Hydro-dipping a stock

[stoti]

Anybody on the site have any experience hydro-dipping a thumbhole stock? I've hydro-dipped a couple of cheap stocks and they turned out great. However, I really am worried about doing my Crown($1600) so I found a local guy who does hydro-dipping. He is experienced, has done a ton of different objects including lots of stocks, has been professionally trained and does great work but he wants to dip my gun twice, each half, which will leave a seam. He wants to do it this way because of the thumbhole area. He's the professional, so I agreed but the more and more I think about it, a seam will look fugly! The film's pattern is lightning, so the lightning bolts won't line up on each side. It seems like dipping the stock as with every other stock that the ink should flow into the thumbhole area just fine. I'm just curious as to what should or will work with this kind of stock. A camo pattern wouldn't matter much because it's so convoluted and none of the lines match up any way, it wouldn't be noticeable. I looked on line and can't find any information on this type of thing. I only found one video that shows dipping a thumbhole stock. It showed one guy dipping the stock and a second guy kind of pushing the water and film towards the stock as it was dipped to move more paint to the thumbhole area, thus decreasing the chance of voids. I don't want to tell a professional how to do his job but I would like to mention a couple viable options before he dips the stock so it turns out as I've imagined and not a just so so. After the stock is dipped and clear coated...it's too late to fix!

Any professional hydro-dippers out there or anybody with lots of experience, could you please just give me your thoughts and options for dipping a thumbhole stock? Thank you! Stoti

This is the stock, just a Crown synthetic.

 

[Calbarry]

I would ask if he had any pictures of thumb hole stocks he's dipped. Maybe he's dipped another pattern similar to what you want. Would you be able to see the results before he clear coats it? Can if be redone if you don't like it? I'd want some questions answered before letting him dip it

 

[Jld1969]

Utah Airguns does dipes call them and ask thay do great work 

 

[Guest]

there's a guy in Columbus, Ohio that does hydro dipping. They use an automated system and also do production work. The do, among others, Realtree & Mossy Oak. I'm going to have them do the stock on my new Crosman/Remington 725VTR soon. I hope I can get a satin gloss clearcoat? And my Winchester 1400cs came with Mossy Oak Infinity camo on it that looks pretty good.

http://www.midohiohydro.com/

 

[John "spysir" Blount]

I have seen hydro dipped ( was a thumbhole/thumbup stock by chance) that was dipped on both sides - as recomended by the fellow doing the work-.

The seam showed MORE than tape would. I mean it looked like he spent the big doallor to have a rifle that splits right down the middle. NO one liked it up close. Now if hung on a wall - near eye height- it was an excellent job and did look shape. I may have just seen THE most extreme example, your fellow may do entirely different work and/or somehow fairly match the pattern? I would certainly want to see an example before buying.

No idea what others do but esp. with lightening bolts do think about your viewing angle, it's just looks you wont be looking at it when applying pellets to targets only when it's not in your hands. Does sound like your using a pro ( who does not specialize in elaborate stocks?) and it might look slamming!

I have owned an stunning airgun, if viewed from right profile.



John

 

[Michael]

Its damn near impossible to do a "role dip" on a thumbhole stock without stretching or coverage issues. The safest bet is a sectional or "two part" dip. But Yes, you will have a seam somewhere.

 

[stoti]

I talked to the guy that's dipping my gun quite a few times since this post and he is quite experienced. He's owned a paint store for 25 years and seems to know everything about anything to do with paint! He told me the same thing about rolling the gun. He suggested either dipping the gun in two parts, rolling it or dipping it once and sweeping the water and paint toward the stock as we're dipping it to move more paint into any voids. After talking and showing me a test sample, we're pretty sure we're going to dip it twice...although since the pattern is lightning, the roll method would work too because the lightning can stretch and not look deformed.The pattern is dark, so the seams won't show up much at all if we dip both sides.

Still not really sure what to do. I think I'm just going to leave it up to him. He knows what looks good and what he's capable of. As far as the pattern goes...the test piece almost looks black inside the house, the lightning can barely be seen, but in the sun light you can see the blue lightning pattern really well. I really like it a lot! I wouldn't do this to a $2000 fine rifle but on a synthetic stocked air-gun it almost seems mandatory. I attached a picture of the test dip we did on a metal elk cut out, it's in the bright sun so you can see the lightning really well. The elk sample has dust and blemishes on it because we did it quickly, the gun won't.

My son is going to have a blue Kryptek pattern with a bright yellow background done on our Brocock Bantam Hi Lite. The blue pattern with a bright yellow background almost makes it look greenish/blue. Wild, but my son says, "why not"? He wants to customize it and make it his own. I can't argue since he got the idea from me. LOL.

One other thing, I originally did talk to the guys at Utah Air guns about dipping my Crown when I bought it from them. They quoted my $179 which seemed fair but I would have had to wait 2 weeks. I was in the store and wanted to take the gun with me, so I decided to skip the dip. They also only had three patterns to choose from at that time, they were alright patterns but not really what I wanted on my gun. There are other places that charge around $100-$125 which is also very reasonable, but then I would have to ship the gun, pay for shipping both ways and wait 2-3 weeks or more. I'm too impatient! Not only does it turn out that my neighbor who does hydro-dipping only lives 5 properties away, he has his shop on the property, is very good at what he does, and since he's my neighbor, he's only charging us $60 per gun! That's really cool!

Anybody else out here on the West coast that might be interested in hydro-dipping, he charges $120 for a rifle stock and slightly more for whole guns, AR's are in the $200 range. I will post pictures of both of our guns after they're completed so you can see his work. After I post those pictures I'll also put up his contact information and website.

Michael, any word on the Airgun Nation decals yet? Thanks, Stoti