Inletting black or substitute.

T

The_Shmoo

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Missisauga, ON
What are you guys using for inletting? I'm trying my hand at fitting a stock to my 1895 winchester, and I need to fit the new buttplate and finish the tang inletting. I don't really have anything that I could fashion into a smoke lamp.

I have plenty of liquid high spot blue that I use at work for dies, but I don't know if that would be good for the walnut stock.
 
I have been using Prussian Blue for years and suspect that might be what the OP is referring to as liquid high spot blue. Have never experienced any problem with it staining the wood.
 
B_noser said:
I have been using Prussian Blue for years and suspect that might be what the OP is referring to as liquid high spot blue. Have never experienced any problem with it staining the wood.
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That is entirely possible, I've just never heard it referred to as that. I'm trying to find a picture of the stuff I have at work, but can't for the life of me find it, and I'm on layoff so I don't really have access to my tools at the moment.
 
I've set a couple of metal butt plates and bedded in a patch to the receiver area using a cheap candle to blacken the metal that then marks the wood. It's worked nicely so far.

I like the fact that the soot does not risk staining the wood. And as long as the wood isn't overly dark it shows well.
 
I roll a cleaning patch and stuff it into a case with fired primer intact. Put oil in the case and you get a nice easily adjustable smoker. Just invert n empty case such as a 357 over it to snuff it out.
 
tatou said:
Anti-seize compound
It was a tip from someone on this tread a while back, and it works great.
You can find it at your local CT
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This ! I needed something similar one evening to inlet a stock, opened the cabinet in the garage, and voilà ! Just need to wash it with lighter fluid one done
 
B_noser said:
I have been using Prussian Blue for years and suspect that might be what the OP is referring to as liquid high spot blue. Have never experienced any problem with it staining the wood.
Click to expand...

It does work well when dry, if it's still wet it can get pretty deep into the wood - I refer to it as "layout dye" .... all the same stuff, bottle of blue ink that makes everyone in the room eye's water when you open it? yea - that's the stuff ;)



The_Shmoo said:
What are you guys using for inletting? I'm trying my hand at fitting a stock to my 1895 winchester, and I need to fit the new buttplate and finish the tang inletting. I don't really have anything that I could fashion into a smoke lamp.
I have plenty of liquid high spot blue that I use at work for dies, but I don't know if that would be good for the walnut stock.
Click to expand...

Yes it will, just lay it on thick and let it dry before fitting... will be pretty slow and I don't give your brain cells great odds... ;)

If it's just the butt plate and tang, it will be faster and easier to use a sharpie - a silver one will be easily visible on Walnut though black or blue will do. A dry erase marker is even better as the ink does not soak into the wood.

If you do find yourself needing a blackening lamp, I made one from a Coleman camp stove burner with a screw top - dumped all the glycol out, added a wick and filled it with kerosene. Works great and don't have to worry about knocking a glass or ceramic lamp off my bench and staring a fireball!
 
sean69 said:
It does work well when dry, if it's still wet it can get pretty deep into the wood - I refer to it as "layout dye" .... all the same stuff, bottle of blue ink that makes everyone in the room eye's water when you open it? yea - that's the stuff ;)
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We are not talking about the same product. Prussian Blue is a Permatex product. It is a paste in a tube and it most definitely does not stain the wood. It's intended use is in testing the fit of components. Layout dye is a totally different product used for a different reason. It dries hard and is used to color a surface prior to applying layout details. I cannot imagine using layout dye in stock inletting.

Since I am posting anyway, I have also used the sooting method, but decided I would rather not take the chance on burning my shop down b:. I found a kerosene oil lamp with the chimney removed to be the best source of soot.
 
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B_noser said:
We are not talking about the same product. Prussian Blue is a Permatex product. It is a paste in a tube and it most definitely does not stain the wood. It's intended use is in testing the fit of components. Layout dye is a totally different product used for a different reason. It dries hard and is used to color a surface prior to applying layout details. I cannot imagine using layout dye in stock inletting.

Since I am posting anyway, I have also used the sooting method, but decided I would rather not take the chance on burning my shop down b:. I found a kerosene oil lamp with the chimney removed to be the best source of soot.
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Prussian blue is a pigment, chemical, medicine (of all things!!) and in your case ~ A trade name. But I take your point, my bad, I have always referred to and used the layout dies/fluids etc interchangeably with "Prussian Blue" So I misspoke - frankly I have never been around a real live tube of prussian blue in the wild. :)

But I can tell you the various layout fluids will stain the wood when wet and leave a mark when dry (if the fit is tight) - but never my first choice, too long to apply and makes you dizzy pretty quick.

Give the camp stove thing a try. you can see it in action here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CLSJZpqpCfN/
 
sean69 said:
It does work well when dry, if it's still wet it can get pretty deep into the wood - I refer to it as "layout dye" .... all the same stuff, bottle of blue ink that makes everyone in the room eye's water when you open it? yea - that's the stuff ;)
Click to expand...

Layout dye and Prussian Blue are not the same thing at all.

Prussian Blue takes forever to dry, and one drop smeared on your fingers will essentially cover about 90 percent of the exposed surfaces in your home in time...Guys who scrape machine tools use it to mark the high spots as it transfers well off the reference surface that you cover with the stuff.
 
trevj has nailed it. I have both Prussian Blue and layout dye on my workbench and would never use them interchangeably. A little Prussian Blue goes a long way and it is quick to apply/redistribute and cleans up easily. Layout dye is nothing more than a coloring agent in a volatile carrier and, yes, it will stain the wood.
 
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