reblueing

[shattered00]

First, I had to grind away part of the Tapco trigger which took off the black coat on it. Is this trigger blued or what? I want to cover up the exposed metal to prevent rust.

Second, there is a grind mark on my AK-47 SAR-1 RSB when I removed the pin to straighten it. It is a fairly large grind mark as I was careless when grinding the excess pin off, and it reaches beyond the area that the lower handguard covers (so it's visible). I also want to cover this.

There are also many scratches exposing the metal underneath on the receiver. I think I want to redo the entire gun.

Was this gun blued to begin with or parkerized or what? Do I need to take off the "paint" first and then reblue(?) it?

I will be taking this gun with me in mud, rain, and other gunk, so I feel that at the very least the aformentioned exposed metal parts should be covered up to prevent rust.

Also, I want to refinish the wood, but I don't want the glossy look. I want to retain the current color though. So where could I find this color (I assume all Romanian Sar-1s have the same color wood).

Thank you.

 

[Brother in Arms]

Shatered 00

So your thinking about refinishing your SAR-1. Good Idea, as the original finish will rust very quickly in the field. In the rain or snow it starts developing rust right away. Best I can tell the original finish is a sort of cheap phosphating ( i.E. pakerizing) The Romanian rifles aren't painted. Eygptian maadi rifles are.

As for the trigger it is made from a cast metal and can be blued but if you don't allow it to stay in the blueing tank long enough it will turn purpleish or brownish.

If I where you I would have the firearm course bead blasted, then Pakerized, which is an excellent durable and rust prohibiting finish its also will not reflect until it gets scratched up and worn off. If you want it to be really tough, get it pakerized and then have a good qaulity bake on finish applied. Its one of the toughest finish's you can put on your rifle. You could reblue it but it won't offer as much protection as pakerizing, or pakerizing and bake on finish.
I pakerized the gas tube on my SAR-1 and it matches the original finish, but its much tougher than the original finish. I should have pakerized the whole firearm.

As for the wood, I have seen romain wood run from blond to pumpkin orange, from almost blood redish/brown to turd brown. Does it have laminate wood or just hard wood. When I refinish them I use a inexspensive stain and let it dry then use spar varnish on top but that give you a glossy finish, you can use 000 steel wool to dull it though. The romanian wood is fairly strong, but in time it will get beat up. If you want a really weather proof stock you can purchase a Kvar synthetic stock, they also have a heat shield in the forend. The wood ones get pretty hot if you shoot alot of mags back to back. A synthetic set is about $100 so if you don't want to sink that kind of cash I would strip the varnish off the stock, liughtly sand the wood, stain the wood the color you like then use several coats of tung oil. Its a durable no gloss finish that you can touch up any time you want. Use steel wool to dull the finish.

Brother in Arms

 

[shattered00]

Thanks for the response.

So I bead blast it, have it parkerized and then get it baked?

I admit, none of these terms mean anything to me. Is this something that I have to pay someone to do or can it be done myself? Do I need to remove the current finish on the SAR-1 before this other stuff is done?

About the trigger, do I need to remove the prior blueing? What is a military spec blueing that you recommend it be replaced with? I want a blueing that is at least as good as the one Tapco had put on it originally.

Also, my wood is of a reddish-brown. I assume its laminate wood b/c it has a glossy finish. If i take the stock to a place like home depot, could they help me find a matching color possibly?

Also, when I refinish teh wood, do I mess with the inside parts that aren't in view? This gun will likely be submerged completely under water so I probably want something to protect the inside also. Should I refinish every inch of the wood? Also, I don't want the glossy look b/c of possible reflection, so I will use the steel wool brush.

As for the KVAR synthetic stock, it doesn't have a tendency to melt or anything does it? That is probably a stupid question, but I plan on shooting many rounds (1000 or so) in a single setting.

 

[Brother in Arms]

Shatered00

Sorry for the gunsmith lingo. Ill clarify:
As far as bead blasting it and refinish it it, you could do it yourself if you had the correct equipment. However I am going to go on the assumption that your probably dont.

Bead blasting is like sand blasting only it uses extremely small glass beads. This is a mild abbrasive and will blast the original finish right off the firearm completely exposing the bright metal. However it will give a slightly rough texture to the steel so that when its Pakerized the sollution will adhere to the roughness.

Pakerizing is a sollution a sollution of Manganese phosphate, which you heat up to about 90 degree farenheit. Then you place the freshly blasted and cleaned rifle parts into the sollution. They will bubble furiouslyt and get darker and darker in color. Eventually the bubbling will cease and then the parts of the rifle are removed and placed in cold water until cold. Then the parts are put in a oil bath.(unless you plan on adding a bake on finish then oiling is not nessary)

At this point the rifle is pakerized and you don't have to go anyfurther if you don't want too. Pakerizing is an actual coating that sticks to the metal surfaces. This is the finish on older military rifles like the M1 garand. It is rugged and durable and is my favorite finish.

Baked on finishes are sprayed on like spray paint then put into a oven to cure. This is sprayed on over the pakerizing to make an even tougher finish.

You could apply a bake on finish over the original finish as it is basickly a thin pakerizing. That would be cheapest and easiest, though if you use your home oven for doing the bake on finish, might wreak havoc with the wife if you have one. I would say this is your best bet if you want a do it yourself project.

Blueing is another posibility, again bead blast the rifle then place its parts into a tank of blueing salts. Once fully blackened its placed in an oil bath to cool. This creates a protective layer of RUST that is blueish/ black in color. It has some corrosion resistance but not much, but it is much better than bare metal. This is known as the Hot blueing salts method and takes a bit of equipment to do on your own, but it is possible if you have a garage and some source of heat like a propane stove. You would also need several other chemicals (many of them caustic) The Ak isnt a big rifle so it could be blued in this method at home, in the garage or outside but I think it would be difficult. Also a home pakerizing setup wouldn't be that bad either but you still don't have a bead blaster so its a bit of a moot point. With blueing you could polish the gun with sand paper then blue it. You could have a gunsmith blue it, pakerize it, or Pakerize it and apply a bake on finish, or you could do a bake on finish yourself which is by far the cheapest. As for durability having the gunsmith pakerize it , or pakerize and bake on finish would be your toughest.

As for the trigger, you can have can it pakerized, blue or bake on finish it just as you would the rest of the firearm. As far as blueing goes generally you don't blue just one spot on a part as it seldom matches in color, but it can be done. As for a mil-spec blueing the US government used DU-LITE for years before they switched to parkerizing and it is available from brownells. I have used it many times and it works very well. So its up to you what you do, generally getting a gun blued costs about $100-$150, pakerizing about the same and a bake on finish im not sure of the cost. As far as doing it yourself you can buy the bake on finish from brownells.

Now for the wood.
Your wood may not be laminate because of the glossy finish, both beechwood stock and laminate stocks had this finish and I have seen both types have oil finish so its not really dependant on that. Laminate wood is more or less high grade plywood, If you look at it you will be able to see the layers or laminations and glue. It won't really have wood grain as a regular piece of wood does. So if it looks like ply wood its laminate if not its just plain old beech wood.

Home depot may be able to match the finish for you, I have been able to match finish of romanian laminate (reddish brown) with the mahogoney MinWax stain.

To refinish the wood, you remove the buttstock, from the receiver, remove lower handgaurd from the reciever and upper hand gaurd from the gastube.
You will need to strip the old glossy finish, which is probably a varnish which is clear and covers the wood's natural color( or the wood is stained underneath it ) and it is like a clear coat. Or it could be a Laquer which is it is basickly a varnish with color added in it. In either case it will have to be stripped off with a chemical stripper, Like Bix or Zip strip. Then you will be down to bear wood. At this stage you can sand the wood lightly as the stripper will raise the grain slightly removing any dings. After sanding stain rifle and then use the top coat of your choice, you may be able to find a no gloss clear coat, if you would prefer that method. Or you can use tung oil instead as I suggested. Finish all of the wood which will inhibit moisture in the wood, However in low humidity climates the inside part of the wood buttstock may shrink causing the butt to have a loose feeling. I have bedded the wooden buttstocks on my AK and it has solved the problem.

As for the KVAR stocks, I don't know of anyone melting them. They have fiber glass mixed in with the plastic material. Some guys get the barrel red hot and haven't melted the forends. I have seen wood hand gaurds smoke before when they got hot. If you plan on using your wood and shooting alot of rounds, id invest in a leather glove for your foward hand. As wood is a great insulator, but eventually gets hot to the touch after prolonged firing.

I included this link to Lynx's romanian AK web page there is actually a how to for refinishing them on his site! (damn after I typed all this too!) That may help. Also if you new to AK's gunsnet.net has a great AK forum very helpful.

this is lynx's site
http://www.gunsnet.net/Linx310/furn_refinish.htm

Hope this helps and good luck with your new AK if you have any other refinishing questions please feel free to ask in this thread or pm me if you want.

Brother in Arms