Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Dimensional Stability Myth

Have any of you used Rot Restore epoxy? I have used it for repairing thin cracks and it has worked well. It isn't water based and has about the consistency of water. Also, as far as aluminum bedding blocks go-what about galvanic reaction causing corrosion?

Dixie
I use a number of different epoxies and have no real favorites based on serviceability. The "Industrial Formulators" G-1 and G-2 are my feel-good favorites right now. G-1 is 24-hour set and the standard I use. If I am finishing or gluing on a fore end tip of really oily wood I will use the G-2. It WILL cure on any wood. It is a 48-hour cure and is just a shade stronger than G-1.

I use it for the whole thing, but realize if you are just doing a barrel channel, that leaves a water-tight, immobile face opposite a poorly sealed surface. Changes in Moisture Content of the wood will change its size. Wet environments can cause it to grow and put pressure on the barrel and drying can tweak the action.

Wood changes size differently in all three dimensions and that makes things tough to calculate in reference to how stock movement will affect the action, if at all. I use the epoxy to completely coat the entire stock, inside and out. Wood movement in my stocks has become a non-issue.

Aluminium and steel do move differently under temperature changes and that is one very good reason to avoid heat lamps to cure epoxy bedding. But even at the deepest cold one can expect to hunt in, in say the interior of Alaska on a January caribou hunt, the difference in temperature movement between an aluminum bedding plate and the steel action is ony going to be about .050". That being a WAG about temperature reached during bedding if a heat lamp is used and the final temperature of about -40F... just about as cold as a guy needs to hunt in and maintain the skinniest shred of sanity...

Sorry about the ramble, but different issues kept coming to mind.
art

Wiktor
Do not know the brand exactly, but the various similar blends rely heavily on solvents for penetration. Those solvents work their way out of the curing epoxy, driven in large part by the exothermic (giving off heat) reactions going on in curing.

Those micrpores are large enough for water molecules to run through without ducking their little hydrogen atoms. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> As a crack sealer it is fantastic stuff. As a stock finish it is generally a poor substitute for the epoxies I generally use.

As a finish, most of the "rot" blends suggest at least three coats which leads to a build up in the surface finish and a big increase in weight. That may not mean anything in a particular application, but then again, it might...

I do not think galvanic reactions will be a problem unless you have water in the equation, but the bedding will likely isolate the parts enough to prevent any real problems. Hunting around Kodiak saltwater for years, as I have, I find lots of rust, but little that really looks like galvanic corrosion on guns... A lot of aftermarket triggers use aluminium bodies and steel parts and they are connected to steel actions.
art

Sitka deer, thanks for the reply and information!

Caution: Don't use sweet gum. It will warp. miles

Miles
One of the prettiest stocks I ever built was sweet gum on a Ted Williams model 70 30-06 that would not shoot before or after I stocked it. Traded it away some years ago.

The epoxy finish sealed it well enough it never moved. I would not go out of my way to use it again, but if presented with a blank like the couple I got back then I would use it in a heartbeat and not worry in the slightest...

It can be the most subtle gorgeous wood out there, IMO... but unsealed it will run circles around anything... and I do not mean that as an endorsement! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
art

"Industrial Formulators" G-1

This entered into hotbot only brought up two results and one was for a MSDS sheet! heh heh

Where do you procure your voodoo brew? I still get the heebyjeebies about internet purchases. Is there a store I can walk into or an 800 number I can call to buy some? How much do you need to fix up a little 10/22, channel, but plate area and maybe a once over the whole thing?

Thanks neighbor!

A Google search with "epoxy" added to IF brought up a bunch of options... The last time I purchased the stuff it was Garrett Wade in NYC. I use it for bedding compound also, BTW.
art

I was sawing some sweet gum lumber today and it would try to warp by the time that I got to the end of the cut. miles

Miles
As you seem to cut a little wood, sure do not intend to step on toes or anything and gum does stain WAY FAST, but a sprinkler on the log pile the day before sure does make some woods much easier to deal with that way? Have dealt with a few real movers that way with excellent results...

That is stress within the log from partial and nonuniform drying... the real movement is yet to start! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
art

Dixie,

I bought there products after talking with SD and believe in the Epoxy Technique. Try this: www.indform.com, Order# 888.277.8050, Tech Service# 604.294.5723. I think I bought mine from a distributer in Ontario of which I can't remember. Let me dig up there addy and I'll fire it off to you. I called them on the phone, gave them a credit card and it arrived a week later.

I used a new IF product called S-1 - the verdict is still out as Art is running some water penetration tests but initial tests indicate that it doesn't seem to be as good as the G1 and G2 in the water proofing capacity.

Also the Industrial Formulators products cure with a plastic-like shine; shinier than anything I've seen before. A little 4-O steel wool cured that though. Good luck and let us know how you make out.

I have a small band saw, sawmill and the gum is green. I don't cut any logs very far ahead of time. I just mess around with it when I have some free time. I am sawing some lumber now to put a side-shed on my barn. Green gum lumber is real good for the lathing to nail metal roofing to. miles

Sorry to but in, but these guys are pretty good to deal with, and I have bought G1 through them in the past.

CAS
From memory only, those prices are good. First time I noticed a "Made in USA" tag on the product... my bottles are labled "product of Canada"?

Lee Valley is good to deal with, I agree.

BWinters point about the gloss relates to his decision to use it as the entire finish. It builds and is glossy in that application. Matting it is not difficult.

I generally use an oil finish atop the epoxy and that leaves an oil finish appearance...
art

Miles
I envy you the trees to cut... here in AK we have three choices for hardwood trees for lumber; trashy paper birch, twisty paper birch, soft, useless paper birch... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

The stuff twists and warps badly during drying and is extremely subject to collapse and checking. The reaction wood is horrible and it still ends up too soft to do anything with.

The one thing I wish we had here was an option to simply cut down a tree and eventually turn it into a stock. I like being part of the entire process and do not use duplicators or partially shaped stocks because I like starting as far back as possible in the tree...
art

Sitka, CAS, Miles, bwinters;

Thanks for the help! Very useful info on this thread. Thanks again.

I wish I could give you some of my trees. It sure would be a long haul though. I don't have anything that would make a very pretty stock that I know of. Mostly sweet gum and oak. I might have a cherry or two that is big enough. What about pecan? I would think that hickory would be too heavy. Maybe mulberry!! miles

Miles
This is an example of why good walnut costs so much... I bet it would shock you to know what really good blanks sell for these days.

Mulberry is the ticket! Nothing like brilliant yellow fluff to build a stock from. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Hickory and pecan are not stable enough and too heavy. Cherry makes a very fine stock. I have a huge pile of incredible cherry blanks but have not used one in about six years...

Keep looking for the walnut growing in someone's yard...
art

I cut up a walnut for a friend last summer that came from a yard and ruined two saw blades on nails. We knew that it would probably happen and he said he would buy the blades if I would cut it for him. miles

Miles
I have an impressive series of scars from carbide bits flung from a headsaw encountering a big spike... long story, but metal in wood bothers me. I get very annoyed by lumberyards' indiscriminate use of a stapler...

There must have been a good blank or two in there??? A good feather is usually available in every tree and stumps are almost always worth the effort...

Metal detectors are cheap these days also...
art