"Milky" parkerizing solution?

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GLOCK45GUY

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I've been working on a Argentine Colt (1911, and am done with all the cutting and grinding:evil:.

I've refinished all the parts. The slide, frame, barrel bushing, recoil spring plug, thumb saftey, and mainspring housing came our looking great.

My slide stop and beavertail grip safety are another story. The first time (when I processed all the other parts) they would never stop fizzing. I took them out after about an hour of them still fizzing (they were almost white), rinsed in distilled water, dryed parts and sprayed with neutalizer (then turned black), and let sit with all other parts.

The next day I was wiping off the parts, and when I got to the BGS, and SS, the parkerized finish partly wiped off both of these parts:fire:.

I thought I didn't clean/degrease them good enough, so I blasted them again. As the soulution began to heat back up, it turned real milky white in color. I changed solution cleaned/degreased parts again, and the same thing happened with the BGS and SS:banghead:.

What am I doing wrong? Both parts were blued to begin with. HELP!!!!!
 
Has something to do with the temp of the water bath and the metal prep. Possibly solution was too hot when the parts were put in or you did not make the final solution temp hot enough. Lots of variables in there. What type of solution are you using?
 
I was using AGI kit. I was careful to bring the temp up slow, and maintain 180 degrees with the thermometer.

Parts were cleaned/degreased, blasted with 35 micron Alum Oxide, washed in hot soapy water, degreased again w/ ZEP ID Red, rinnsed in distilled water, and put into cleaned/degreased stainless steel tank suspended with stainless steel wire (also cleaned).

I think theres something with the metal, these were the only parts that would never stop the gassing action.
 
Check the parts with a magnet to see if they are steel. They are probably a metal other than steel. The fizzing is probably hydrogen being generated as the parts are dissolving in the solution.
 
I put a kitchen magnet on all the parts before I blasted them to make sure they were steel.

The Wilson Combat BGS was bought blued from Brownells (the custom fit one, not the drop-in).

The slide stop was blued when I bought the gun but it was purple, so I'm not real suprized it came out a little funky.
 
Brownells Parkerizing solution stops active work on the piece when the temp is brought up too high. Is possible you are not getting hot enough. Not familiar with the AGI stuff. Brownells stuff does the smae as yours if temp not correct, or if not enough solution. I have been putting my parts in the bath cold. Cold bath, cold parts. Bring up to temp slowly and then max the temp out and start to boil the solution when I seen they are nice and black.
 
either too cold (i like 195deg) or the metal in those parts is crap, probably the alloy had impurities.
 
You also said it was milky. If there is sediment (flock) on the bottom of the tank on your container it should be removed. I simply let it settle out of my solution and filter it out every year or so. It is byproduct of the working bath and can be in cold solution but should not be in the hot bath
 
The "milkyness" does settle back down to the bottom once the solution cools. How can I filter this out? It looks really fine (almost like I dumped blast media in it).

I put the parts in a hot solution (at least 170F, not to exceed 200F).

I expected the slide stop to be funky, the bluing was purple in color when I bought the gun. But I thought Wilson Combat to be of some quality?
 
the purple color of the slide stop comes from a high silicon content, I suspect this could also be the cause of your parkerizing problems, though it doesn't explain the grip safety.
 
THe AGI instructions and supplied DVD stated that no "conditioning" of the solution is needed for their formula.

Riss: What are you using to strain the "flock" out of your solution?

Thanks guys for all of your input.
 
I use a permanent coffee filter. One of those that is attached to a plastic holder to fit in a coffee maker. Think I got it at WallyWorld or Harbor Freight. Be careful, if that precipitate (flock) manages to cook onto the bottom of a pan that has been heated directly (versus indirect heat) it can bake on, become solid. AND will need to be mechanically removed. As in scrape, sandpaper, shot blast, etc.
 
gb6491: That guy went in several different directions than directed by the manufacturer of the solution. I followed direction to the tee, and watched the video probably 3 times.

Riss: Thanks for the info on that. I got home last night and looked at the solution I had mixed up. there's definately granuels in the bottom of the pan, not a thick white paste like I thought.

For the mean time (probably for ever) I degreased the grip saftey and slide stop then dusted them with flat black grill paint that matches pretty damn good. Will post pics of before and after later.
 
After use, I strain my mix through paper towels to remove the flock. Since I'm only doing handguns and am only using less than two gallons of solution, this is no problem.
Interestingly, I only have probs with 3 parts. CMC 1911 magazine catches, EGW and Caspian 1911 firing pin stops. These parts will fizz long after every other part in the bath is done. The color will then rub right off. This occurs every single time! So I no longer park these parts, but instead give them a shot of Gunkote.
:confused:
 
gb6491: That guy went in several different directions than directed by the manufacturer of the solution. I followed direction to the tee, and watched the video probably 3 times.
Click to expand...
I noticed that:uhoh: What caught my eye was this part of a reply by islandhopper:
"I do not use a pre-park hot water dip. Whenever I've used that as a step before parkerizing I have had the same results as you did. I think it is because of what I'd call micro-flash rusting. You don't really see it, but it's there. Skip that step altogether. Degrease your part/s, strip them, degrease them again and then drop them in the solution."
I think he might be on to something there with the flash rusting. I've seen it on a few parts in a batch, but I just blasted the parts again. I've found very hot water and no delay between steps pretty much prevents it. On some smaller parts, I do just as he does; blast, degrease, solution.

I have some grill paint on Enfield No.4 that has held up pretty well over the years:)

Regards,
Greg
 
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