Re: Bedding jobs
One top thing I haven't really seen discussed, is be absolutely sure to allow sufficient curing time before doing much handling of the epoxy bed. I had to do my first bedding job twice due to over-handling the job while the epoxy was still relatively soft, and it peeled away from the aluminum bedding block of my stock.
Oh, if you're bedding over aluminum, be sure to rough it all up real well... 60-80 grit paper.
Next time, I will mask more carefully to allow complete trimming and clean-up of the excess epoxy while the receiver is still in the stock, letting it set up for at least 24 hours before removal.
As for release agent, I tried the Brownell's brush-on release, and hated it. It released okay, but went on way too thick and was a pain to clean up afterward.
Kiwi neutral-colored shoe polish by far worked the best. For epoxy, use Devcon 10110. You can get it from mcmaster.com. It has a finite shelf life so try to bed all your rifles within the next few months. ;-)