The Dynacomp that I got from Spikes came with the crush washer ant it looks like it has 2 distinct (ish) sides: Concave and Convex.  Which side goes over the barrel first, or does it even matter?

The widest part of the washer should be against the flash hider, the smallest diameter part of the washer against the shoulder of the barrel threads.

Not a dumb question at all. danc46 just covered ya

Be sure to clamp the barrel (not the reciever) when ya install that muzzle device.

How do you do that? I understand you don't want to torque on suppressor without suring up the barrel but how does one do that? Thanks...

Put the barrel between two pieces of wood in a vice and crank the vice down.

It won't roll when you start to torque? Thanks for the info by the way, I just started working on the front end of my AR and all the tips are great.

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!!!!

When I did my barrel/brake installation, I used the vise jaw inserts available at Lowes (I tried wood blocks and an old leather belt, but like the vise jaw inserts better). I put these on the vise jaws and placed the upper vertically in the rounded part of the insert. The brake extended just below the vise jaw and was easy to install and index. The inserts held the barrel securely and did not cause any marks. The best part is they only cost $8

http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/091162/091162008393xl.jpg

bessey vise jaws

this has been my most expensive build, and I was paranoid about screwing something up, im home free now, all the hard parts are done. fitting the gas tube into the PRI gas block actually proved to be more difficult... again, because i didn't want to screw it up and order another gas tube. thanks for the kind words

Ok, heres another stupid question.  I understand indexing a muzzle break or fancy flash hider, but is there any reason or benefit to indexing a standard A2 flash hider?  I just assumed that if it was torqued properly it was fine.  

Indexing an A2 flash hider may not be critical, but it sure can't hurt. In the picture below you'll see that it is slotted on the top and not on the bottom. That's how it is supposed to be installed.



I am not 100% positive, but I think the slots on the top are to encourage gasses to exit there in order to help reduce muzzle rise. Not having slots on the underside should help with reducing dust signature when shooting prone.

Correct.
The A2 FH needs to be indexed so that the non-vented side faces down.
Last time I looked the wrench "flats" are vertical when it's indexed correctly.

I'm 99.9 % certain the vents on the A2 go up. I have purchased 2 factory barrels from Bushmaster and that was how they were oriented. It is for recoil, the gas goes up the muzzle goes down, so it would probably be worth aligning correctly. Quicker relocation on follow up shots.