A Little Butt Work

One thing is for sure - there's always something interesting going on in my shop. 

A few weeks ago, a family walked in with a wooden rifle stock - cut into two pieces! 

They'd shortened the stock so their son could shoot it more comfortably. But now the son was grown and they wanted it re-attached. At least they kept the piece they'd removed!

Even though they asked me to simply glue it back on, I felt that there was a better solution. Gluing end grain to end grain makes a weak connection, so I felt like it needed to be beefed up with something mechanical. Plus - the seam was going to look ragged, so I thought it best to accentuate it, rather than hide it.  

I managed to track down a piece of aluminum (thanks, Lupe!) and roughly cut out the shape I needed. I planned to attach it with screws running in both directions, for maximum strength. So I screwed and epoxied the plate onto the end, 

and then drilled some opposing holes. 

Then I did a final attachment using some long beefy screws. There's no way this butt is ever coming off again! 

Aluminum sands like a dream, so I sanded everything smooth and blended the stock back into shape. 

A little more sanding, some stain and finish and this family is back in business!