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I managed to chip the edge of my lower handguard with a rubber mallet and also dented it, I imagine with the rim of a shell. I'm really ashamed of myself for damaging something I value so much and would really appreciate any help offered on how to fix these fuck ups. I'm going to bust ass from now on to not damage my stuff any further in the future.

 

 

Sorry for the low quality of the images, I only have a dumb phone and an old 6 megapixel camera

 

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Edited by JDeko
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Shrug it off (Option #1- No action required).

 

Being a perfectionist sucks, I know from experience.

 

(I take forever getting projects done.)

 

I like the custom work!

 

Does it have a finish?

 

A heavy dark finish will blend the scratch.

 

If it is raw you can soak it and steam it with and iron, to raise the wood (never tried this).

Edited by Sim_Player
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Its finished: "We do a hand finished 5-6 coat oil finish, topped off with a #0000 steel

   wool buffing, and then a coat of orange oil/carnuba wax."

 

I think my best bet [since wood fillers don't have grain texture and the kind I got sold is water soluble] it seems is to just sand down the chip and refinish it, and deal with having a dimple there as its really the jagged nature of the chipped wood that is really bothering me. Hopefully I can get it to more or less match with 320 grit sand paper and picking up some carnuba wax to get it slightly shiny like its supposed to be. So far its looking like Outer's gun oil is coloring it fine as I'm trying that on the front edge that goes into the metal of the barrel to hold it on.

 

Certainly not bit enough to be gluing pieces of wood on to fix.

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Try a wet cloth (not terrycloth) and an iron. Place the wet cloth over the damaged area and lay the iron on it for a bit until it stops steaming. Repeat as necessary. I've resurrected a few milsurp rifle stocks this way. After you steam, let it cool and dry for a couple of weeks, then buff down with fine grit sandpaper and rub on a few coats of Tru-Oil.

 

A mallet is NOT a tool you should be using on a finished firearm. 

 

Shaping a stock, sure. Then mallets, chisels, knives, sandpaper and GASP!.....even judicious use of a Dremel are acceptable.

 

...but after that?  NO.

Edited by patriot
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If you bought it as a collector's piece to keep pristine then stop shooting it.   On the other hand, I know you use it for hunting and take it to the range, which means that you're going to need to get comfortable with it getting scratched, dinged, dented etc..   You will be much happier and probably be able to enjoy the shotgun more when you embrace this.   I'm not saying be careless with it, but at the same time, little beauty marks like this are nothing to worry about.  As mentioned above, these are tools and are going to show some wear.

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What doesn't come out with Patriot's method will be call "character". No one will ever realize your mistakes better than you. 

 

In the future, "fitting" wood is done with sharp blades, sharp files and sharp sandpaper. 

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It's an AK based gun. Beat the shit out of it, enjoy the hell out of it.

If you want display quality furniture,  take it off and put some craptastic plastic on it when taking it out to use. Taking the pretty wood out to play in the dirt is like going duck hunting in your sunday best.

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Most of you have seen the 10ga I restocked. It doesn't sit in the safe. It gets USED. It's going to get dinged up. 

This is an AK, not a $3,000.00 double. I don't worry about dinging up the 10, I'm careful, but I don't obsess over it.

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There may be a quick easy cheap fix.  Go down to your regional home improvement center and go to the kitchen section with all the cabinets on display.  They should have an installers "bo bo kit" or "ah shit kit" consisting of many many different colored nicked cabinet finish fix pen sticks.  Find one that matches and just gently erase/rub out the nick.  Take your hand guard with you and find the exact color to fix it with.  Probably under five bucks.

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The mallet was trying to flip the gas bloc lever, I missed and hit the wood.

 

 

There may be a quick easy cheap fix.  Go down to your regional home improvement center and go to the kitchen section with all the cabinets on display.  They should have an installers "bo bo kit" or "ah shit kit" consisting of many many different colored nicked cabinet finish fix pen sticks.  Find one that matches and just gently erase/rub out the nick.  Take your hand guard with you and find the exact color to fix it with.  Probably under five bucks.

 

I work at such a place so I'll have to ask about such an option next time I'm in.

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The mallet was trying to flip the gas bloc lever, I missed and hit the wood.

 

A better solution, would be to use one of the rails of your bolt carrier, gives you a much bigger lever. I've seen video of an Izhmash factory worker doing it.

 

You can also use the little cleaning kit that should've come with the gun, the tube has a thin slot cut in it that fits perfect.

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The mallet was trying to flip the gas bloc lever, I missed and hit the wood.

 

For future reference..there is a little notch on the cleaning kit that fits the lever perfectly and allows you to rotate it.   Alternatively, some people use the grooves in the side of the bolt carrier.   If you don't have a cleaning kit or don't want to use your bolt carrier, cut a little piece of dowel to use as a punch to give yourself something to tap with the hammer.

 

20150829_151827_zpsjtmf8tpw.jpg

 

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20150829_150318_zps8hdvncro.jpg

 

20150829_150333_zpstuo7jvan.jpg

 

Photo credit: Chknfkr on the AKFiles.   I'm not sure if forum rules allow posting to another forum but there is a great thread that you can search for that shows a ton of other great uses for the pod and tools.  The thread is called... "The MANY uses of an AK cleaning kit and rod "

 

The bolt carrier method is the first tip in this video...

 

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Thanks, I'll use my cleaning kit tube from now on.

 

Also just learned using Petroleum oil is not good for wood so looks like I'll be having to sand the notch that slides in from the front to hold the handguard on as well as the chipped part since I was testing how my bottle of Outers colored the wood.

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The steam trick is worth a shot, but doesn't always lift out every scratch.

 

Rubbing linseed oil into the scratch for a few days will get it to blend in with the surrounding oil finish.

 

Honestly.. It's going to get more scratches like this if you use it. Best to stop fretting over it.

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Scratch I'm not as worried about as the chip towards the outer edge. The shell rim scratch/dent just looks like its seen use, but the chip seems to say "you fucked up"/abuse more.

 

And it was just one coat of Outers on those two spots, hopefully it'll be alright until tuesday after I go hunting since I thin sandimg now is just going to expose more wood and probably make things worse before I can try to make it better.

Edited by JDeko
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So now you don't know if the wood will be ok with a little gun oil on it?

 

I'm surprised you hunt with it, for fear of a blemish.

 

I get wanting to keep shit nice, but don't sweat the small stuff.

 

I put an idiot scratch on a day old 1911. It drove me nuts until I came to realize it will eventually blend in with the other blemishes. Best to get the first scratch out of the way early.

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So now you don't know if the wood will be ok with a little gun oil on it?

 

I'm surprised you hunt with it, for fear of a blemish.

 

I get wanting to keep shit nice, but don't sweat the small stuff.

 

I put an idiot scratch on a day old 1911. It drove me nuts until I came to realize it will eventually blend in with the other blemishes. Best to get the first scratch out of the way early.

That's what I do with any newer car I buy. First trip to the grocery store and I push a shopping cart into it. That way It's done and over and I don't have to wait for the first scratch.

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I'd love to tell you to get over it, but I would be the same way about it if it were me. Honestly I would try and make it look intentional, which means you will have to create the same thing on the other side. Make it something geometrical and small, and do it to the other side. Its custom to begin with, so make it even more custom. A little sanding and filing and you could make a small half circle. The scratch is easy, but the chip will be impossible to repair. So I would just smooth it out and make it look like a design element of the handguard. 

Edited by Semper299
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So now you don't know if the wood will be ok with a little gun oil on it?

 

I'm surprised you hunt with it, for fear of a blemish.

 

I get wanting to keep shit nice, but don't sweat the small stuff.

 

I put an idiot scratch on a day old 1911. It drove me nuts until I came to realize it will eventually blend in with the other blemishes. Best to get the first scratch out of the way early.

 

I blame D.A.R.E.  for instilling the "never even once" mindset in me where "gun oil will weaken your wood and make it crack" means "if you ever get petroleum oil on your wood, even a single drop, it will slowly eat through it like acid until all your furniture is crumbling like particle board in your hands as you scream into infinity".

 

97% of the time my alarmism is me going "please tell me the horror story my mind is writing is inaccurate".

 

 

 

 

An I the only one who sees the irony in this post

The title's a bit of a double entendre.
My first thought when I read the title was, "did it hurt much?"
I'm glad I'm not the only one who was apprehensive about opening this thread.

 

 

So I had an erection and a metal lathe and thought to myself "Item synthesis"...

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I am planning to just sand and refinish the chip since there is no way to fill the chip right. Plus I watched Hickock45's video shooting a K31 last night and he was talking about all the dents and dings telling stories and I guess these do. I was focused on how I messed up but I don't have to. Instead of "the time I hit it with a rubber mallet" the chip is from "when I was so concerned to fix it I raced to get the gas tube off". Instead of "from when I hastily put it away after another unsuccessful hunt" the dent is "from when I kept hunting even though I forgot my coat and it started to sleet."

 

What kind of carnauba wax do you use to finish wood? Paste/bar/spray bottle? [i really doubt its spray bottle].

Edited by JDeko
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