Painting a stock

[romad97]

I appologize if this is not the right section to post this in but, didn't know which area would be the right one. I have a brand new money saver rollover stock from stockade. I have already filled and sanded all the imperfections. On friday I prepped it, degreased it and wiped it down real well. I used rubbber gloves and did what I think was a thourough job. I first started out with a can of krylon covermaxx gray primer. I sprayed several coats on it over the course of about 30 minutes, allowing about 5 minutes in between each coat. it has been hanging in my garage for almost 48 hours now. Well I went out to start prepping it for my base coat color and noticed that the primer is still soft. Its not sticky or tacky but it is definately soft. Is this an indication of me not doing something corectly or does spray paint sometimes take several days to cure? I do not have the ability to put it in an over or I would try that. Any suggestions?

[jfksc]

You put too much primer on too fast. When you put several costs on in 30 minutes the coats never got a chance to dry. The very top layer will cure and form a kind of shell over the primer but won't allow the solvents in the layers beneath it to gas off (I.e. cure). If it hasnt cured in 48 hours it never will assuming you have it hanging in a normal temp of 50-80 degrees. If it's been hanging in a freezing cold garage that also wouldn't help but your issue is too many coats, too fast.

I'd sand the primer off. Start slowly putting on really, really thin coats of primer. I mean thin. You shouldn't be getting full coverage until your third coat or so, then do one more. They should be dry before re-applying. Wait an hour or two between coats.

[romad97]

I think I agree with everything you are saying. I definately think I put it on too thick. Is it possible to strip the paint off instead of sanding it off without damaging the stock?

[clintsrv]

Just sand it off. Some Paint Strippers have some harsh components to them.

[jfksc]

^^^Agreed. Sand it off. Never been a fan of paint strippers.

[jpdown]

Acetone will take it off. Give it a try.

[Mozella]

The above posters are correct. The problem even has a name familiar to painters. It's called "solvent entrapment".

[romad97]

I don' t mind doing the work to sand it off. My biggest concern is that I dodn't want to sand into the stock too much. On the stockade stocks I am unsure of how thick the outer shell is and I have already sanded on it a bit prior to botching my paint job.

[GaCop]

The acetone idea is a good one, shouldn't affect the stock but will dissolve the paint layers for easy removal with rags. You could also try mineral spirits if you don't want to go the acetone route.

[jpdown]

I have used acetone to remove spray paint or Krylon webbing paint from wood, synthetic and even a composite Stockade Hunter. That is why I don't use rattle can spray paint when refinishing gun stocks or metal anymore. Regular spray paint is not chemical resistant and will melt, chip, peel or wear off over time when exposed to gun solvents and oil. Based on my experience from making the same mistake described above, I would remove as much primer as possible using a rag and acetone. You will not be able to remove all of the primer because some will be trapped in the pores of the stock surface. But this should take most of it off and degrease the stock prepping it for painting. I would not try to sand it off.

I recommend using Duracoat as the base coat. It is chemically resistant and tough as nails. Borrow a small air compressor and get a cheap Harbor Freight hobby air brush to apply the Duracoat. Follow the directions. It is better to apply three light coats with 30 minutes between coats than try to get complete coverage in one pass. After the final coat, allow to dry for at least 48 hours.

The picture below shows a Stockade Hunter stock that I have owned for about 8 years. I bought it completely finished in black with silver webbing. I have changed the appearance several times over the years. The first change I made was with a base coat of tan Duracoat which I then sponge painted with regular spray paint to give it a camo pattern (not pictured). About a year ago, I decided to use the Stockade hunter stock for its current LW 280AI build, I removed the camo Krylon paint with acetone. The Duracoat cannot be removed with acetone. I then repainted with a base coat of Duracoat (Underbrush color) and added Krylon webbing paint in black. I put too much webbing paint on it the first time and had to remove it with acetone. That left some of the black paint in the pores and give it the mottled look by accident. The metal is finished with baked on GunKote in statin black for a luster blued appearance. Matte black GunKote as shown in the first picture is almost a perfect match to the current Savage/Axis matte metal finish.

Bottom line: For stocks, Duracoat is my recommendation for the base coat. It is tough as nails and resist chemicals and won't come off like regular paint. Then use regular paint and webbing to add pattern or texture. Then if you change your mind or make a mistake, you can remove with the regular paint with acetone and start again.

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii276/jpdown/PICT0043_zpse40675a3.jpg (http://s266.photobucket.com/user/jpdown/media/PICT0043_zpse40675a3.jpg.html)

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii276/jpdown/PICT0030_zpswkdggwy4.jpg (http://s266.photobucket.com/user/jpdown/media/PICT0030_zpswkdggwy4.jpg.html)

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii276/jpdown/PICT0038_zps63e53851.jpg (http://s266.photobucket.com/user/jpdown/media/PICT0038_zps63e53851.jpg.html)

[romad97]

I appreciate your write up. This information is very helpful. My first question would be then will the paint that remains in the pores effect the stock at all if i paint over it with duracoat? Also, my only experience with duracoat was an aerosol applicator kit I purchased and it actually turned out fairly well on a barrel and action. Would one of these kits not be as effective as an air brush?

[doctnj]

I used duracoat on my first two or three paint jobs, maybe 4 actually. Then switched to brownells alumahyde II. That stuff is great as far as toughness and not affected by chemicals either. The main convenience is it comes in a spray can that you can just shake and go. The cons are, you have to shake for ever before starting then continue to shake throughout the application. Also its very thick, hence its durability, so it clogs up the spray tips. You simply need to buy an extra bag of spray tips and clean out tips and you are great. The only way it comes off is with chemicals specifically for paint removal. It then comes off just fine, with a little work. Ive dont 2 ar 15's and 1 ar 10 full rifle paint job and thats been quite a while ago. I havent found a single spot that has even scratched let alone chipped. But you must follow the application directions carefully. Extremely light coats and use heat gun between coats. There are several videos showing how to apply.

[jpdown]

The primer/paint remaining in the pores is not going to cause a problem and the acetone will degrease the surface so that the Duracoat sticks. The Duracoat spray kit will also work.

[romad97]

Well an update to my stock painting misfortunes. I called kevin at stockade just to make sure before I proceeded and he gave the same advice. He said to wipe it off with acetone and it wouldn't hurt the stock. Well today I went ahead and started stripping off the paint. I used only rags and acetone. It came off very easily with the only exception being the inside crevices of the stock. My first mistake was even painting these parts to begin with. After all was said and done I noticed that the filler was now soft. It appears I may have ruined the stock. The outside shell was unharmed in any way but, the gray filler is a little soft. Maybe it will harden back up, I am unsure. I called Keving back today to see what advice he may have but, he is out of town and I will have to try back tommorow. I am really upset at myself right now. I waited a whole year to get this stock and now I may be out another year. Hopefully Kevin will have some sound advice once I get ahold of him tommorow.

[romad97]

It appears that it isn't actually as bad as I thought. Once everything has dried out I realized its not the filler that is soft. Its actually perfectly fine. There was some gummy primer residue still left that was soft. I think the stock will be fine. Lesson learned though. Next time its duracoat and nothing less.