What can I get locally that can be used as bedding?

I use the West Systems epoxy for all kinds of wood repairs, can't beat it. Makes the wood strong, and hardens hard. If you want something different, you can buy Devcon epoxy at Home Depot or Lowe's, but it is still kind of soft when hardened.
 
Thanks
Knew there had to be something out there just didn’t want to get the wrong stuff and couldn’t find anything that I had on my list and just ran into the employees that knowledge only went as far as where the spray paint and nails were
West was closed but will go there tomorrow
Looked a little more and saw they had some smaller pre measured kits sold with the fast setting hardener (205=9-12 min) but if I get the quart will have enough to bed another gun or two
 
The fast set stuff isn't usually nearly as strong. It also doesn't have time to penetrate wood grain nearly as well. Slow setting is the way to go, IMHO.
 
West System is GREAT stuff.
Used to buy the 105 resin by the gallon for boat building.

You only need a small amount, they sell a package with like a half-dozen or so foil packages of resin and hardener for small project, so you don't have to buy the large containers and pump dispensers.

Get the high-density (for strength) filler, and mix it to a mayonnaise-like consistency.
 
Got lucky they had one box of grey marine-tex there
The same guy was there from 10 years ago when I fixed up a boat and he knows pretty much everything about boats but never heard of using it for a gun
But thanks for the replies was nice to know that if they didn’t have the marine tex that the west stuff would of worked and to not try to save a few bucks and get the smaller fast setting kit
 
Another "shortcut" that works well- when I couldn't get to Wally World or a craft store for modeling clay, plumbers' putty works great to fill the necessary areas of the stock.
 
Dental wax or any kind of soft wax, including some cast bullet lubes, that you can work into a hole will also serve. Just don't melt wax of any kind into wood, as it will penetrate and make it impossible for epoxy to stick where it has penetrated.
 
A use for plumber’s putty :eek:
Every time I see it I have thought about just throwing it away figuring that it will just cause an extra trip to the store
I’m cheap so won’t get it with the rest of the new stuff
because I have ¾ of a tub at home only to find out it went bad years ago
 
The issue for gunsmiths isn't how strong the epoxy filler is. It is a matter of how much it shrinks. That's why bedding compounds continue to sell well even in the face of so many other two-part epoxy compounds.

Here's the problem: You do a bedding job, get the action/barrel out and cleaned up and the bedding job looks great, right?

Look at how good it looks in a year or two... then decide whether you like that material as a bedding compound. What you'll find is many epoxies tend to shrink a bit over time, leaving you with a need to revisit the bedding job.

Marine-Tex shrinks the least of some of these materials, so it has found some favor.
 
That’s really good to know
I assumed that the shrinking would have accrued in the begging as it cured (first year or so)
Explains why I had to redo where the butt attaches to the wrist
After 45 years of shrinkage fit wasn’t very good anymore
 
Good point. In general, the more filler you have, the less shrinkage there is during curing. Once cured, the cross-linked molecules in a clear epoxy theoretically should keep their shape, but the reality is that the small amount of shrinking that occurs during curing puts the hardened resin under a certain amount of stress that will tend to relieve itself over long periods presenting as additional shrinkage.

Also a common mistake is thinking that epoxy that has set is nearly cured. Very often an epoxy that takes just a couple of hours to set will take a week before it's fully hard, and you don't want to be shooting it before then or it will be prone to loosening up and failing prematurely.
 
Don't ever use any fast setting epoxy for anything !!! They are not very strong ,have poor shelf life, and deteriorate over time !!

A filler should be used to minimize shrinkage. Brownell's Acra-glas is still about the best .The rifles I used it on 40 years ago are still tight [no shrinkage] and hard !! Make sure you remember to wax all metal parts and to fill up things like screw holes with clay.
 
I haven't bedded a rifle with it, but something you may want to experiment with first is PC-7 epoxy (I buy it at my local Ace Hardware or Home Depot). This stuff mixes as a thick paste, doesn't run. I've also mixed finely shredded fiberglass with it for various little projects; this stuff takes about 36 hrs to fully cure out, and when it does, it's machinable / rock hard. I'd put it up against acraglass any day of the week, and costs 1/3rd of the acraglass kit.

That's just me though.
 
Fillers are critical.
High Density for strength...you certainly don't want to use lightweight fairing fillers like glass microballoons- they have zero strength....

West System also has a powdered aluminum filler...
 
They had a bunch of fillers in stock at west may have to go pick one up before I do my next bedding job
Still have about 3/4th of it left And would think the filler would be cheaper than the resin so if it makes it stronger and last longer with less shrinkage for less $ it’s a win win
This was my first bedding job so not wise to experiment with untested products
Have to do a search seeing it takes a few years to know how it will hold up maybe someone may have tried it a few years ago and posted an update
 
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