Long Rifle Restoration – 1
Once all the disassembly and glue surface cleaning was complete I set to the task of making the pieces into a whole thing. Not precisely a whole long rifle, as that would imply functionality, but at least a whole assembly of the parts.
My first step in this process was to determine if the pieces actually all fit back together again without any modifications. Temporarily re-installing the barrel I decided that indeed the major elements fit nicely back together.
Since the configuration and shape of the rifle precluded my ability to really clamp anything together I used foam pads and wedges to hold everything in the precisely correct position and wicked-in some dilute hot hide glue into the break, just to hold things in place for what was to come next.
After allowing the glue to set fully overnight, I was delighted to pick up the rifle gently and realize that it stayed together. With the proper shape established I then wicked-in slightly diluted West System epoxy with extra slow hardener to allow it to wet out the gluing surfaces and voids completely. I let this sit for a week before touching it again.
Stay tuned.
***Apologia – somewhere I think I have a few more pictures of this process, but I either put them in the wrong directory or they are on a wandering SD card and have not been uploaded to my compewder yet. If I find them I will post them.***
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