No heat needed. I used some 0000 steel wool. Cleaned it with alcohol or acetone really well. Prep is the key to a good finnish. I used a preval sprayer and was able to get a very good finish. It fuly cures in about a week but you can use the rifle sooner if you want. I bought everything but the preval sprayer from Midway. Go the Preval sprayer from Ace hardware.