Quoted:
I took two pieces of wood, clamped them together and drilled a hole with a forstner bit as close to the diameter of the barrel as possible. Then basically "clamshelled" it, I also wrapped the barrel in newspaper to reduce slippage. (I just read that, and dont know if it made it better or worse.
I installed an Ops Inc brake yesterday and barely got it (had to go just over 1 full rotation) and I just did it about a 1/4 turn at a time, and greased each side of the crush washer to help it slip (i dont know if that helped or not)
FWIW, I destroyed my fancy barrel blocks since i only had basswood in the garage, walnut, oak, or ash etc. would probably be better suited.
You must be a craftsman to take that kind of care to do it properly.
I've taken great care to build one right then gone out and treated it like a step child.
Rode it hard and put it up wet.
Taking all that detailed care in assembly may or may have made a difference in how it functioned and shot, but I seriously doubt it.
As far as wood is concerned, I took a piece of oak off a pallet I found beside the road, have cut it up for blocks to use to clamp AK and AR barrels, or as blocks to press pins out when demiling an AK kit. I've got a lot of mileage off that scrap piece.
If you take reasonable care building an AR, you're not going to have many problems if using good materials.
Greasing the flash hider was not a bad idea. I always put a touch of Never Seize on the barrel threads and just crank a half turn or more to index the flash hider after the crush washer makes solid contact with both the barrel and the flash hider.
The crush washer's main purpose is for indexing the muzzle brake/flash hider/suppressor properly. That's why it "crushes".
Greasing it is probably a good idea but not really necessary.
But you are to be applauded for being particular in assembling your AR right!!!!