Dave,
Sorry it took a while to get back to you as I had to work yesterday, got home late, etc., etc..
Bama’s advice about gently heating the nosecap with a heat gun to remove it is spot on. If you don’t have a heat gun, then I perhaps you have a folding arm lamp with a 60 watt bulb and can put it right next to the nosecap for long enough to heat up the nosecap? It will take longer than a heat gun, but should still work. Oh, you can also use your Lady’s Hair Blow Dryer set on high, but I will not be responsible if you get caught sneaking it out to or back from your shop. GRIN!!
I VERY much agree with Bama not to use the blue colored Mold Release Brownell’s provides with their kits. It can be cleaned off with Q Tips dipped in Acetone, most of the moisture squeezed out and then used to carefully rub it off. However, even if you don’t think you might never need to remove the part later on, like you might not never remove a nosecap, it really is best to use a Mold Release and that CAN lead to other problems depending on what you use for a Mold Release.
I am hesitant to suggest things that can be used as a substitute for Mold Release BECAUSE I know of times other things failed and sometimes disastrously. I have read where people used Pam Cooking Spray, Shoe Wax (NOT shoe polish), Paraffin Wax from modern candles, Bee’s Wax and Auto Car Wax and they got away with it one or only a few times. We ran out of Mold Release one year at the RTE Shop at Quantico and normally just waited until more came in. However, one time two NM M14’s had to be built to take the NRA Convention within a short time. So I was told to use Car Wax. It worked great on one stock, but on the other, it failed miserably and caused the stock to crack when it did not release the receiver.
Paraffin Wax IS a key element of THE absolute finest Mold Release for all epoxy compounds and was originally called “Ram Mold Release 225” but after Valspar bought out Eli Lilly, it is now known as “Valspar 225” and I have included a link that shows it in the aerosol can below. That stuff is clear and as thin as water and allows the very tightest fit of the bedding compound while ALWAYS releasing the metal. (I buy it in liquid and a gallon at a time, but NO muzzleloader builder will ever need to go to that much expense or volume.) Oh, last time I looked up the cost, it was around $ 30.00 a can.
http://www.associatedindustriesinc.com/store/release-agents/valspar-225-aerosol/Brownell’s sells ACRA-RELEASE Aerosol and it ALSO is a sure bet Mold Release that will always release the metal from the bedding compound, however, it is thicker than Valspar 225 and you can’t get as tight of a bedding job with it.
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/stock-work-finishing/stock-bedding-accessories/mold-releases/acra-release--prod1045.aspxNow, I realize a muzzleloading gun builder is normally NOT going to want to pay this much for Mold Release. However, if you bed say a barrel or had to do extensive repairs to a broken stock, I most strongly recommend you bite the bullet and pay the cost to ensure you don’t mess up the stock you or another builder spent so much time on. This is why I mentioned these two Mold Releases.
For a single nosecap every now and then, I might try car wax as a Mold Release, as Bama recommended – if and only if I did not have one of the two Mold Releases mentioned above.
The Micro Bed that Bama mentioned is one of the oldest Bedding Compounds on the market. Marine National Match Armorers used it when they were the first ones to glass bed NM M1 Garands in 1957. However, we had stopped using it when I went through my 15 month Apprenticeship in 1973-4 because it did not stand up as well to the pounding of recoil as later Bedding Compounds. The more modern formula is better than the old stuff, but it is still not nearly as good as other bedding materials in that regard. However, muzzleloading guns don’t take the pounding from the numbers of rounds fired that NM modern guns do. So the only problem with Micro Bed IS the fact it comes out so in such a dark brown color that will stick out like a sore thumb on many muzzleloading gun stocks. As far as I know, even the most modern stuff comes in that color from the tubes and you can’t lighten the color to get it to match muzzleloading gun stocks.
Brownell’s Accraglas has brown dye in the kit, where you add the tiniest amount (like a tiny dab on the end of a jeweler’s screwdriver) to the bedding material to color it much closer to the stocks of Muzzleloading guns. I have found it best to get the color a little lighter than the wood and then stain it to match.
The problem you can run into with Accraglas depends on which one you buy. Regular Accraglas is much thinner than Accraglas Gel. It is a little better to use as a glue to fill in cracks as it can be pressed easier into a crack. However if one wants to fill a void, the Gel compound is better as it won’t easily flow away from where you want it. I quit using regular Accraglas over 20 years ago and only use Accraglas Gel since that time, for that reason. There are tougher glass bedding compounds for modern guns I usually choose, but Accraglas Gel is a very good choice for muzzleloading stocks.
One other suggestion I would offer is if your shop is separate from your living quarters and not normally heated when you are not out there in cold weather, is bring the work into your house and maybe put it in a closet to allow it to properly harden. I did that for years, myself.
My apology if it seems I sort of rambled on, but I thought I might include information others may also find of use if they ever need to use “Glass Bedding” material for other purposes on muzzleloading stocks – besides what you are doing.
Gus
