Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Paste Wax as Release Agent

Two coats of Hornady's One Shot followed by a coat of Kiwi natural.

Works with Acraglas and polyester resin too.




Dan

Since a bottle of Brownell's release liquid costs about $6 and lasts for dozens of AcraGel/AcraGlass bedding jobs, I can't see the value in using an alternative release agent.

I was at Browell's retail store in Grinnell, IA, yesterday and bought a bottle 'cause I plan to do some bedding in the next couple of weeks.

I do my fair share of bedding long guns but doing a good many scope mounts I've really been experimenting with bedding lapped rings and also bases. I've found that the harder waxes do best if you're going buff them. I like the softer waxes if I'm not buffing. For instancre, I have 25-year old can of carnuaba car wax that is very hard in the can. I smear and buff two coats. On the other hand I like to use Johnson's paste floor wax which is very soft and "liquidy" and I do not buff. I've used it wet and dry and it works equally well.

The volatile additives in Johnson's paste wax also make it great for removing uncured epoxy from places you don't want it, such as your hands or the fingerprint that managed to somehow get on stock. lightly rubbing Johnson's paste wax on even semi set up epoxy will soften it and make it easy to remove.

For this reason, I make sure to let the paste wax dry throughly prior to bedding- so that those volatile agents are not present to affect the final bedding job.

Good tip and it might explain why some bedding jobs take so long to fully cure. I thought it was from out dated bedding compound but may be the still wet wax.

When I bought this can of Johnson's paste wax, I think it was about $5-6 also..

I still have over half a can left, and since I've used this now for 18+ years it should last me another 18 - if I live/wanna work that long.. And I bed probably 25-30 rifles/year - at least..

You're obviously more frugal than I am.

I use T-Lube plus from Certified Labs. This is an eighty percent Teflon spray that drys with a very light white film. Super easy clean up when done and nothing sticks to that Teflon!

I wax EVERYTHING I don't want it to stick to.

I still maintain epoxy is most closely related to dogshit. It'll go everywhere you don't want it and the more you try to clean it up the worse it gets.

Keep practicing. We don't mask anything anymore. Got it down to where it's a real clean process. I don't even get it on my hands anymore. For release I don't use anything that leaves a visible residue or liquid of any kind. No sprays. All products like that show up in the bedding and interfere with getting an exact casting of the action. What ever I use has to still work when buffed off best I can.