Instructions on reinforcing USGI FG stock forends??
- Thread starter CanuckShooter
- Start date
2 ways of doing this... Too bad I never showed this in my clinics. Too smelly, that's why.
You can lay down strips of epoxy resin and cloth along the outside of the forestock. I like to get about 10 strips thickness with Cambodian Tire sourced fiberglass cloth 10 oz. After laying on all these strips, let them cure and here comes the messy part: rasping and sanding down the profile so that it blends in with the existing stock profile NORTH of the magazine well. Use some Bondo or JB Weld to fill in the holds and rasp marks and smooth things out.
That's the harder and longer way of stiffening the forestock, on the exterior.
Now here's the interior way that's a lot easier. Damn... why didn't I do this much sooner ?
Wash and clean the interior forestock channel. You are gonna fiberglass over the sling swivels or try to glass around them... a little harder to do. I just glassed over the weep hole and sling swivels. I was too lazy.
Cut the fiberglass cloth into ONE inch strips or 1.5" strips, whatever works for you. Lay down the strips and cloth on the interior from the magazine well northwards to the front stock ferrule. I've found that about 10 strips thickness will start to impede with the function of your gas cylinder. 10 strips by the way, is plenty STIFF.
The best part about doing the interior method is that you don't have to carry out any rasping or sanding. Also you can still maintain that nice Skullboy paintjob that you had done, before he left the painting business. Frankly, this is my favourite method since it's quick, easy and does not show up on the outside.
Have lots of fun!
Barney
You can lay down strips of epoxy resin and cloth along the outside of the forestock. I like to get about 10 strips thickness with Cambodian Tire sourced fiberglass cloth 10 oz. After laying on all these strips, let them cure and here comes the messy part: rasping and sanding down the profile so that it blends in with the existing stock profile NORTH of the magazine well. Use some Bondo or JB Weld to fill in the holds and rasp marks and smooth things out.
That's the harder and longer way of stiffening the forestock, on the exterior.
Now here's the interior way that's a lot easier. Damn... why didn't I do this much sooner ?
Wash and clean the interior forestock channel. You are gonna fiberglass over the sling swivels or try to glass around them... a little harder to do. I just glassed over the weep hole and sling swivels. I was too lazy.
Cut the fiberglass cloth into ONE inch strips or 1.5" strips, whatever works for you. Lay down the strips and cloth on the interior from the magazine well northwards to the front stock ferrule. I've found that about 10 strips thickness will start to impede with the function of your gas cylinder. 10 strips by the way, is plenty STIFF.
The best part about doing the interior method is that you don't have to carry out any rasping or sanding. Also you can still maintain that nice Skullboy paintjob that you had done, before he left the painting business. Frankly, this is my favourite method since it's quick, easy and does not show up on the outside.
Have lots of fun!
Barney
CanuckShooter
CGN frequent flyer
Cool, thanks for the info! So, I just use your standard 5 min epoxy from canadian tire? What section would the fibreglass cloth be found in (and what does 10oz mean? is that the container size... sorry, never seen this stuff before...
)
Hungry here: I like to use the epoxy resin with hardener from the Automotive / Body Fill section at Cambodian Tire. They might be calling it Marine Epoxy since this stuff will work for boats and automotive applications. 10oz refers to the weight of a measured (area) chunk of cloth. That is all the fiberglass cloth they sell. Oh yes, I forgot that Cdn Tire also sells Kevlar Braided Cloth. You don't need to spend the extra money on the Kevlar, trust me... Now the 10 oz. cloth comes in ONE square yard amounts or something like that. Or you could buy it n 10 cm strip IIRC. I've bought both in the past. All depends how much time you have and how sharp the kitchen scissors are. yuk yuk.
Also what order is this done in? Do you put some epoxy on the stock, lay the cloth overtop and saturate the cloth with epoxy? Or do you saturate the cloth in a seperate container, then lay it in the stock? How saturates should the strips be?
I like to slap on the epoxy (with hardener mixed in already of course) with an old toothbrush (you do replace your toothbrushes once a month, don't you?) then lay down the cloth on the evenly spread out epoxy. Don't bother saturating the cloth since it's ends will unravel / fall apart on you. Been there, done that, created a fzcken mess. Epoxy, cloth, epoxy in that order. Yes, the second follow up coating of liquid epoxy will totally saturate the fiberglass strands totally.
Do you let each strip dry before repeating or do it all in one go?
Both ways will work. I've experimented with both techniqes. No difference. Of course when you let it dry, this is an overnight process. So that's why I just laid on the layers of fiberglass cloth when the epoxy was still "wet" and curing with the hardener.
Sorry, just dont want to screw it up....
Just like the artists say, " There are no screw ups, just discoveries!" Have fun, experiment, make mistakes. Oh my god... I sound like Mrs. Frizzell on the "Magic Schoolbus Cartoon"... No honestly, there's a reason I can be so confident in my clinics and in front of all of you M14 addicts... It's because I've screwed up enough times!!
Thanks
)Hungry here: I like to use the epoxy resin with hardener from the Automotive / Body Fill section at Cambodian Tire. They might be calling it Marine Epoxy since this stuff will work for boats and automotive applications. 10oz refers to the weight of a measured (area) chunk of cloth. That is all the fiberglass cloth they sell. Oh yes, I forgot that Cdn Tire also sells Kevlar Braided Cloth. You don't need to spend the extra money on the Kevlar, trust me... Now the 10 oz. cloth comes in ONE square yard amounts or something like that. Or you could buy it n 10 cm strip IIRC. I've bought both in the past. All depends how much time you have and how sharp the kitchen scissors are. yuk yuk.
Also what order is this done in? Do you put some epoxy on the stock, lay the cloth overtop and saturate the cloth with epoxy? Or do you saturate the cloth in a seperate container, then lay it in the stock? How saturates should the strips be?
I like to slap on the epoxy (with hardener mixed in already of course) with an old toothbrush (you do replace your toothbrushes once a month, don't you?) then lay down the cloth on the evenly spread out epoxy. Don't bother saturating the cloth since it's ends will unravel / fall apart on you. Been there, done that, created a fzcken mess. Epoxy, cloth, epoxy in that order. Yes, the second follow up coating of liquid epoxy will totally saturate the fiberglass strands totally.
Do you let each strip dry before repeating or do it all in one go?
Both ways will work. I've experimented with both techniqes. No difference. Of course when you let it dry, this is an overnight process. So that's why I just laid on the layers of fiberglass cloth when the epoxy was still "wet" and curing with the hardener.
Sorry, just dont want to screw it up....
Just like the artists say, " There are no screw ups, just discoveries!" Have fun, experiment, make mistakes. Oh my god... I sound like Mrs. Frizzell on the "Magic Schoolbus Cartoon"... No honestly, there's a reason I can be so confident in my clinics and in front of all of you M14 addicts... It's because I've screwed up enough times!!
Thanks
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CanuckShooter
CGN frequent flyer
Thought of one more stupid question... last one I SWEAR!! 
Is there any advantage to doing this before vs after having your stock painted (with armacoat paint)? I have no idea if hardened epoxy will hold paint as well as the FG stock, or if the epoxy will adhere better to the unpainted stock.
Hungry here: Armacoat...are you doing the interior as well ? If you are gonna Armacoat the interior, then do the reinforcing before... Otherwise, just Armacoat the exterior and you will have lots of flexibility in terms of when you feel like / can carry out the fiberglass reinforcing.
Thanks again for your time!! It's greatly appreciated!!
Hey, it's all about sharing the knowledge and resources before I go back to school and some bus driver on crystal meth runs me over. LOL
Is there any advantage to doing this before vs after having your stock painted (with armacoat paint)? I have no idea if hardened epoxy will hold paint as well as the FG stock, or if the epoxy will adhere better to the unpainted stock.
Hungry here: Armacoat...are you doing the interior as well ? If you are gonna Armacoat the interior, then do the reinforcing before... Otherwise, just Armacoat the exterior and you will have lots of flexibility in terms of when you feel like / can carry out the fiberglass reinforcing.
Thanks again for your time!! It's greatly appreciated!!
Hey, it's all about sharing the knowledge and resources before I go back to school and some bus driver on crystal meth runs me over. LOL
Last edited by a moderator:
- Location
- South Cariboo, BC
Is it the crystal meth that makes the school bus seem magical?
Thanks for the directions Hungry, been wondering this myself.
Thanks for the directions Hungry, been wondering this myself.
maple_leaf_eh
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Cool, thanks for the info! So, I just use your standard 5 min epoxy from canadian tire? What section would the fibreglass cloth be found in (and what does 10oz mean? is that the container size... sorry, never seen this stuff before...
Do you let each strip dry before repeating or do it all in one go?
Both ways will work. I've experimented with both techniqes. No difference. Of course when you let it dry, this is an overnight process. So that's why I just laid on the layers of fiberglass cloth when the epoxy was still "wet" and curing with the hardener.
Sorry, just dont want to screw it up....
You should be aware that some fibreglass compounds will develop a surface layer after curing that behaves like wax. About 25yrs ago I watched my brother's FG boat deck peel off the base coat. It came off in hard farkin' sharp shards where the intent had been to get it to stick to the coat laid a few days before. The solution is to sand or roughen the base layer after it cures.
