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Anyone familiar with parkerizing?


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I have a friend who has access to industrial parkerizing equipment. I've had him do a bayonet for me and he didn't even remove the handles, it came out unreal! My question is, what will the parkerizing do to a chrome lined chamber and bore? I'm very tempted to have him strip and parker my entire AK when I do the conversion to it, but I don't want to screw the bore if the parkerizing or the cleaning acid messes it up. I'm just curious if anyone is familiar with this stuff.

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I have a friend who has access to industrial parkerizing equipment. I've had him do a bayonet for me and he didn't even remove the handles, it came out unreal! My question is, what will the parkerizing do to a chrome lined chamber and bore? I'm very tempted to have him strip and parker my entire AK when I do the conversion to it, but I don't want to screw the bore if the parkerizing or the cleaning acid messes it up. I'm just curious if anyone is familiar with this stuff.

 

I'm not that familiar with parkerizing, but I do know that it certainly can screw up your chamber and bore if it comes in contact. It's not a big deal, you just have to plug both ends up before you start the process. The chrome lining might protect the surfaces, but I wouldn't take the chance when it's so easy to just plug it up with something durable enough to resist the process.

 

I would disassemble as much as possible. Anything solidly covered will most likely not be treated, like your bayonet under the handles. Anything that requires really tight tolerances, like a tuned trigger or FCG will have those tolerances affected by the etching that parkerizing does. It's best to parkerize the parts, THEN do any hand stoning or polishing. If you have parts already tuned and polished just they way they should be, do something else like bluing to those parts.

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I did alot of looking and that seems to be the verdict, parkerizing won't touch chrome at all. By chance does anyone know how long to bake parkerizing to get the green colored finish? The guy who can do the parkerizing did a set of headers a few years ago that have still not rusted but turned a nice green color with the heat cycling. I've heard you can bake black parkerizing to the green finish, that would be pretty sweet.

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I'm going to give it a try with a home park kit when things warm up a little. I dont know if it is true but I have read that cosmoline after parkerizing instead of oil will give you a green tint. Anyone??

I have haerd the same thing.

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I parkerized my Mini-14 about 29 years ago and the colors were inconsistent but grayish green. I ended up painting it with MG Coat which looks parkerized but is a paint that is baked. It's probably similar to Dura Coat or KG Coat. The flash suppressor also got painted to match the rifle. I purchased the chemical which was advertised to make 200 gallons of parkerizing liquid.

 

The rifle was very stiff after parkerizing and I had to oil it and shoot it loose because the metal is etched and the phosphate is built up over the metal. One of the guys at the club I belonged to told me the same thing happened to rifles parkerized in the military and they have to cycle them to make them workable.

 

Once the rifle was working well I used the paint to give it a consistent look.

Edited by uzitiger
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Parkerizing won't affect chrome (or even regular gun steel that hasn't been sandblasted). Parkerizing creates a crystalline structure that starts on rough microscopic edges so an even, thorough sandblasting (not bead blasting) will ensure a good even finish. If you have any specific questions, feel free to call any time between 8AM and 6PM, I'm usually here.

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Parkerizing won't affect chrome (or even regular gun steel that hasn't been sandblasted). Parkerizing creates a crystalline structure that starts on rough microscopic edges so an even, thorough sandblasting (not bead blasting) will ensure a good even finish. If you have any specific questions, feel free to call any time between 8AM and 6PM, I'm usually here.

 

Interesting. Why not bead blasting, does that leave it too smooth? And it sounds like a blued firearm would not parkerize well without being blasted first (even with worn bluing), is that correct?

 

Sounds like I'm going to need a bigger garage. :)

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Bead blasting is all that is required, sand blasting is overkill and could damage small parts and loose profile(machined edges) i worked a phosphating (you call it parkerising)plant for about 4 years when i was an armourer, doing overhaul on all small arms held by nz army. everything was stripped, degreased , beadblasted then all grit blown off with compressed air(do this properly or things gum up afterwards) run through the plant and finally soaked in oil for about an hour. to make barrel plugs use medical rubber cord,and poke it into chamber and muzzel.

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Parkerizing won't affect chrome (or even regular gun steel that hasn't been sandblasted). Parkerizing creates a crystalline structure that starts on rough microscopic edges so an even, thorough sandblasting (not bead blasting) will ensure a good even finish. If you have any specific questions, feel free to call any time between 8AM and 6PM, I'm usually here.

 

Interesting. Why not bead blasting, does that leave it too smooth? And it sounds like a blued firearm would not parkerize well without being blasted first (even with worn bluing), is that correct?

 

Sounds like I'm going to need a bigger garage. :)

 

Bead blasting leaves very smooth indentations in the metal which don't provide much of a starting point for parkerizing. If you parkerize a bead blasted surface the parkerizing will be thin and weak. We had to explain this to the shop that parkerizes our big batchs of parts the other day, they had beads in the blaster instead of AlOx and didn't think it'd be a problem. I looked at the parts when they came in and the surface texture was too smooth, sprayed a little CLP on the part and pretty much wiped the parkerizing off with a rag. Needless to say, they got to re-park all the parts after re-prepping with AlOx instead of glass bead. You can use a rather fine grit, it just has to be an abrasive not glass.

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I'm going to give it a try with a home park kit when things warm up a little. I dont know if it is true but I have read that cosmoline after parkerizing instead of oil will give you a green tint. Anyone??

I've been told there are two ways to get a greenish finish. One is to add a specific dye to the parkerizing tank--not very cost effective for one gun; other is to dunk the metal into a type of heated thick greenish oil.

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  • 4 years later...

Just curious cuz im going to parkerize my s12. Is it ok to parkerize the bolt carrier? I want to parkerize n duracoat.

Yeah. Obviously the piston being chrome won't parkerize, but the rest of it will, then paint away.

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I bought the solution kit for parkerizing, managed to get it shipped to Alaska, welded up a tank from stainless, etc. Gunsmith friend of mine pointed out that maybe, just maybe, I didn't want the fumes from said process in the shop where I keep my tools and airplane parts. 010.gif

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Oh. there must be a special formula wax like stuff for that then.

 

As for the green cosmo tint-- that takes years soaked in cosmolene unless it is faked with the methods named above. I would think it would be tricky to make all your parts take on the tint at the same rate.


I bought the solution kit for parkerizing, managed to get it shipped to Alaska, welded up a tank from stainless, etc. Gunsmith friend of mine pointed out that maybe, just maybe, I didn't want the fumes from said process in the shop where I keep my tools and airplane parts. 010.gif

 

A while back I did a bit of research on electro plating and annodizing. There were lots of horror stories and pictures in which people used one of the above systems and as acidic vapors condensed over night, they rusted out their car and metal buildings in a day or two. I would not do it inside any building. Keeping the stuff indoors in a sealed jug is OK, but maybe do your process outside with a tarp rigged to protect from weather.

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