Well i am putting my new to me 1953 Smith K22 Combat Masterpiece and i was fortunate enough to trade for a very nice set of non relieved diamond target grips but i see a good size crack and i have used wood glue with great success for rifle and shotgun stocks and plan on doing the same here...but the crack is so tight and so small...i will need a needle applicator to get the glue where i need it without damaging the grips...has anyone do this to grips?...a quick search online has been not helpful...any help will so be appreciated...thanks in advance God Bless,John
i am not sure what size needles to get and where to get a good quality ones to use...

Sounds like a decent plan to me. I have carefully wedged cracks open slightly to aid in getting the glue in, but that can be risky. Post up a picture of the crack and maybe someone here can give you a suggestion as to the best way to go about fixing it.

If it's really tight I'd use a drop of thin CA from the back and wipe off the excess fast

Is the crack on the outside or inside of the stocks - or does it run all the way through?

Superglue types of glue can easily run into a crack, but they have two disadvantages in that they set up very fast and they aren't the best choice for porous material like wood. In addition, they have poor shear strength, which may or may not be a factor here.

A thin epoxy would be my choice, but how to apply it would depend on where the crack is and how deep it runs.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

Get some thin super glue in there and clamp it fast.

Charlie

FWIW, I fixed a crack in the speedloader relief area of a set of target stocks by a method suggested by another member here. But this method requires a refinish,

I stripped the finish off first by soaking them in acetone and scrubbing them lightly with a piece of scotchbrite pad. Then let them dry out overnight.

Then I put a drop of regular superglue (NOT GEL) into the crack and while it was still wet I sanded over the crack with 220 grit sandpaper. The wood dust from the sanding embedded into the superglue and formed a sort of wood paste that filled the crack. You might need to do this a couple of times - depending on the width of the crack. In my case the crack filled in with just one application.

After letting it dry overnight I sanded all of the smooth parts of the grips lightly with 400 grit sandpaper. Once they were all sanded to a uniform smoothness I removed the sanding dust with a clean, new, soft paint brush.

Next I applied several coats of boiled linseed oil with a piece of old cotton T-shirt material, allowing each coat to dry overnight in before applying the next coat.

They turned out very nice. The crack now just looks like a dark grain line in the wood. You would never even guess that it was once a crack.

well the crack goes the whole way thru...it is on a non relieved set of k frame diamond targets...it is about 1.5 to 2" long and my worry is that it will spread...i have heard that a syringe with glue would be a good choice...i plan on a full refinish of these and do not want to wedge anything other than the syringe needle to get the glue where it needs to go....i thought of using super glue but i know with wood it does not work the best..i was hoping to find a good solution to use a good glue like titebond 2 which i use for most of my wood projects...i am not sure what size needle would be most beneficial to use for any glue..God Bless,John

Super glue comes in several thicknesses.The thin watery type only works in a very tight joint because in can wick its way in.Anything bigger just needs the right viscosity.

My experiences are with metal, not wood, so keep that in mind as you read this!

My first course of action would be to fill the crack with thin glue and as mentioned, clamp the stock to close the crack.

To stop a crack in metal, you drill a hole at the end of the crack. I suspect this would work with wood as well, but for obvious reasons, you wouldn't want to do it from the front of the stock. Measure the thickness at the end of the crack, then transfer that measurement to a 1/8 inch drill bit, subtracting an 1/8 of an inch for insurance that you don't drill through the stock, and drill the hole from the back using a manual hand drill like hobbyist use. I would then inject epoxy into the hole, using a toothpick to make to remove any air and pack in the glue.

If you want extra strength, you could "vee" out the area along both sides of the crack on the inside of the stock using a Dremel with a cutting bit, and fill it with a good epoxy. That is how cracks in metal are fixed, only welding is used of course instead of glue. Although it can't be seen from the outside, you can finish the epoxy back to the original surface height, which may be necessary to obtain proper fitting of the stock.

Brownell's has decades of stock repair experience and could recommend which glues would work best for you. Just make sure you speak to one of their smiths and not one of their phone sales people! As a side note, I've had some amazing fixes on wood, metal and plastic using JB Weld. The stuff is very strong and can be worked back using files or emery boards.

Take your time and I'm sure it will turn out fine.

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So many S&W's, so few funds!!

I've always used wood glue and pressure forced it into the cracks by using a small piece of flexible rubber/plastic tubing. Put glue on crack and then place the tube on glob of glue against the wood and blow through the tube. Pressure will cause the glue to go all deep into or all the way through the crack.

The BEST CA Glue I know of is "PROFESSIONAL" Locktite brand in a blue bottle. NOT Thread-locker, but CA Glue. It is sold in Home Depot and is about the ONLY CA glue I know of that truly works. It has the "professional" rating on the label I suppose to signify it is an upgrade from the run of the mill super and crazy glues that only really seem to work on fingers.

Carpenters Glue would work well but in getting enough between the crack might cause it to split even more since it is quite a bit thicker. I suppose you could thin it out a bit to apply it with a needle though.

Your glue choice will depend on how open the crack is. If it's a bit open, meaning you can squeeze it closed with light pressure, then a good alphatic resin glue like Tightbond is fine.
If it's a very tight crack, Titebond will never get in deep enough, even with a syringe. This is a case where cyanoacrylate (CA) glue is best. There are wood grades of CA glue. "Hot Stuff" by Satellite City is excellent. Woodcraft sells a few good brands including Stickfast and the new CA glue from Titebond. You want the thinnest viscosity. (See link below)
I'd also recommend a pipette applicator for controlled application.
A thin CA glue is excellent for wood cracks. It will wick into the tightest gaps. I have years of professional experience as a luthier, and I can assure you it will work well.
Just be sure to skip the cheapo brands like Crazy Glue and Super Glue. My first choices are Stickfast and Satellite City.
By the way, one of the original applications of CA was as a chemical suture during the Korean War. So, gluing organic material is no problem for CA.
Glue-CA - Woodcraft.com - Woodcraft


Best regards,
Jim

I'd take 6string's and others advise about a CA glue. Doesn't sound like the crack is open enough for anything else to get down in there.

A thin CA will seep and crawl down into the crack no matter how small and tight. After the glue is applied to the length of the crack that you can see, a tiny bit of hand pressure from the sides will move the wood and pull even more glue deeper into the crack. You'll see the glue at the split being pulled down in. It'll start to appear on the surface further out from what you can see as the end of the crack as it seeps farther along in the crack. Only takes a few seconds to do this.
Wipe the excess off and clamp it.
The stuff doesn't dry too quickly unless confined in tight spaces like the wood crack.
Sanding over the crack like BC38 says while the surface still has wet glue on it will fill any small voids quickly. The heat and dust fill and harden quickly.

It's a set of grips on a .22,,don't over think this. They will be plenty strong. I use a the stuff in restorations where appropriate and it has plenty of strength. Not every job calls for epoxy and not every job can you use stuff like titebond.
Just my 02

Please post a picture of the crack in the stock/grip and your opinion if it represents a significant structural weakness to the overall stock/grip or is it more cosmetic.

I have posted a few times about repairing cracks in stocks/grips with the method cited by BC38. This technique works well for repairs that lean towards the cosmetic repair. If there is a significant structural weakness I would consider using another method. The beauty of this repair is that it's simple and undetectable in my experience since the cracks I've dealt with run with the grain.
1. Strip the finish off the grips.
2. Lightly sand the grips over a piece of white paper and save the wood dust.
3. Use a thin "Super Glue" (cyanoacrylate).
4. Have a fine grit sandpaper available.
5. If possible slightly (gently) separate the crack by a miniscule amount.
6. Work quickly from this point on. Apply super glue over/into the crack, enough to penetrate the full thickness of the crack and come out on the back side of the stock/grip. There should be a small amount of excess super glue on the outside of the grip/stock over the crack. Work quickly for the next steps.
7. Wipe off any excess Super Glue on the back side of the grip.
8. Place the saved wood dust over the Super Glue laden crack on the outside of the grips. Some of it will stick to the excess Super Glue.
9. Sand along the grain of the wood with fine grit sand paper over the Super Glue/wood dust slurry until it is smooth and blended with the remainder of the grip.
10. When done the crack should look like natural wood grain in the stock/grip.

Here's one in which there was a vertical crack at the top forward portion of this stock (a little forward and above the emblem):

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Scoundrel & Ne'er-Do-Well

This is a little more involved description of how I fixed the crack in mine - and g8rb8 is probably the person I "borrowed" the method from. Here's how mine turned out. If I didn't know they had been cracked I wouldn't be able to spot the repair without looking at the back side of the grip. The repair looks just like a dark grain line.

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You will not find a needle small enough to fit in a crack and allow any type of glue to flow through it. If you can carefully insert the tip of a small Exacto knife blade into the crack and slightly turn it to spread the crack open, you can put wood glue into the opening, wipe off the excess, let it close then clamp it. Tape will work in a pinch, just use enough so it will hold tightly. It's a delicate procedure, but it works if you're careful. The stock should be secured in a padded vise so you can use both hands. If you use super glue and get on the finish, you're screwed because acetone is the only thing that will remove it, and it will take off the finish as well.

You can try Super Glue as described, I have done it successfully. Another thing I also have done is a little more extreme, namely cutting a couple of short transverse shallow grooves across the cracks on the back side, using a Dremel tool, then filling them with a good Epoxy. Or you could cut a long groove along the length of the crack. Clamp across the crack. Sand down the epoxy flush with the wood after it has cured.

Yes I have done it. I bought a set of K frame RB targets from a fellow member and used just such a process. In addition I used a very small drill and stop drilled the ends of the crack. It has held up against many a 357 mag load.