Going to attempt my first bedding job

[sthrnfryedyankee]

Someone had mentioned Devcon plastic steel, would this be an appropriate bedding compound for a wood/laminate stock. Should I do a skim bed or a full bed? Does a full bed mean that I need to remove extra material from the stock? This is a picture of my stock, where else am I supposed to remove material from? I am leaving the tang alone and I am placing electical tape around the barrel to give a free float to where a dollar bill can wiz in between the barrel and stock with no hang ups. I will not be bedding the barrel channel. I will be using either kiwi shoe polish or the green turte wax (someone used it on a different site) as I would be able to see it better agains the black of the action and barrel. I am going to use play dough to dam everything up but am I supposed to let it dry first? Am I supposed to let the tang sit freely and put tape around the barrel? What happens if there is a slight incline to the rifle? Any advice would be great. I thank EVERY1 in advance

 

[MountainBear]

Use spray on cooking spray rather than the two other release agents you mentioned. I have never used play-dough for a dam. I use modeling clay. It does not dry. Devcon works well. So does Acraglas, Acragel, and Marine-Tex (my personal favorite). I have not heard of any having adverse reactions to the laminate woods, but would further check on that (perhaps with the stock manufacturer).

If I were bedding your rifle and wanted it free floated, I would bed the rear action screw, the front screw/recoil lug area, and the first two inches of the barrel (basically three-point bedding). Since its a semi-finished stock (as in you don't want to sand bedding compound off), I would recommend taping off the areas of the stock you don't want bedding compound on. The stuff gets everywhere. Blue masking tape works just fine.