Getting sharp lines when bedding the action?

[Bob Wright]

Put down a piece of painters tape across the stock, down into the channel tight and wrapped over the edges, this establishes your cut of line and I put more tape down if I feel I'm going to push it past. Bed as normal, personally I don't dam anything, bed it and then after popping the action out and put down another piece of tape exactly matching the first one then score the bedding deep and get a screw driver under the front and pull on the bottom tape and it will pop out with a perfect line.
I won't bed any rifle past the action personally so I put the tape down, bed and then run and end mill across it and pop it out, leaves a perfect line everytime and doesn't make uglyness forward of the action.

Thats pretty much the way I did this one with the tape. The epoxy didn't quite pop on that tape/cut line and left a little roughness. I can live with what the picture shows, but I'm thinking I need a better cutting method on that tape line. The standard exacto knife isn't real stiff.
I keep eyeballing an old but tight X-Y table sitting on the shelf and a smooth running drill press, lol!

 

[muleystalker]

Wished I had my old Bridgeport....
Long gone....
I'll see if I can find vinyl tape. Do you use that every where or just for the barrel channel area?

I use the 2" wide 3M 10-20 MIL black vinyl pipe tape instead of the masking tape.

 

[Bob Wright]

I use the 2" wide 3M 10-20 MIL black vinyl pipe tape instead of the masking tape.

I got that. Thanks! Will give it a go on the next one up.

 

[Mustang72]

Good to know I m not the only one that is ocd about this kind of stuff! Lol

 

[Bob Wright]

Good to know I m not the only one that is ocd about this kind of stuff! Lol

We try!!!

 

[DSheetz]

I don't let the bedding compound cure completely before I pull the action . I let it set up till it's good and firm then pull the action while it's still a little soft I trim it with my knife then put the action back in the stock . Use rubber bands to tighten it back down and let it finish curing . Keep your excess on your mixing pad and keep testing it to see when it is set hard enough to not loose it's shape but soft enough to still cut easily . After it's cured completely I then pull the action and use a small dowel with sand paper glued to it , I have different grits of sticky backed emery cloth , to smooth and round the sharp edges a small amount . If you dip your knife in water it doesn't want to stick in your bedding compound and will leave a nice cut line . If it pushes up a little when you cut it wet your finger and work it down back into place . A little spritz of water on the action then will keep it from sticking when you put it back in the stock .

 

[twister]

Thats pretty much the way I did this one with the tape. The epoxy didn't quite pop on that tape/cut line and left a little roughness. I can live with what the picture shows, but I'm thinking I need a better cutting method on that tape line. The standard exacto knife isn't real stiff.
I keep eyeballing an old but tight X-Y table sitting on the shelf and a smooth running drill press, lol!

can do the tape method but score the bedding with a knife it will pop clean on the line. you can also pop them a little early and just use the knife to cut all the excess after the bedding will not sag but is not fully rock hard.

 

[Salar600]

All the above and if the line is not to my liking I use a Dremel to make it clean.

 

[JAYgs8163]

I watched a Smith bed one of my rigs. He used a very sharp plastic cutting blade to cut off the excess epoxy between the action-barrel and stock. He cut the epoxy while it was still curing and flexible. He also had multiple colored pigments to attain a decent color to match the stock. The plastic cutting blade, liberal release agent and the timing of when he cut the epoxy/glass made for a super clean job.

Plastic Blades and Safety Scrapers by Scraperite

Scraperite is the original patented plastic razor blade safety scraper. Plastic Safety scraper for use where metal blades or scrubbing pads would damage the underlying surface.

scraperite.com

 

[ejg]

We use electrical tape in front of the lug, grind out out excess resin after bedding so that only the action and lug are bedded. I never saw the sense of bedding half a barrel. Do the same on Tikka's as then we can bed so that any Tikka fits and rifles can be swopped, especially for PRS where one uses the same stock for 22LR/223/6mm/6.5mm rifles depending on comp or conditions. Also same on FTR rifles as they might change a barrel mid comp. Barrel bedding useless then.
BTW... never take out an action before the resin is cured as that would defeat the purpose. We oven cure the complete rifle in the stock before removing. At least it is not going to change after that.
edi

 

[jdyoung]

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You !!!!
I just checked and Amazon has the scraperite plastic razor blades + gazillion other brands ( wish I'd a thought of plastic razor blades eons ago) . Also there is PASCO 10 mil pipe wrap 2 ", very sticky, a good tape for the barrel and with the plastic razor blades to trim, good for other areas you want clearance.

 

[crazyhorse]

Be careful with using clay for a barrier. Some of the clay can be quite dense and prevent your barrel/action from settling to its proper location.

Unfortunately, experience with a particular type action and stock is the best teacher by avoiding using too much compound which is the best way to avoid massive clean up and lots of dremmel or mill work.

 

[CoachChris]

I'll see if I can find vinyl tape. Do you use that every where or just for the barrel channel area?

I use electrical tape

 

[JAYgs8163]

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You !!!!
I just checked and Amazon has the scraperite plastic razor blades + gazillion other brands ( wish I'd a thought of plastic razor blades eons ago) . Also there is PASCO 10 mil pipe wrap 2 ", very sticky, a good tape for the barrel and with the plastic razor blades to trim, good for other areas you want clearance.

I knew I had some pictures I had taken when we did this Bergara Action build. This is a 6.5 PRC. He used lots of release agent on the outer side of the stock and on the metals. He was kind of enough to let me sit and watch him bed the action. The scarpelite blade come in various hardness ratings also. 4 in all I believe.