Marc, I have a Turkish walnut gun stock I intend to seal, fill the pores and surface finish w/ Acraglas.

I do not have a copy of T.M. Blackman's technique that was published in Gunsmith Kinks, but I understand he seals w/ a straight mixture of Acraglas (w/ out heat) and allows to soak for 10 minutes before wiping off surface residue w/ a toluene damp cloth.

Your sealing technique published @ gunshop uses a straight mixture of Acraglas w/ heat applied to obtain maximum penetration.

Questions (sealing coats/filling coats/surface coats)? Can Brownell's Acraglas thinner be used to cut the Acraglas mixture (say 50-50) to aid the penetration (w/ out heat) on the first 2-3 applications when sealing? Then use the straight Acraglas mixture to fill the pores? Finish w/ thin (full mixture) surface coats of Acraglas as you published?

I would greatly appreciate any assistance you may offer, especially if you have radically changed/refined your technique since last published.

Thanks,
Gary

I believe glass has to be thinned to penitrate wood, and you can use toluene but its reported to be a cancer causing agent...I have thinned with Acetone, but it too will probably give you something like gonnarhea or who knows what.

I have used thinned glass as a filler...I put the stuff on until its shiney on the wood and the wood won't take anymore, they let it cure for a couple of weeks, then wet sand back down to the wood and use the mud created by the sanding to help fill...the problem I have is the glass is really tough and its a lot of work and using the comm. gun stock fillers like Truoil filler is so much easier and just as effective IMO...As to a finish, glass is very high in gloss and if cut back to a dullness its probably not as effective...

Thats the problem with gunstock finishes, high gloss built up finishes are much more waterproof than the in the wood finishes IMO..but I just don't care for high gloss..At least thats the way I see it.

Ray, I don't think I can back you up on the STD side effect of thinners, but I can say the fumes greatly effects my wife's general outlook on life. She has a tendancy to become unreasonable and angry when overexposed inside our house.

As far as the glass is concerned, I was a hold out to wood stocks while shooting service rifle competition w/ the M14 at Quantico. After we all switched over to fiberglass stocks I had a spare rifle built on a wood stock. The Marine that built the rifle sealed/finished the stock w/ glass. I kept this rifle for two years and wrung the stink out of it. It was the tuffest most durable wood finish I ever came across. I was sad when I had to turn it in. Along the same line, I've been white water kayaking for 20 years. I'm a hold out to wood paddles and displacement hulls. I've been through dozens of custom made wood paddles w/ just about every kind of wood finish you can imagine. The tuffest and most durable one I have ever owned is sealed, filled and finished w/ glass. I don't think it matters if it is dull or gloss, water will not migrate into the wood.

Thanks,
Gary

I mix straight Ag in a small cup and heat it up with a hair dryer. I then wipe it on the stock, let it sit a minute, and hit it with a hair dryer again. Let it sit a minute and wipe the surface of the wood with a clean cloth to remove most of the AG from the surfaces of the wood. Do this several times to fill the pores. When using heat, you can apply coats a few hours apart. After you have a good deal of glass in the pores, you will find that the coat of AG on top of the wood has been built up to a good degree. I wet sand with oil and get back to the surface of the wood. This shows me how much more I need to do to fill all pores. I repeat the process until I can wet sand and JUST get back to the surface of the wood and have all pores completely filled.

At this point you have a lot of options. Either add oil to the stock and be done with it (not that good for protection-no better than oil or Truoil). I always put on at least a few coats of AG. These are wiped on in VERY thin coats and allowed to dry, using the same mix-heat-apply to stock-heat-wipe down process. The key here is thin coats. You can continue to build this up and have a high gloss finish like a factory stock. Or you can lightly wet sand back using oil as a lubricant with 600 grit sandpaper. You get different looks depending on how thick you built up the glass on the wood. For a look like a matte factory stock, build the AG up pretty thick and wet sand back to just remove the gloss.

I wet sand with Purdey’s Warthog finishing oil, and wipe it down with a rag. After a couple of coats like this, it looks just like an oil finish.

The only way the protecting qualities of this finish will be reduced by cutting the finish back is if you go all the way to the wood. If you leave the AG built up even a little bit, then this finish is much more waterproof than Truoil would ever dream of being. It all depends on how you manipulate the thin layer of acragals.

Filling with epoxy is many times more effective than a Truoil finish for a using rifle. The AG filler has a stronger bond with the wood and the filler material is stronger as well. It is also more resistant to water and chemicals. This filler method makes checkering noticeably different, especially in questionable wood. The larger the pores or softer the wood, the bigger impact this filler has on both dent resistance and checkering.

The strength of this filler is better than any I know of. I won’t bore you with all of the countries and environments I have used this finish in, but I have used these stocks over a temperature range of 165°F, elevation differences of over 10,000’, humidity ranges of 95%, beat it on rocks, had it under water, under snow, etc, etc. This is the true test of how well a filler will hold up. Just the cycling of a rifle being in a cargo hold 3-5 times each year and getting off a plane in a radically different environment will loosen fillers. Nothing can be done to stop it, but from what I have seen, acragals resists loosening better than anything else I know of. I still try other finishes, but none have come close to the wear resistance.

Marc, Just to make sure I'm on track when using your mix-heat-apply-heat-wipe method:
- on the sealing/filling pore coats; I can apply coats every few hours w/out sanding between coats until I build up a good deal of glass in the pores. Allow to cure (12-24 hrs) then wet sand back to surface and inspect if more is needed to fill pores. Repeat this process until pores filled.
- on surface coats; thin coats every few hours w/out sanding between coats to build up Ag. Allow to cure then oil-sand back to cut gloss.

Is this correct or w/ heat does it actually cure in a few hours so it can be sanded back between coats?

sorry if I sound confused, I've never heated the stuff. Thanks! - Gary

You pretty much have it. I heat w/hair dryer every time it is applied. DOn't get it scalding hot, just warm it up pretty good. Kicks over the cross-linking process and speeds up drying. Too much heat applied during the cure of epoxy causes them to be too britte, so, do't heat it to the boiling point.

I always let the last coat before wet sanding set up for 24 hours. You want it good and hard to get a nice ifnish. If the build up is thick and lumpy, I CAREFULLY wet sand with 400 grit. For this coats, I only use 600 grit to finish up.

Marc my wood problem is the same and also different. I shoot Benchrest and build my stocks out of redwood and use vertical and horizontal laminations with kevlar cloth between each lamination. Redwood is very stiff and is lightweight. I end up with a 22-24oz. stock. The problem that I have is redwood bruises very easily. I have been using a high quality urethane, but it is very soft. It sounds as if your method may work for me. Do you believe it would add much weight? What do you think of it for my use? Butch

I think it would really help with dents or "bruises". I weigh components when building Alpine rifles, but enre the "good" guns I have built. No idea what a postal scale would say about the finish, but I can't see where it would add even a full ounce over any other type of finish. I have weighed a lot of pieces down to .1 oz, and can't see acraglas weighing even .5oz over say a Truoil finish

Gentlemen:

Just how thin does AG get when heated? I have a a stock blank that is a real beuaty except for a deep check right in the middle of the layout. I have been thinking about the possiblities of filling it with Epoxy, with the idea of filling and binding it at the same time.

Does the heated AG get thin enough to flow into cracks? Or would I be better served by thinning the epoxy with toulene? Do thinners affect the finished properties of the epoxy?

Thanks for you help.

Glenn

Thin it with heat. I have had VERY poor luck thinning AG with thinners of various types, including that which Brownells sells. If it is a chip you need to fill, don't heat it but dob it in there to the point where the AG sticks up above the surface of the stock. It will take several applications. WHen finished, you should not be able to see the filled chip, assuming it is fairly small. You woul dbe surprised at how it looks when the stock is finished off. You just can't find it most of the time. If you have a crack, the I heat the AG, apply to the wood, and heat some more to draw it in the crack. I do this as many times as it takes to fille the crack. Very strong repair.

Marc:

Thank you, sir. This was just the information I was looking for. Much obliged.

Glenn