Parkerizing

[KY DAN]

I want to apply this finish to a cheap 1911, two ugly camo spray painted remington 870, and a beat to crap remington 1100.... I am best friends with a gun dealer who throws me his unsellable items just to make room, this has not been the case this year as everything has sold quite well.

I have thought about doing this since 2017 when I bought the lauer cleaning and parkerizing solutions from modwayusa they have sat in my garage ever since.

I only have 16 oz of parkerizing solutions, air compressor, cabinet sand blaster.

Can other members with experience please recommend the following

-tank for long guns
-amount of solutions needed and how to mix
- are the cleaning and parkerizing solutions I currently own still useable?

 

[wiscoaster]

Sorry, can't help with answers, instead have a question of my own: could you share why you chose parkerizing instead of cerakoting? Thanks...

 

[KY DAN]

I chose it because it was a stupid idea I had 3 years ago..... something I read about and never did. I spent years buying guns, ammo, reloading equipment but my work life was extremely toxic and taxing. My hours were 60 to 80 hours a week and Saturday was until 6-230 pm. My time was gone ,my mental state shot, I was burned out and hated life and my job.

Fast forward to February 27 2020 I got a call at 530 pm saying we are laying you off and bring in your uniforms Monday after 8 years. ... don't get me wrong I was bummed but not enough I could not do a happy dance in my drive way. I was afraid to quit this job because it was my first and I had no idea what i could and couldn't do as a machinist. So I spent 4 months on unemployment doing everything I wanted gun and travel wise and found out most of the crap I had bought I did not really want. I sold around 50 guns, threw away so much "stuff" and gave so much more away that my doctor and other acquaintances became concerned and asked if I was planning to harm myself as this behavior matches such after a major life event. Got a new job as a tool and die maker apprentice in a shop with ac/heat and I have not looked back.

So at this point the best I can say is I am using what I currently have to finish unfinished projects.

 

[wiscoaster]

OK ... finishing unfinished project w/ material already aquired ... got it. I was thinking maybe there was some superior functional reason for parkerizing over cerakoting. I'm familiar with the latter but not the former. Good to hear things are finally working out better for you. Good luck with the project.

 

[BBBBill]

Can other members with experience please recommend the following
-tank for long guns
-amount of solutions needed and how to mix
- are the cleaning and parkerizing solutions I currently own still useable?

Brownell's stainless tank. Carbon steel won't work.
Varies by brand of solution. Not all eare exactly the same.
What do your instructions say? Did it come with instructions?
Unknown. Depends on variables like stability of the solutions and storage conditions. Easy enough to try it on a few parts to see what happens. If ir works, you're good to go. If not, blast the parts and repeat with new solution.

could you share why you chose parkerizing instead of cerakoting?

I like Cerakote over Parkerizing. Gotta get it done soon after the parts come out of the Park tank, though.

 

[jbm]

I want to apply this finish to a cheap 1911, two ugly camo spray painted remington 870, and a beat to crap remington 1100.... I am best friends with a gun dealer who throws me his unsellable items just to make room, this has not been the case this year as everything has sold quite well.

I have thought about doing this since 2017 when I bought the lauer cleaning and parkerizing solutions from modwayusa they have sat in my garage ever since.

I only have 16 oz of parkerizing solutions, air compressor, cabinet sand blaster.

Can other members with experience please recommend the following

-tank for long guns
-amount of solutions needed and how to mix
- are the cleaning and parkerizing solutions I currently own still useable?

I've done this a couple of times at home with good luck.

I bead blasted the metal first. Everything has to be clean. I scrub everything with gun cleaner, then scrub and soak in acetone while I'm getting the solution ready, then one final rinse with clean water. I used gloves to handle anything after the acetone soak.

I used a stainless steel pan that I got from a barbecue supply place. It needs to be stainless.

The big thing I found was that it requires good temperature control. Too hot and the chemicals come out of solution. Too cool and it doesn't stick. I think the instructions said it should be about 180 degrees. It doesn't take much to heat to get up into the 190s and then the solution is ruined. I put the stainless steel pan on my grill and used low heat and a good thermometer. I found the multiple burners on the grill gave me a very distributed heat.

For barrels, I propped the pan up on the long edge so that I didn't have to have gallons of solution. I did agitate it some.

As for how to mix the chemicals, I just followed the directions on the bottle. I used https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1841245936 solutions.

I would think your chemicals are still good to go. You can always practice with it. The first time I tried it, it didn't work that well -- heat issues. I just bead blasted, cleaned it and tried again. It would probably be worth it to practice to get the heat right.

 

[dh1633pm]

I used a ceramic coated pan parkerizing on the grill burner. Did a 1911 and a torekov pistol. Both came out with a nice black finish. Following internet instructions and it worked great.

 

[herrwalther]

Hardest part of Parkerizing is finding a big enough container to fit the parts in. If you are doing something small like a 1911 , nearly any cooking pot will do the trick. I found a teflon coated spaghetti pot for $5 that I have done about half a dozen 1911 slides in. This video helps and I follow it exactly.