Posted: 11/20/2006 11:34:02 AM EDT
| I wanted to re-parkerize my 1911 frame. Does anyone know of anyone who does that kinda thing? I know i could venture out and try to do it myself, but I don't really screw around with boiling chemicals and whatnot. |
| well...I it orginally parked, then I gun koted it....and I really like don't it. So I thought I'd get strip it down and re-parkerize. So it's not parked right now, it's gunkoted and I wanted to Re-park it. I just need to find someone/a place that does this kinda stuff. |
|
You can do it on your kitchen stove. I've used the Amerlene kit from Brownell's with surprisingly good results. Brownell's no longer carries the Amerlene kit for some reason. Anyway, try HERE. |
|
Dude, parkerizing is incredibly easy and ridiculously inexpensive....if you have to rent/buy all the required items, it will still cost less than having it refinished professionally, and you get the same results without the wait. I strip the old finish with a cheap Campbell Hausfield pancake compressor (about $50 from Wallyworld, cheaper at a pawn shop) a crappy plastic gravity feed sand blasting gun ($17 from Horrible Freight) and play sand ( I use the manganese park solution from ShooterSolutions.com. ($38 including shipping buys enough to park several rifles....probably a dozen pistols. The Manganese comes out very dark grey...almost black) It's pre-mixed and doesn't require any 'seasoning' or special voodoo rituals. All you need to do is pour it into some distilled water according to the directions and heat it to 180-185 degrees. (if it boils, it's too hot and you're breaking down your solution) Note: a candy thermometer really helps. If the solution isn't hot enough, the parkerizing won't take....it'll wipe right off.--per the directions, 180-185 works best, but I didn't have any problems letting mine get to 195--just don't let it boil. For pistols, here's a trick--put masking tape on the parts you don't want to abrasive blast--for me, that's the visible parts of barrel and the tritium vials on my night sights. Remove the grips, and blast away. You don't rough up the rails or internal surfaces this way. Disassemble the pistol after you strip the old finish. Wear rubber gloves for this part, or you'll end up with bare metal fingerprints....don't ask me how I know  Degrease with a can or 2 of non-chlorinated brake cleaner, give it a warm water soak/rinse (the heat releases any oil trapped in the pores of the metal) and drop your parts into the heated solution. (for pistols, I use a $7 Pyrex baking pan on my grill outdoors. Stainless or ceramic works fine, but do not use aluminum....it'll still parkerize OK, but you'll be breathing some really toxic gas) Use just enough solution to completely submerge the parts. When the parts stop fizzing, it's done. Turn the parts with tongs every 5 minutes or so to ensure complete coverage. You can leave it in longer, but it won't parkerize any more....usually completely done within 30 minutes. Remove parts from the hot solution and give another warm water rinse. Hose it down with WD40 or similar water displacing oil, wipe dry, oil as you normally would and reassemble. Viola. It sounds like a lot of steps, but it's really not difficult. I completely refinished both of my parkerized 1911s in about 2 hours, and have since refinished several rifles--including a presentation rifle for my boss! (Oh, and I haven't had to buy any more solution yet!) People who've seen the results routinely ask me to refinish their guns....I'm making quite a bit of beer money doing this in my spare time, and I have absolutely ZERO background/training in this. I just read and follow the directions.  Total cost for set up--if you have to buy everything--is right around $125. Just be sure to ask you wife's permission before you use her good cooking pots if you aren't going to purchase one.....don't ask me how I know this either. |
|
You can do this yourself and it's both fun and rewarding. After doing some machine work on my Springfield's frame & slide, I abrasive blasted, reparked and applied Molyresin. The parkerizing was my favorite part because it used to be a mysterious process to me until I found out how easy it is to do at home (provided you do a good prep job with the abrasive blasting). I bought 1 pint of zinc parkerizing solution from Brownell's and some cheap stainless pots from Wally World. I do recommend practicing on some scrap metal first. The solution works better after it has been used once or twice. Click a picture for a larger view:  .  After blasting, I hose the parts down with brake cleaner, then dip in fresh boiling water (shown). It goes from the boiling water directly to the solution for about 15 minutes, then to a fresh water rinse. Shortly after this picture was taken, the rusty 3/8" drill rod on the boiling pot got blasted & parkerized.  Anyway, zinc phosphate is good if you're topcoating with a spray on finish. Otherwise you will probably like a manganese phosphate solution better. Here's the finished product after top coating and assembly (click for big): 
|