tractorshaft
member
Gents,
For years I have been playing with various epoxy formulations, thickeners, additives, etc. in my woodworking business and am thought I would share how I textured a Ram-Line Polyethylene Marlin Lever action stock.
First I taped off the area on the forearm and butt stock I wanted textured like so
After it was taped off, I used this dremel tool to give the epoxy a little "Tooth", polyethylene is very hard to achieve a hard permanent bond to. West Brothers Epoxy has released a new formulation, "G-FLex", it is designed to bond to just about anything, to include oily tropical hardwoods heretofore practically unable to be glued by ANYTHING. This stuff is awesome.
I mixed a "Skim Coat" of colored G-Flex to give the PC7 a nice sticky base. Any epoxy will work for your skim coat, I just prefer the G-Flex, dont mix polyester fiberglass resin with epoxy resin, they are not compatible, if you stick with epoxy to epoxy the brands dont matter, they will ALL work together fine. Here is a pic for you
Here it is with the dyed (1 drop of black) G-Flex base coat
I have used Marine Tex in the past, it is a good product, there is a hardware store alternative "PC7", cheaper and as you will see works just as good. It is thick enough that your little "Peaks" wont fall down on you when you pull them up! Here is what you want to buy, its even grey/black in color;
Here is a photo of it as applied, the trick is let it dry for a bit until you can pull a peak up with a popsicle stick or little layout tool.
To add even more texture and give some "interest" to the pattern I sprinkled a small amount of sand blasting media into the mixture when it was still tacky
This is the little layout tool I used to pull the "peaks" up. When it starts to stiffen up you will want to use a rubber glove or plastic bag to lightly , very lightly, smooth the whole mess down. I then use a popsicle stick or a little metal scraper to further define my pattern. If you spray some windex or 409 on your rubber glove, plastic spatula, plastic bag, etc...It will make the smoothing down process much less sticky and will not affect the cure of the epoxy. As a matter of fact, at this stage it would cure perfectly well underwater...
I carefully do this after I have pulled the tape, be careful with it, you can easily smear your epoxy putty outside the lines.
Here is the buttstock I had done the night before, I lightly sanded down the high spots and feathered the edges lightly, its a fantastic grip and feels great, smooth but affords a definite purchase on the stock. I also think it improves the appearance of the entire mess, especially after painting it the same color as the stock, flat black in the textured paint shown below.
In this pic I have the molding flash lines of the injection molded stock taped off and a thin coat of epoxy and micro-balloons applied. The clear packing tape will remain on the stock until the epoxy dries, this stuff wont stick to the gun or the epoxy, it pulls right off leaving an ultra smooth finish that will not require much sanding and feathering in to make it look professional.
This isn't mine, looks like someone textured their wooden stock, since mine is not finished yet this gives you an idea..
Here is the paint I like to use, it is "Textured" but very lightly, not like the stone or wrinkle paint, is has proven to be very durable on my Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun
Best regards.
Jerry
For years I have been playing with various epoxy formulations, thickeners, additives, etc. in my woodworking business and am thought I would share how I textured a Ram-Line Polyethylene Marlin Lever action stock.
First I taped off the area on the forearm and butt stock I wanted textured like so
After it was taped off, I used this dremel tool to give the epoxy a little "Tooth", polyethylene is very hard to achieve a hard permanent bond to. West Brothers Epoxy has released a new formulation, "G-FLex", it is designed to bond to just about anything, to include oily tropical hardwoods heretofore practically unable to be glued by ANYTHING. This stuff is awesome.
I mixed a "Skim Coat" of colored G-Flex to give the PC7 a nice sticky base. Any epoxy will work for your skim coat, I just prefer the G-Flex, dont mix polyester fiberglass resin with epoxy resin, they are not compatible, if you stick with epoxy to epoxy the brands dont matter, they will ALL work together fine. Here is a pic for you
Here it is with the dyed (1 drop of black) G-Flex base coat
I have used Marine Tex in the past, it is a good product, there is a hardware store alternative "PC7", cheaper and as you will see works just as good. It is thick enough that your little "Peaks" wont fall down on you when you pull them up! Here is what you want to buy, its even grey/black in color;
Here is a photo of it as applied, the trick is let it dry for a bit until you can pull a peak up with a popsicle stick or little layout tool.
To add even more texture and give some "interest" to the pattern I sprinkled a small amount of sand blasting media into the mixture when it was still tacky
This is the little layout tool I used to pull the "peaks" up. When it starts to stiffen up you will want to use a rubber glove or plastic bag to lightly , very lightly, smooth the whole mess down. I then use a popsicle stick or a little metal scraper to further define my pattern. If you spray some windex or 409 on your rubber glove, plastic spatula, plastic bag, etc...It will make the smoothing down process much less sticky and will not affect the cure of the epoxy. As a matter of fact, at this stage it would cure perfectly well underwater...
I carefully do this after I have pulled the tape, be careful with it, you can easily smear your epoxy putty outside the lines.
Here is the buttstock I had done the night before, I lightly sanded down the high spots and feathered the edges lightly, its a fantastic grip and feels great, smooth but affords a definite purchase on the stock. I also think it improves the appearance of the entire mess, especially after painting it the same color as the stock, flat black in the textured paint shown below.
In this pic I have the molding flash lines of the injection molded stock taped off and a thin coat of epoxy and micro-balloons applied. The clear packing tape will remain on the stock until the epoxy dries, this stuff wont stick to the gun or the epoxy, it pulls right off leaving an ultra smooth finish that will not require much sanding and feathering in to make it look professional.
This isn't mine, looks like someone textured their wooden stock, since mine is not finished yet this gives you an idea..
Here is the paint I like to use, it is "Textured" but very lightly, not like the stone or wrinkle paint, is has proven to be very durable on my Marlin 45-70 Guide Gun
Best regards.
Jerry
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I just did this last night, I am finishing it up soon. I will post a "Money Shot" of the finished product for you guys :banghead: