After glass-bedding more stocks than I can remember, I found that the best way is let an expert do it right the first time. There's no reason you can't become an expert, so go to it. You have to start before you can go on.
I'd pillar-bed first, then glass. I think you can get both the bedding pillars and the bedding glass (Pro-Bed 2000, highly recommended by bench-rest stockers) from Charley Robertson at
http://www.scorehi.com/ with full, clear, and complete instructions.
To
strengthen stocks, I used to drill back and down, from the rear of the inletting back through the grip, to a spot somewhere below and a tad behind the nose of the comb, with a 1/4-inch bit 18 inches long (an electrician's bit). I rigged an alignment jig atop the forward receiver-bolt hole, with a metal reinforcement angle, a bolt, a couple of washers, and a nut, then ran the bit through the upper hole of that angle back and down. Then I rough-scored the sides of a length of 1/4-inch spring-steel rod and epoxied it in that hole though the grip.
To
stiffen your fore-end, which I think you mean by "strengthen," I'd rout out as much of the fore-end as I dared, then glass-bed a length of close-fitting aluminum
channel in that slot. If you rout too small a channel, the aluminum and glass you fill it with is likely to weigh as much as (or more than) the wood you've routed out. You need a lot of air inside whatever stiffener you use, if you want to maintain the same weight or reduce it.
