Anyone have a 1911 with a treatment = tennifer?

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jlh26oo

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I see "black ion", "armory coat", etc but thinking these are more along the lines of finishes than the fool proof treatment I am now spoiled to.

I know XD has something with a different trade name which is a chemical equivalent to tennifer... are they applying it to any of their 1911's?
 
Tennifer is colorless and applied before the finish, tennifer goes into the metal making it hard and virtually rust proof and tennifer cannot be done in the USA because of pollution laws. The XD is not tennifer and does not get close to equaling tennifer and the only gun I know that has it is the Glock, but there might be other guns made in foreign countries that has it.
 
Correct me if im mistaken, BUT
some company has a "MELONITE" (sp?) coating that is supposed to be Tennifer like.
 
Here's the entry from Wikipedia. Anyone care to corroborate or dispute?

Tenifer
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Tenifer is a trademarked name for the end result of a chemical bath nitriding process that embeds nitrogen into an iron-containing alloy to create a corrosion-resistant finish that is a dull grey in color and extremely hard. The generic term for this type of process is carbonitriding. Other trade names for carbonitriding include Melonite, Sursulf, Arcor, Tufftride, and Koline.

[edit] Users of the process

* SAAB of Sweden once used the Tenifer process to treat its crankshafts and camshafts. [citation needed]

* Glock, an Austrian firearms manufacturer, utilizes this process to protect the slides of the pistols they manufacture. The Tenifer finish on a Glock is the third and final hardening process. It is 0.05 millimeters thick and produces a patented 64 Rockwell C (diamond cone) hardness rating via a 500 °C nitride bath. The final matte, non-glare finish meets or exceeds stainless steel specifications, is 85% more corrosion resistant than a hard chrome finish, and is 99.9% salt-water corrosion resistant. After the Tenifer process, a black Parkerized finish is applied and the slide is protected even if the finish were to wear off. Several other pistols also use this process including the Walther P99 and Steyr M/S series.
Click to expand...
 
The XD is not tennifer and does not get close to equaling tennifer and the only gun I know that has it is the Glock, but there might be other guns made in foreign countries that has it.
Click to expand...

I've said it 1000 times...

You're absolutely wrong. Tennifer and Melonite (the XD coating) are the same finish. Period.
 
SiGArms

As others have noted, Melonite is the same thing as Tenifer and is used by many other gun makers. On a factory 1911 SiGArms offers the GSR line in their Nitron finish, which is another black finish over a nitride process like Tenifer, and Melonite. Aftermarket you could go with something like electroless nickel, or Robar's incredible NP3.
 
Tennifer is a gas carbonitriding process that adds nitrogen and carbon to the steel.There are additional processes used that make it very corrosion resistant.
 
As others have noted, Melonite is the same thing as Tenifer and is used by many other gun makers
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Well they can't be the exact same process becuase melonite can be done in USA where Tennifer cannot due to EPA standards.:confused:
 
That will be news to the vendors of the process who think that they sell the same stuff under the names of Tenifer, Melonite, and Tufftride in different countires.

http://durferrit.de/en/unternehmen/firmengeschichte.htm

"To meet the growing needs with regard to wear and corrosion resistance, as well as the enhancement of the fatigue strength, great efforts were devoted to the development and launching of the TENIFER® process, which is also known worldwide under the trade names of TUFFTRIDE® and MELONITE®. This nitrocarburizing process has undergone continuous development with regard to its regenerability and ecology, and from year-to-year the number of applications is increasing on all 5 continents."

and in a paper by the chemists involved...

"The TUFFTRIDE QPQ process is known in English-speaking and Asian countries under that name, inEurope and German-speaking countries as TENIFER QPQ and in the USA as MELONITE QPQ. TUFFTRIDE®,TENIFER® and MELONITE®are registered trademarks ofDurferrit GmbH."
 
That will be news to the vendors of the process who think that they sell the same stuff under the names of Tenifer, Melonite, and Tufftride in different countires.
Click to expand...

Tennifer can’t be done in the U.S. because the European process uses Arsenic acids which is prohibited in the U.S. under EPA guide lines. The other companys can use different acids and change the name but it will not be the actual Tenifer process. But then again again they do not claim it to be they call it something else, but I am sure they do know what they are doing.




Some Tenifer data I have been researching



"""""Surface hardening of steel and iron (to improve wear resistance) can be done by either allowing the surface of metals to react with either Nitrogen (nitriding), Carbon (carburizing), Boron (boriding), etc. TENIFER is termed for a chemical bath nitriding process whereby nitrogen is chemically released and introduced into the surface at a suitable high temperature to allow the chemical process to take place.

Using the liquid bath techniques, the temperature requires to activate the reaction is about 550 to 580 Celsius. The bath is performed in a molten, nitrogen-bearing liquid containing either cyanides or cyanates. """""



The process can be produced in the US but the cyanides or cyanates have to be replaced with a diffrent chemical for the chemical bath nitrading treatment which can give Tenifer like results, but it won't actually be or be called Tenifer and unless EPA cuts down on restrictions there will never be a USA company using cynides or cyanates in the USA.
 
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So we know XD's are at least similarly, if not identically treated. Is SA applying this to any of their 1911's?

Sounds like the best bet is Sig GSR:
On a factory 1911 SiGArms offers the GSR line in their Nitron finish, which is another black finish over a nitride process like Tenifer, and Melonite.
Click to expand...
So is it your understanding only the Nitron finish gets the nitriding? Or will their SS also have the nitriding process done to it? How does that nitron wear? About as bullet-proof as the GLOCK finish? Close? SS w/something tennifer like would be incredible.

"the Revolution™ XO features SIG’s new durable XO finish designed for rugged use and is available in either XO Black or XO Stainless (shown)." Hmm, wonder if that's it?

Thanks much to all.
 
jlh, I've no idea on how the Nitron wears. I just knew it was available on the GSR line from doing the research that lead me to choose a Revolution Carry as my next 1911. I should be picking it up in (hopefully) just over a month when I return from overseas. Once a run a few hundred rounds thru it I'll be sure to report on how it runs. It was my understanding that Nitron was a type of nitriding finish, but I'll see if I can find more specifics on Nitron vs. XO.
 
Hey, mastinson, you got a reference on that "arsenic acids" business?

There is nothing in company literature you or I have quoted about arsenic, and I cannot find anything about its being used in steel processing. The formulation I saw for a carbonitriding salt bath was 60% sodium cyanide and cyanate, 40% potassium cyanide and cyanate - the split between cyanide and cyanate carefully left unspecified for proprietary reasons, no doubt - and that doesn't leave any percentages for "arsenic acids."

I have seen mention of cyanide-free Tenifer baths but no description of what is in there to accomplish the same thing.
 
Melonite

jlh; I just got a mod. 58 (revolver) back from Coal Creek Armory that I had their Melonite QPQ (or something) finish applied to. The revolver is a "hard use" gun at the ranch, and being "fixed sight" I wanted a finish I wouldn"t have to touch up the front sight every other week. Finish looks to be "bullet proof". CCA did a superb job, cost was quite reasonable. Speak with Anthony if you're interested. Adios.
 
Thanks for the tips.

Apparently, S&W's melonite is an actual steel hardening "treatment", as opposed ot just a finish. Not many models have it though/
 
lasting finish

I have a Kimber 1911 with a carry bevel and some other custom touches. The fellow that I bought it from had all the work done, including a Melonite QPQ finish. This finish has proven to be very long lasting and, so far, impossible to scratch. It's much easier to clean, and it doesn't wear like the Tenifer finish on my Glocks. Admittedly, the Glocks just get shinier, but the Melonite finish is very even and doesn't change at all.
 
Nirton is nowhere near the finish that Tennifer is.

If you want a tennifer like finish melonite is the way to go.
 
Here are my two guns with this kind of finish:
 

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The XD is not tennifer and does not get close to equaling tennifer and the only gun I know that has it is the Glock
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Walther uses Tenifer on their P99, PPQ, and PPS pistols.
 
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