Another question about building stocks and bedding

[Gregg C]

I am in the process of completing a rifle stock I built from raw wood, and my question is, bed , then finish ? Or finish, then bed ? What say you all ? The finish is analine dye and Tung oil.

 

[762x51]

sounds cool, we're gonna need pics of the finished product. my guess would be finish then bed but i've only ever had one gun with a wood stock and have never built my own.

 

[cape cove]

I find that it makes a much better job when you do all the bedding first then finish. Don't have to worry about getting the compound on the stock as it sands away well. JMO

 

[Gregg C]

sounds cool, we're gonna need pics of the finished product. my guess would be finish then bed but i've only ever had one gun with a wood stock and have never built my own.

Yeah, I kinda figured that I'd post up a few pics when I got it done. I finished up the final shaping last nite and set the action and scope on it, just to see how she looks. Man, I couldn't stop looking at it! I don't think I could BE more satisfied.

 

[shortgrass]

Bed it, then finish it.

 

[rpatowers]

Bed and then finish. You don't want to risk getting bedding material on your pretty stock. Bedding is a rather messy procedure.

 

[Gregg C]

Finally got pillars installed last nite. Elected to pillar separately as I could not figure out a way to index the action and stock, upside down. Now, I can bed and not worry about it. Should I cut the epoxy from around the pillars for the bedding, or leave it like it is, and bed around them

? I can see merits either way.

 

[ntsqd]

I think that I would carefully cut away the epoxy. My reasoning is that the epoxy to epoxy bond usually requires some prep for it to be robust. Prep means scuffing it at the least. Some epoxies form a waxy coating on their surface when the cure. So at the very least you'll need to make sure that if it does exist that you remove it.

 

[cohunt]

if you used any release agents they need to be completely cleaned off--I too would mechanically rough somehow

 

[Rprecision]

Bed then finish, gives more flexibility in the event things dont go to plan or need to be redone