I have been touching up/repointing some checkering and am unable to get nice smooth sharp diamonds, they finish up soft and fuzzy, is there anything that can be done to remedy this? The stock is a factory M70 FTW.
bigbull

You can try and harden up the old checkering with some runny super glue. Careful, one drop goes a VERY long way. You could put a small puddle on the anvil of your bench vise and dip a toothpick into the glue and very carefully dab it into the checkering.
gunmaker

is the checkering tool sharp?????

Kathy Forster, who has done a lot more checkering than I have, suggested brushing in a little bit of thin stock finish, then checkering while it is still a bit wet.
SDH

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
is the checkering tool sharp?????

Yes the cutters are new. I am using Dembart cutters, they are the file type. I swiched to older cutters that I had laying around and they smoothed out the diamonds a little but I am still not happy with the results.
bigbull

quote:

Originally posted by gunmaker:
You can try and harden up the old checkering with some runny super glue. Careful, one drop goes a VERY long way. You could put a small puddle on the anvil of your bench vise and dip a toothpick into the glue and very carefully dab it into the checkering.
gunmaker

Will any Super Glue work?
bigbull

I've only used the Sattelite City brand sold through Brownells. The stuff with the red label is the runny stuff. One little drop will travel a surprisingly long way. They also sell a spray to cure it instantly. I'm sure other brands will work too, I just haven't tried them. When you're done you can use whatever you want to top coat the finish. You might try this on a practice block first and see if you like it. Soaking it with finish&mineral spirits works too, it just takes longer to dry and doesn't get as hard.
gunmaker

bigbull, I have used superglue with good results also. I use the thin stuff like gunmaker describes, only I just bought it locally. I had to use it last on a maple stock, the guy who owned it got tired of coming each day and holding a gun to my head while I checkered his stock.

I have used Ottmar's method of burning the fuzz off with a propane torch. It cleans up the fuzz and hardens the already cut checkering. Keep the torch moving, though.

Does fuzzy checkering necesserely mean soft wood?

Thought I'd comment on super glue here.

The best place to get super glue is at a larger hobby/model shop. You'll find more variations than you knew existed. Most of the time there is a good turnover of stock, the glue works better and is cheaper usually too. You can buy an accelerator too that can be useful at times, but play around with it first on scraps before you use it.

I learned to buy a couple smaller bottles and keep one in the freezer while I use the other. When I'd get the larger bottle often they last so long the glue starts getting thick before you are done with the bottle, and me being cheap would struggle to use up that last 50 cents worth of crappy glue...

Thanks for your help guys. I tried regular super glue since trying to find the satelite city brand was impossible, the cheap dollar store stuff worked. My checkering is alot better with sharp well defined diamonds throughout.
Thanks Again
bigbull