I keep my Devcon in the refrigerator in a freezer bag. It seems to last longer.
HG,
You've got me interested. So is Marine-Tex Gray easier to work with than Devcon Plastic Putty, or approximately the same? Have you settled on Marine-Tex Gray, after having used Devcon in the past?
It looks like Marine-Tex Gray is available in 2 oz packaging? But I don't think the 2 oz kit would be enough for a rifle stock - do you? If it would be, that's convenient and cost-effective since I only bed one rifle stock per year - typically. I read where Marine-Tex has a 2-year shelf life after opened, which is longer than I got out of the Devcon Steel Putty hardener. But shelf life wouldn't matter if 2 oz of Marine-Tex was enough for a single rifle bedding job.
If you've used both and prefer Marine-Tex, I'll probably try it the next time I bed a rifle. But should I buy the 2 oz kit or the 14 oz kit? Thanks.
If you are ok with a pillar like those G10 pillars, I don't see a reason to even use a pillar. Just fill the hole with bedding epoxy like they used to do.
You think aluminum pillars are better than G10? Or do you use bedding compound to form pillars?
I think aluminum pillars are stronger. If stronger makes them better then I think they are better.
I have not formed pillars from bedding compound but that was the original method used by Gale McMillan. I would expect some epoxies used for bedding have a higher compressive strength than those G10 pillars.
I think aluminum pillars are stronger. If stronger makes them better then I think they are better.
I have not formed pillars from bedding compound but that was the original method used by Gale McMillan. I would expect some epoxies used for bedding have a higher compressive strength than those G10 pillars.
+1
I looked into the G 10 and did a comparison to Aluminum and this is what I found = The G 10 has a tensile strength of 45,000 psi, the lowest grade of Aluminum also has a tensile strength of 40,000 psi so if this is what you are using then ether one will do about the same in compression. "But" if you use the 7075 (I like to buy the Anodized) it has a tensile of 83,000 psi making the compressive strength more than double the G 10.
Again, this is just my opinion
J E CUSTOM
J E,
Tensile strength and compressive strength are two different characteristics of materials, very much unrelated to one another in the science of strength of materials. I haven't researched the two separate values with respect to G-10 and aluminum, but they don't necessarily have any comparable meaning or relationship. Concrete has good compressive strength. Its tensile strength is useless.
Best is defined in many different ways. Strong enough is enough, once that concern has been met. Speedy's preference for G-10 is its lesser thermal expansion and contraction compared to aluminum. So if G-10 is strong enough, yet expands and contracts less - maybe G-10 IS actually taking the time to do it right the first time? It's not for sake of saving money or time. G-10 is more expensive. And the time allotted is identical.
The article Hired Gun posted the link to was dated April 2016, and Speedy is still using and prefers G-10 pillars. The prior article I'd read was dated years earlier. Are G-10 pillars going to compress/crush/collapse when encased in bedding compound, under a maximum 60 inch-lbs of action screw torque? Recognizing that the load is equally spread out across the surface area of the face of the action and the surface area of the one-piece trigger guard, rather than a concentrated point loading? We're not hitting them with a sludge hammer or shock loading with an impact wrench. 60 inch-lbs of torque - maximum.
I've used G-10 pillars one time in my life. I'm an engineer, not a gunsmith, but Speedy doesn't use anything else. "Best" and "finding the time to do it right the first time" are most often a by-product of multiple considerations - rather than a single determining factor. Nothing is added to the functional value of a pillar by using a pillar material with 4 times the required compressive strength - if the pillar material has other less desirable functional qualities.
Don't want you to get the idea you hurt my feelings or ego in any way, and I'm not carrying a chip on my shoulder. If it weren't for differing opinions, planet earth might not rotate. I'm expressing the considerations I evaluated prior to using G-10 pillars, which included more than strictly compressive strength. Honestly, the compressive strength concern was dismissed out-of-hand solely due to a well known gunsmith using and recommending G-10 pillars himself, and instructing gunsmithing students to use G-10 pillars during his classroom instruction. I'm not doing anything that hasn't already survived the test of time in Speedy's gunsmith business.