This post is going to be a work in progress. I don't have all the ingredients handy, and for a change, I don't have anything that needs to be refinished.... I'll come back to it periodically and add info and pics. For a quick taste, here's how home parkerizing is done:



#1. Detail strip your firearm. If you don't want something parkerized, just set it aside.

#2. Mix up your solution. You'll want it to be immediately ready for use because your expensive firearm isn't going to have any protection from rusting after steps 3 and 4. You'll have to work pretty fast.

*I prefer a dark gray (almost black) finish on my parkerized guns. I've tried a few different brands, but the one that has produced the most consistent results for me is from ShootersSolutions.com. ( http://shooterssolutions.com/morgunfirmot.html ) For a gray/green finish, you'll want the zinc solution and for the dark gray/black, you'll want the manganese.

**The instructions that come with these kits were written very poorly, almost like it was translated from a different language. After trying to figure out what the heck the guy was trying to say, I called him....he talks like he writes, and I got NOWHERE with him. Helluva nice guy and likes to chat, but I still had no idea what I was supposed to do. I surfed the internet and found some better instructions, and I got very satisfactory results.

***Also of note: ShootersSolutions isn't very timely with their shipping, and you might want to follow up an internet order with a phone call or email. Honestly, due to their shipping and horrible instructions, I wouldn't recommend them at all, but their product flat out WORKS without having to worry about mixing a whole bunch of chemicals or 'seasoning' the solution with steel wool.

2a. In a stainless steel or ceramic lined pot, mix about 8 ounces of solution to about a half gallon of distilled water, or enough to completely submerge your gun. (Aluminum pots will dissolve and ruin the solution and your finish, and impurities in your local water can also affect the process) You don't need to worry about exact measurements....this stuff is very forgiving. The parts will bond with the zinc/manganese depending on the hardness of the steel, not the concentration in the solution....you can always add a little more to speed things up, but the process only takes about 15 minutes.

2b. This is important! Heat the solution to 195 degrees. Use a candy thermometer to regulate the temp. If it's too cold (185 degrees) it will parkerize, but the finish will be very thin and will wipe right off. If it's too hot (200 or so) it will emulsify quickly and you won't be able to re-use the solution. I usually mix the solution and set it on the stove on the lowest possible burner setting right before I head out to the shop for steps 3 and 4....that way, it's all ready to go when I finish those steps. **btw, turn on the fan...this will give off some noxious gasses....doesn't smell too bad, but it's not good for you. If it'll eat an aluminum pot, it can't do your lungs any good.


#3. Abrasive/bead blast the parts you want to parkerize. If you want a rough, military texture to your park job, I find that regular play sand shot at about 50-60 PSI works best. **SAFETY WARNING: play sand is silica. Exposure to silica dust causes a lung condition similar to asbestosis. Don't breath that stuff.

For a smoother finish, finer beads or abrasives are required. Parkerizing will not bond to blued surfaces, so be sure to remove all traces of the original finish. It also won't bond well to smooth surfaces. I recommend taping off things like feed ramps, breech faces and rails because it will save you a lot of polishing time later. I also recommend using a line dryer on your compressor. If you have the slightest amount of moisture in the air, you can get flash rust....parkerizing won't bond to rust either. If you don't have a line dryer, there's a way around this, but it involves another chemical. I'll come to that later.

#4. Wearing rubber gloves, degrease your parts thoroughly. I heat my projects with a heat gun--it's like a turbocharged hair dryer, and runs about $15 at Harbor Freight. (it's useful for all kinds of projects, not just warming gun parts...but I digress) The heat opens the pores of the metal and releases trapped oils....degrease again. I like cheap non-chlorinated Brake Cleaner for this job. (about $.97/spray can at Wallyworld) You need the gloves because your fingerprints contain enough oil to completely booger up an otherwise perfect park job.

4a. If you got the unfortunate flash rusting, you need to remove it before it goes into the solution or you'll get a mottled, uneven finish. Since you're still wearing your rubber gloves, (you are, right?) use a piece of 0000 steel wool and some Birchwood Casey Bluing and Rust Remover (or naval jelly), and remove the rust. Do this over the kitchen sink and immediately rinse with hot water....then the part goes into your hot solution


#5. If you didn't have to got to 4a, now is where the real fun begins. Carefully place your parts into the hot solution. If the temp isn't quite at 195 degrees, raise the temp. If it's too hot, just pull it off the burner until it's where it should be. Unless you really mucked up the solution--not possible with this kit unless you didn't degrease well enough--you will see an immediate fizz rolling off the parts. That's the parkerizing starting. Using tongs, turn the parts every few minutes to ensure even coverage. If you start seeing what looks like bits of wet toilet paper floating in your solution, don't panic. That's the emulsification I was talking about, and it's going to happen no matter what you do....just keep agitating the solution with a stainless steel spoon so the gunk can't settle on your project. If it's allowed to settle, you will see a mottled appearance to the park. After 15 to 20 minutes, the fizzing should almost completely stop....if it's still fizzing strong, it's still parkerizing. Depending on the hardness of the steel, it may take more or less time.

#6. Now that it's stopped fizzing, take your parts out of the solution directly over to a HOT water rinse. I usually fill the sink with the hot tap water and leave the faucet running. I give the parts a good scrub with an old toothbrush under running hot water, and then dry them. This is the time to give the finish a good inspection. The parts are still hot, so they'll dry pretty fast. If you have a thin spot, you can just drop it back into the solution for a touch up.

#7. Give the parts a heavy dose of water displacing oil. (comes with the kit, and WD40 works well too) This is where a lot of folks mess up....parkerizing isn't protective by itself. It only leaves a porous surface for oil to cling to, and if you skip this step, it WILL rust. Once you have the parts oiled up and wiped down, it's ready for reassembly....unless you want some REAL corrosion proofing.

#8. Using the oven, heat gun or hair dryer, heat the parts up until they're uncomfortably hot to the touch. When the parts are warm, wipe some petrolatum (vaseline) on. It will melt on contact and go into all the little nooks and crannies, and will completely rust proof your gun, as well as give it that smooth, even, professional finish. I use another old toothbrush to make this easier.


Wipe down the excess petrolatum while it's still warm, reassemble and go test fire. You'll more than likely need to polish up a few surfaces that are now covered by park, but since park doesn't bond well to smooth surfaces, it's not difficult. (you remembered to tape off the breech face, feed ramp and rails, right?)




I'll come back and post some pics later




here's a FAL....I parked the upper and lower receivers




here's a couple of 1911s. Guess which one I refinished.




(both!)









eta: for touch ups and small parts, check this out! http://www.ar15armory.com/forums/addition-...ing-t20441.html

This post has been edited by Colt45Guy: October 2nd 2007 12:38 PM

Awesome!

I'm gonna redo my Para and get rid of that gay midnight blue too.

Question. I don't have a blasting cabinet, is it ok to have it blasted somewhere else then come back and do the steps?

ETA: After the pics, most definitely refinishing the Para and using it for my self built 1911. It looks great man, seriously especially the Springfield.

This post has been edited by Etho: October 1st 2007 12:18 AM

I don't have a cabinet either. I just blast it outside in the driveway. If you're saying that you don't have a compressor or sandblaster, this is a pretty easy fix....find somebody who has one and hose the parts down with WD40 as soon as you finish roughing 'em up....bring the parts home and degrease.

Oh figured a blasting cabinet was a must.

But I don't have a blaster either, I did but sold it stupidly. I'll see how much a machine shop will charge me to blast both 1911.

Absolutely coat it with something after it's blasted if you have to transport it very far.
It's amazing how fast bare metal can start to develope surface rust.

Guns look nice.
I have a 45 I need to refinish, I was thinking of having it blued but now the parkerizing looks like the way I want to go. I read the shooters solutions page and I see what you mean. I was dizzy after trying to read that! So, I'll ask you, what solution did you order and how much of it is needed to parkerize the entire gun? Do I need to do anything special to my sights, theyre just 3 dots (not tritium). Should they be removed and treated seperately?

Colt 45 guy, good post!!

I do a fair amount of parkerizing and differ a little. As best I can tell, the chemicals vary quite a bit, affecting the procedure accordingly. I find the stuff I use will work OK between 180 - 200 degrees. It does not form the white floating stuff. I DO skim off any debris using a paper towel each time I use it (before heating). Leave it in the tank and add DI water as needed to maintain volume. My bath will complete the conversion in 1 to 2 min of submersion (done when it stops fizzing). I use a stainless steel basket for a few small parts but for most stuff I form loops of stainless steel wire, using the wire to support the item off the bottom of tank. .032 safety wire works great!

Haven't noticed any problem from light rust but I do try to avoid it. Note that "Naval Jelly" contains phosporic acid as the active ingedient that attacks rust. Same for Dupont Metal Prep, Lime Away and several other readily available chemicals. Reason I mention that is it is the SAME acid that makes park work! (I did not that my stuff also contains Nitric acid; not sure if others do.) A strong solution will deal with rust better than a weak one. Most steel begins to rust imediately after blasting unless it is in a REALLY dry climate.

I degrease BEFORE blasting for several reasons. Oil is NOT your friend in a sandblaster! Any oil on an item can be driven into the metal by blasting and be difficult to remove. Before blasting I thread stuff on the wires and degrease the wires as well. Itty bitty stuff gets placed in a coffee can with small holes in bottom. Cut hole in lid and stick blaster nozzle in hole. Agitate while blasting and all surfaces get attention. I degrease with either cheap brake cleaner or MEK. (MEK is nasty stuff but it really does the job!) I avoid fingerprints from this point until after it comes out of the rinse. Note that some kinds of brake clean leave a residue that interferes with the process (the slow evaporating kind). I have found the ones that contain toluene to work best (fast evaporating).

I do not tape off anything, even bores. For a feed ramp it might be advisable but a little work with a Scotch Brite pad has always worked for me.

I keep an old Corningware dish that I use for little items I forget or don't want to fire up the big tank. I just pour in a little solution - heat it in the microwave - then dip my parts. Rinse in the sink under hot water. Spray a little WD-40 on it & I'm done. I find exposing a newly parked item to sunlight causes some color shift so I try to keep it dark for a few days if possible.

Haven't heard the Vaseline trick - will have to try that one! I usually wipe stuff down with motor oil, hydraulic oil or transmission fluid a few days after parking although I have used all sorts of lubes with same results. I have threatend to make another tank and fill with oil then heat it and dip the parts; maybe someday......

Parkerize is not really a surface coating. It is actually a conversion coating that forms in the top few 10ths of the metal. Only works on ferrous stuff and doesn't work quite as well on hard steel.

Our host, NWATSON99, has seen some of my work and shot them so he may comment if he sees this....

This post has been edited by MickeyMouse: December 6th 2007 7:55 PM

yep...I had the same reaction to that website.

If you want the whole kit, get the small version, or just buy a bottle of Dark Manganese Park Solution and use household chemicals for the rest....EasyOff oven cleaner or Brake cleaner works better than what comes in the kit as a cleaner/degreaser--but like Mickey pointed out, some will leave a residue and that needs to be removed before parkerizing. I just use WD40 as a water displacing oil instead of the squirt bottle that comes in the kit....which smells suspiciously like WD40. A 16oz bottle of solution will be enough to parkerize several guns if you're mixing it according to the instructions. The only other ingredient you'll really need is a gallon or 2 of distilled water.

As for the sights--tape 'em off when you sand blast. Park doesn't build up or adhere well to a smooth surface, and blued surfaces won't parkerize at all. (you may get a small build up, but it wipes right off with 0000 steel wool) The acids in the parkerizing solution will probably eat through the dots, but you can always repaint with a dab of Testors model paint.






Mickey--would you please post a pic or 2 of your work? As you pointed out, there's several different methods/procedures/recipies....I'd love to have a good running discussion of how we do things and why they work for us!

for instance, I HATE having to scotchbrite or otherwise re-polish feed ramps and rails....when a gun fits and slides nicely before refinishing, I like it to do the same afterwards....I know it's fairly easy to get it back the way it was, but I find that running a line of tape in an area that won't be seen--or will wear off immediately anyway--is much faster than going back over it with scotchbrite....it's all about the convenience for me. (I suppose if I was doing a restoration, I'd be more inclined to refinish everything, but so far everythign I've done has been a working gun that needed to get back into service quickly.)

Thanks guys, I think I'll place an order today. I'll post some before and afters.

can't wait to see the results!