Brno Model 2 wrecked stock resurrection

**oafpatroll** · 12-02-2023, 15:44

I got an early Brno Model 2 just pre-covid to restore for my daughter as a 14th birthday present. It came in the less common 'military trainer' style stock which looked like it had been used as a mallet and a pry bar for most of its life. Deciding it was too far gone to bother with I hunted up a more typical slender sporter style version that was in much better shape and fit my daughter better anyway. I completely refinished the new stock, sourced the missing bits from a guy in Slovenia and cleaned up and rust blued the metal work.

Within months of giving it to my daughter her interest in shooting completely disappeared so I've been shooting it quite a bit since and the dainty little stock doesn't fit me well at all so I decided to pull out the original and have at it. Scraped, acetone bathed, steamed (a moer of a lot), epoxied cracks and block sanded to the point where It was ready to start a hand rubbed oil finish. Or so I thought. While leaning on the forend I noticed a hairline crack in the wrist momentarily open up. On closer inspection with a magnifier it turned out it was cracked all the way through to the trigger recess on a darker grain line that extended all the way into the butt.

Through piss poor planning this perfectly coincided with my collection of drill batteries being flat and one of the dividends of ANC rule in the form of a planned power failure so brace and bit time it was. Drilled a hole from the end of the tang recess towards the butt end of the pistol grip through the middle of the crack and just below it and then poured in some runny quickset epoxy. Strapped a pipe into the barrel channel for a bit of leverage and while opening the crack up a hair used a tight fitting wooden skewer to pump it into the crack till I could see it coming through. Cleaned up the residue and then bound the stock up and left it in the sun to set. After an hour I drilled the hole out 0.5m bigger and to full depth and epoxied in a piece of all thread and put it in the midday sun to cure. 40 minutes later the epoxy was rubbery and I cleaned out the tang area and shaved it flat with a sharp chisel. Not that it matters for this fix but epidermix tinted with woodoc colour can be made to very closely match the colour of the parent wood and this repair is all but invisible. Should be able to kick off the oil finishing ritual tomorrow.

**Stevin** · 12-02-2023, 15:48

Would enjoy some more images of the process, I've got a Lithgow Slazenger that was my Grandfathers and then my dads that I really been meaning to restore

**oafpatroll** · 12-02-2023, 15:54

Originally Posted by Stevin

Would enjoy some more images of the process, I've got a Lithgow Slazenger that was my Grandfathers and then my dads that I really been meaning to restore

Sorry, haven't got any of the work described that I'm aware of. Mark Novak of Anvil Gunsmithing has a yoochoob channel that covers preservation and restoration techniques in (sometimes excruciating) detail.

**zguy** · 12-02-2023, 16:13

Originally Posted by oafpatroll

Sorry, haven't got any of the work described that I'm aware of. Mark Novak of Anvil Gunsmithing has a yoochoob channel that covers preservation and restoration techniques in (sometimes excruciating) detail.

Mark Novak is a character worth watching. Good info there.

I've seen the repair you have with a threaded rod being done on a few channels, including Midway USA I think?

For interesting wood repair tips and tricks, check out guitar repairman Dan Erlewine.
Especially on how to treat cracks and and wood finishes. Luthiers have interesting wood repair methods.

What oil are you using and what method? What kind of wood is the stock?
Keen to see the finished result

**oafpatroll** · 12-02-2023, 16:23

Originally Posted by zguy

What oil are you using and what method? What kind of wood is the stock?
Keen to see the finished result

I use plain boiled linseed if I don't want to darken the wood or schaftol dunkel if I do. This stock is nice reddish walnut in a shade I like so it will get a little bit of alkanet root to enhance it and then a month to 6 weeks of very sparing linseed applications with an awful lot of hand rubbing every 2 or 3 days.

It was really badly beaten up so it's not going to win any beauty contests but I'll post a pic or two when i'm done

**Stevin** · 12-02-2023, 18:09

Originally Posted by oafpatroll

Sorry, haven't got any of the work described that I'm aware of. Mark Novak of Anvil Gunsmithing has a yoochoob channel that covers preservation and restoration techniques in (sometimes excruciating) detail.

Yeah, hes on my subscribed list
I enjoy his content

**A-R** · 12-02-2023, 19:01

Not related to the stock repair, but I want to comment on your daughter's disappearing interest in shooting.

I have had the attitude that I may let my kids shoot with me if they beg me long enough. No, I really wanted them to come shooting, but did not tell them. You see, once they think they are shooting to please you, it takes all the fun out of it for them.

So far this has worked pretty well for me. All my kids have at some point won first place at one or another nationals, in their age categories.

If you can get your kids addicted to guns and shooting, they will never have money left for drugs...

**oafpatroll** · 12-02-2023, 21:28

I can't afford drugs anymore and I shoot a lot so I can see that you definitely have something there

Happily my daughter lost interest through an increasingly powerful drive to achieve at her main sport so I can't complain too much. She trains 15 plus hours a week and has matches most weekends so our schedules dont match up ant longer anyway. Had good times with her on the range and in the veld for a while so it's all good.

**oafpatroll** · 13-02-2023, 15:45

These are the two stocks as bought. The bottom one is the original 'military trainer' style stock which is a fair bit meatier and heavier too.

This one, which I call 'Still life with deconstructed Model 2' is of a bowl of fruit and a fully refinished rifle with the replacement sporter stock ready for reassembly and handover to my daughter. There was at least 100 hours of work and a great deal of beer in it at this point.

This is the boogered military trainer style stock just after I lost my mind and had started to scrape it down for a 'quick functional refurbishment' which I bullshitted myself would be done in a couple of days. The OCD kicked in hard just after that.

**zguy** · 13-02-2023, 20:46

The wood was really polished like a mirror before. Nicely done.
I think now that you have removed the oil / stains / dead skin cells, it will look 10x better once you oil and polish it again.

The metal still looks really good. I'll take this conserved / refreshed gun over a safe queen any day of the week.
How's the current weather affecting the process? Very wet / humid at the moment.