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Posted: 2/10/2017 9:25:02 PM EDT
| As part of my part-time endeavor as a dealer/gunsmith lite, I'm getting into doing some parkerizing. Technical issues aside, tell me what you know about pricing. Either how you approach it if you do this work, or what you're familiar with otherwise. I assume I'll be doing some disassembly/assembly with this process. Thanks. |
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Short version, you need to break down the parts that are to be parkerized, either oxide blast if you are dealing with coated parts first, or final bead blast before the parts are parkerized if just old parkerizing/ bluing, then you into the actual parkerizing. Once the parts are parkerized, then you need to reassembly the parts back the assembly.
Take a simple AR bolt, and you have to pull is all the way down, including removing the ejector, before you can parkerize the pins and bolt body. Truth is, since spray coating steel parts starts with the parts being parkerized, so the coating has something to bond to. Hence offering both Parkerizing and spray coatings services do go hand and hand. Now the down side, if your smithing skill are not strong enough, then these need to be improved before you start offering the services. Lets take a M9/FS 92 that someone brings to you to re-coat the slide. Before you can do anything with the slide, you need to strip it down completely. Once you have the parts stripped out the slide, then the slide and needed parts get oxide blasted to first remove the old coating and old parkerizing, the parts are then bead blasted to smooth the oxide cutting for a peen sheen that will be the base for the parkerizing, then parts parkerized, then needed parts coated, then the slide put back together. And to take it one step further, in the case of a Garand or M1a, the gas cylinder on it will not take standard parkerizing. So what happens when you are refinish the rifle, the other parts are parkerized, and the gas cylinder outer surfaces are bead blasted, and then spray coated in a fashion to match the parkerizing in sheen and color. To sum it up, the parkerizing of the parts is the easy part Prep and tank work), and the detail part is getting the parts first stripped down for parkerizing, then putting the parts back together without mar'g the hell out of the new parkerized finishes. Also, when I say parkerizing is easy, it really is not, since you need to work with both your magnesium and zinc parkerizing solutions to achieve the needed final tints if you are not just parkerizing all the parts to one color instead. 
Bluntly, where most guys screw themselves, is not having a cost correct for the detail strip and reassembly of the parts before and after parkerizing, and either short change themselves, or bid the price way to high instead. |
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Thanks, way more informative response than I anticipated. My take apart/put it back together skills are pretty good, I guess it will just take experience to figure out how to charge. I'm starting with manganese first, and I'm not going to do anybody's prized WWII firearms to start off with.
I've never heard of anyone doing both an oxide and peen blast before finishing. Is the difference that dramatic? Any problems, other than cosmetic, with not doing the bead blast? Thanks. |
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Depending what grit of glass bead your running, some stronger type coatings that have been shot over parkerizing to get a good bond, may not come off with glass bead (or take too long instead). The same goes for light rust pitting or marring on the steel that needs to be erased/blended in before parkerizing, and bead blasting will not do that alone.
Take this ak receiver that was parkerized, and can tell you for a fact that it was glass beaded only, and not pre-oxide blasted before final glass beading isntead. 
Hence the parkerizing may be fine as a base coat for spray coatings, but rather sucks as the final finish parkerizing from a parkering/ metal finish stand point instead. |
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Again, oxide basting is first used to unify the surface , and remove light items like spot welding marks.
Once the surface is unified, then you will use glass bead blast to peen the metal surface, hence remove the shape edges that the oxide produced since the glass bed peens the metal instead. So again, Oxide cuts and leaves sharp edges on the craters, while Glass bead peens the metal and leave smooth edges on the micro craters instead. As for grit of oxide, all depends on what mess you need to clean up first, which will determine what grit you will need to start with glass bead afterwards as well. For something like this that is just spot weld marks, would have started with 180 oxide, then finished up with 240 glass bead. This would remove the spot spot weld blister spot and edges, and temper surface prep the steel that will take a uniform layer of parkerizing as well.
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Quoted:
For grit blasting, you'll want to use 120 grit alum ox, not glass bead. Glass beads will peen the surface of the metal, and the parkerization will not adhere to the metal well, if at all. Be sure to degrease the shit out of everything before hand too. I have also used "pre-black" to ensure a uniform black for the entire firearm (not having a phosphate/paint finish). Again, I have never had a problem using glass beads. Course aluminum oxide can change dimensional features in metal as in holes/screws/pins. Here are a few pictures of my work. 
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Quoted:
From what I have read here, you folks must be using a different "phosphating solution" than I do. I use 80-100 grit glass beads and have never had a problem with the solution bonding with the metal. I use both Zinc and Manganese solutions. I have also used "pre-black" to ensure a uniform black for the entire firearm (not having a phosphate/paint finish). Again, I have never had a problem using glass beads. Course aluminum oxide can change dimensional features in metal as in holes/screws/pins. Here are a few pictures of my work. http://www.gunco.net/gallery/data/500/medium/EnfieldNo4Mk1View1.jpg http://www.gunco.net/gallery/data/500/medium/MVC-822F.JPG http://www.gunco.net/gallery/data/500/medium/stevens772.jpg |
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This is from the Brownells instruction sheet for phosphating...
b. Blast the parts, using clean media, to the surface finish desired. A coarser, rougher surface results in thicker, denser Parkerized finish. Brownells recommends using either #60-100 Glass Beads, silica sand, 120 grit silicon carbide abrasive compound, or fine, aluminum oxide, blasting grit. Another means to the rough finish is to use a Scott Murray Wheel with a 60 grit belt. Closely fitted areas like bolt locking lugs can be masked off using black plastic electrician’s tape. As was mentioned before, non-blasted areas will Parkerize, but the coating will be thinner, and less coarse. |
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