Can you laser engrave a Remington Composite Stock? [Archive]

View Full Version : Can you laser engrave a Remington Composite Stock?

Dan Ashlin

10-31-2011, 9:45 AM

I Had a customer bring in a remington Composite stock that he wants engraved and color filled. I have been trying to research it to see if i could even engrave it and I can't find much info on it. Mainly, I want to make sure it isn't somehow PVC based, but I think It's fiberglass. Does anyone have any experience with these? Is it even possible? If so, any tips or tricks? I'm wondering how to color fill it other than paint it by hand.

Bill Cunningham

11-01-2011, 9:41 PM

If it's fiberglass, don't waste your time.. The resin will etch but the glass strands will not, and it will probably end up looking horrible.. I don't think Remington uses fiberglass though.. It's probably some type of polymer. To check for PVC, find a inconspicuous spot on the stock where you can scoop a tiny gob of plastic out with a hot needle. Then stick the tip of the needle with the tiny gob of plastic in a flame.. If you see 'green' in the flame, it has PVC in it..

Joe Hillmann

11-02-2011, 9:57 AM

I will let you know tomorrow, I have a few at home that I have been thinking about throwing into the laser to see what happens but haven't gotten around to it yet. What type of gun is it? I have two Remington with plastic stocks one is a .22 and the other a 30-06 and they are different types of plastic

Dan Ashlin

11-02-2011, 12:11 PM

Joe Hillmann

11-03-2011, 11:50 AM

Just tested engraving on a composite stock. It didn't turn out. I engraved it at a power of 20 speed of 100 PPI of 500 and a Q of 4 on a 50watt Universal. Before I engraved it I sprayed furniture polish on it so I could color fill if necessary. It took close to an hour to get the stock all shimmed up and level and to measure out the area that I could engrave on. Once I finished the engraving the engraved area was the same color and texture as the unengraved area but just a tiny bit deeper than the surrounding area so I re ran it with the same settings except with a power of 40. Which the engraving combined with the flow marks in the plastic gave me all sorts of moires and made the image I engraved indistinguishable. So I then decided to give color filing a try, I used a dark green acrylic paint and rubbed it into the engraving. The paint stuck to the areas that were in perfect focus when engraving very well. It stuck to the area that was sprayed with the wax almost as well and it didn't stick at all to the area that was engraved slightly out of focus due to the curve of the stock.

So all in all I would suggest that you don't attempt to do one of's on composite stocks with a laser. I am sure that it can be done if you find the right settings but you would need several to practice on before getting it right.

I tried posting pictures but I think they are too large to post.

Joe Hillmann

11-03-2011, 12:00 PM

I just tried doing the opposite side in the Yag. It took maybe 3 minutes to do the artwork, less then a minute to get it level and 18 seconds to engrave. I forgot to focus it and was an 1 1/2" out of focus and it engraved a perfect white mark with a slightly whiter outline. [Hurray for YAG's and galvoheads :) ]

Joe Hillmann

11-03-2011, 3:05 PM

I just went to buff off the paint after it had dried and it all came off, even in the engraved area, I put a little bit of furniture polish on it and most of the moires disappeared or became less visible but the engraving is still very hard to see and you have to have just the right light to see what it is a picture of and what it says.

I also looked at the engraving the yag did and without the safety glasses the engraving is actually gold.