of firing. This would fix every issue this stock seemed to have, and would reinforce previous repairs. This actually caused more issues.

The barrel got removed from the stock when the bedding firmed up, and it removed the top layer of wood with it! Ugh! I thought no biggie, and I'd give it another scuff of sandpaper and go again. But closer inspection revealed more issues (Pictured). The last 2 images are where I'm at now. I don't think there is any coming back from this. I'm thinking find a new stock (Old numrich, dunlap, if someone has one, since they closed, or original), or find a shotgun converted stock, cut my stock with the bad backend off at the first barrel band, cut the cut down stock off at the first barrel band, and join them together to make one good original stock, with a hidden joint under the band.

[Lou Lou Lou]

S&S used to have a barrel of stocks and fore ends.

[Jack C., 69th NY]

John Bly recently posted about him possibly being able to produce 1861 stocks but in two pieces. You might be able to cut the original stock under the bottom band and fit the original forend to John's butt end. I say "possibly" because I do not know if both parts would match up properly. Contact John or maybe he will see this post.
Good luck !

[John Bly]

I've got a full length 1861 stock blank that would work. The lock is a drop in and some of the barrel channel is a little oversize. Shipping cost would be outrageous. That stock is certainly repairable by any really good woodnut. You just cut out the bad stuff and fit and epoxy new wood in place, shape it, finish it and you're good to go.

[John Bly]

I see you used Acraglas gel. That is not good stuff for repairs. Nothing will adhere properly to old oil soaked rotten wood. It must be cleaned up and degreased before you can get good results. The original Acraglas is the best for repairs but has not been available for quite a while. There are other epoxies that are good but it is hard to stain them for a good color match.

[John Westenberger]

I've got a full length 1861 stock blank that would work. The lock is a drop in and some of the barrel channel is a little oversize. Shipping cost would be outrageous. That stock is certainly repairable by any really good woodnut. You just cut out the bad stuff and fit and epoxy new wood in place, shape it, finish it and you're good to go.

The shipping would be probably a considerable portion of the stock! I've put out some feelers to try to get my hands on a new stock locally, and may be the route I go. But if I stick with repairing it, I think my plan is the latter here, but will require more inspection. Start cutting layers off until I hit good wood, find some walnut, rough it in, and maybe use a few small pins and epoxy to hold it all together. I'm wavering between this and finding a shotgun converted gun that was cut down, and grafting everything from the bottom of the ramrod spoon north on an original piece of wood. This stock is pretty FUBAR as far as cracks, chips, and missing wood go, and I may end up with a bit of ship of Theseus on my hands if I start repairing it with new wood. It may be easier (And perhaps cheaper, factoring time and cost of materials) to use my stock for parts to fix up a different cut up stock. Still undecided. Will inspect further, and have a few trusted mentors in the region check it out before I start cutting anywhere.