Any members do Parkerizing?

[H-D]

I have been thinking about trying to Parkerize a pistol, has anyone here done it?

[jack404]

i do a fair bit , what do you wish to know ??

[H-D]

Well I have seen other forums where people do their own , what chemicals do you use ? Do you buy the manganese phosphate or the zinc ? Do you use stainless tanks or ceramic ? What are the chances I will ruin my pistol ? I have an extra slide and some magazines I will try first can I reuse the solution ?

[jack404]

I use phosphoric acid and zinc mainly , i can tint and colour the park a few ways

i can match the GI green with a 2% copper SULFIDE ultra fine grind addition

i can black park with varying amounts of maganese oxide

i have used the same batch over 3 days til on the third some parts where looking not well coated and it was all of a sudden , i triple checked the parts in the previous batch and they where all good , the ability to transfer was gone , new batch for just a few peices but thats how it is

i use Nylon tubs , actually the nylon acid drum cut in half with ice cream sticks glued in place for parts to sit on , and slight touch moves them along so you dont get a stripe effect..

your high tolerence areas coat with engineers or jewers otr other high heat tolerant wax

meaning cover the slide parts

make sure the part is not touching anything else

make sure they sit so no bubbles can form and stay

some folks wire parts , i use green leather thonging

barrels make sure they dont need smooth areas like for bushings etc

i doubt you'd ruin anything , but be happy with the job ? its not that hard to dissolve the zinc back off if your patient and thorough even if you do goof , i've not had a goof in a few years , it happens , you remove it all or in part and go from there ..

its not rocket science but does need simple thoughts as per YOUR GUN
wax what you dont want covered , dont what you do ..

park it all and enjoy its a great finish and holds oil well and thats it secret , the micro crystaline deposit you put on your metal holds oil excellently ..

prep is everything though , just like bluing , if your prep is bad , it'll show though i will say parking is way more forgiving than bluing , it'll cover small finger marks ..

i'll post you some links

[jack404]

link to refinishing doc's

http://jack404.minus.com/mbibXSV4Qz

[H-D]

thanks Jack!

[jack404]

get some steel that matches yours in grade ( 1080 4140 etc) finish the metal as you would and sample a few mixes ( small ones ) then go with the formula /time per part , you prefer ..

its smelly so do in a place thats ventilated

enjoy and good luck

[jack404]

and if you do so try a Cobalt oxide , gives the park a Blue tint 1 gram per 10 of zinc no more it'll spoil the reaction

[ka64]

A buddy of mine does great work, check him out.

http://www.customizedcreationz.com/

[H-D]

Originally Posted by ka64

A buddy of mine does great work, check him out.

http://www.customizedcreationz.com/

Nice work! he is talented

[JLA]

HD, If you F' it up too bad just semd it to me and ill blast it and CeraKote it.

[H-D]

Originally Posted by JLA

HD, If you F' it up too bad just semd it to me and ill blast it and CeraKote it.

Yeah I would rather have it Cerakoted anyway!

[JLA]

I did Hoggers springer over last weekend. Turned out flippin sweet.

[H-D]

Originally Posted by JLA

I did Hoggers springer over last weekend. Turned out flippin sweet.

Got any pics?

[toppkatt]

Originally Posted by jack404

i can match the GI green with a 2% copper SULFIDE ultra fine grind addition

Jack can you expound a bit on this? I have a friend that wants to try and get that green GI color on a 03 Springfield. When do you add the copper sulfide, do you make it a solution first and add or just dissolve the powder? Timing?

Thanks

[jack404]

ok dissolve the sulfide powder in the acid

then the zinc and proceed as normal , rule of thumb , dissolve sulfides before zinc , oxides after zinc never use oxides and sulfides , the park will be bad and lift ..

do a test on any non standard mixes , get a block of the same grade steel temper it and park it to see how long you want to leave it to get the colour you want

you can remove the finish on the block and redo as many times as you want , but you cannot guess the finished colour while its in the tank ,

its gotta be dried and oiled to see final colour and once oiled it cant be returned to the tank unless re cleaned

its a pain but you can do 6-8 tests in a morning easy

start about 8 minutes and go up from there ( do 2-3 minute tests starting at 8 then 11 then 14 etc )

make wooden plugs for muzzle and chamber , hammer in so it seals and drill and hammer a nail or screw into the plug and hang by the nail or screw in the tank ... that way you get no marks from where its rested

dont ground the object thats being parked , make sure its isolated

good luck !!

[jack404]

Oh and clean your tank out real well after

sulfides leave a greasy residue , you'll need a good degreaser to remove it all especially if you use a plastic tank ...

[jack404]

this is from the Brownells tech series in 2004

[toppkatt]

Thanks Jack.
BTW I couldn't open the Brownell's PDF file, said yhere were errors in the file.

[jack404]

ok i'll upload to minus , its got error checks and fix's

http://jack404.minus.com/mbibXSV4Qz/7

[JLA]

Originally Posted by H-D

Got any pics?

I do, but ill leave the honor to Hogger. He should have his iron back by mid week and im sure he will be posting pics.