Beretta Boy
New member
Can someone please tell me what the difference is between parkerized and blued?
Parkerized?
- Thread starter Beretta Boy
- Start date
The way I understand it, blue is the shiny black/bluish finish we all know. Parkerized is the matte/flat black finish found on M1991s, Glocks (although Glock's finish is a tennifer coating, it looks parkerized), etc.
I'm pretty sure that's what the difference is, if not, someone let me know,
Cowboy
I'm pretty sure that's what the difference is, if not, someone let me know,
Cowboy
Parkerizing, which is a phosphate coating, requires a rough finish before it can take. Hence the bead blasting which is common for it. You can do it at home on the kitchen stove (ask for permission from the wife first). One thing about parkerizing, because it requires a rough finish, it really shouldn't be used for the internal mechanisms of finely fitted guns. Do a search at the handgun forum and you'll find instructions on how you can do it at home.
There are numerous ways to achieve a blue finish: hot, cold, and flame.
Flame is the where the metal (polished) is heated with a torched or baked in the oven to achieve it's blue color. I once met a gunsmith/reenactor who made wheellocks, snaphaunces and matchlocks that way.
Cold rust bluing is where the metal (polished and oil/grease free) is treated with a rusting solution and is left overnite for the solution to take effect. Excess rust may be carded off and another coat applied. It can be a tedious and labor intensive technique.
The most popular by far is the hot bluing is a rusting process. You can do an entire gun (disassembled of course) in less than an hour. The parts are placed in a boiling bath (about 280 degree F) of bluing salts and afterwards immersed in a neturalizing solution to arrest the rusting process. There's a lot of formulas out there for bluing salts and Angier's book remains the singular best work on the matter.
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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
There are numerous ways to achieve a blue finish: hot, cold, and flame.
Flame is the where the metal (polished) is heated with a torched or baked in the oven to achieve it's blue color. I once met a gunsmith/reenactor who made wheellocks, snaphaunces and matchlocks that way.
Cold rust bluing is where the metal (polished and oil/grease free) is treated with a rusting solution and is left overnite for the solution to take effect. Excess rust may be carded off and another coat applied. It can be a tedious and labor intensive technique.
The most popular by far is the hot bluing is a rusting process. You can do an entire gun (disassembled of course) in less than an hour. The parts are placed in a boiling bath (about 280 degree F) of bluing salts and afterwards immersed in a neturalizing solution to arrest the rusting process. There's a lot of formulas out there for bluing salts and Angier's book remains the singular best work on the matter.
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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
Should also mention browning as a means of finishing.
Browning can be done in either of two ways. Hot or cold. The hot method (Birchwood Casey) requires the metal be heated with a torch (about 200 F) and the solution applied with a cotton swab. The results can be excellant but I hear it's not as durable as cold browning.
Cold browning is where the metal is roughened with 200 grit sandpaper, then cleaned of oil. A browning solution is applied (I use a gauze pad) and the metal is left alone for about 12 hours. Some areas require a sweat box (six sided box with light bulb, pan of watered sawdust) to promote humidity and others don't. After 12 hours, you card the excess rust with oil free 0000 steel wool and then reapply another coat of browning solution. You can do this for 3-4 days until you've reached the desired color. The excess rust is then carded off again and the metal should be scrubbed with a water/baking soda solution. I use hot water as it dissolves the baking soda better. Afterwards, a wax or oil should be rubbed in to ensure that the rusting process is arrested. Depending on the darkness desired, it may be from milk chocolate to dark chocolate in color.
Enough said for today.
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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
Browning can be done in either of two ways. Hot or cold. The hot method (Birchwood Casey) requires the metal be heated with a torch (about 200 F) and the solution applied with a cotton swab. The results can be excellant but I hear it's not as durable as cold browning.
Cold browning is where the metal is roughened with 200 grit sandpaper, then cleaned of oil. A browning solution is applied (I use a gauze pad) and the metal is left alone for about 12 hours. Some areas require a sweat box (six sided box with light bulb, pan of watered sawdust) to promote humidity and others don't. After 12 hours, you card the excess rust with oil free 0000 steel wool and then reapply another coat of browning solution. You can do this for 3-4 days until you've reached the desired color. The excess rust is then carded off again and the metal should be scrubbed with a water/baking soda solution. I use hot water as it dissolves the baking soda better. Afterwards, a wax or oil should be rubbed in to ensure that the rusting process is arrested. Depending on the darkness desired, it may be from milk chocolate to dark chocolate in color.
Enough said for today.
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Vigilantibus et non dormientibus jura subveniunt
Hi, Gary,
Flame bluing or fire bluing provides a result that is pretty, but not very durable. Worse, it can hurt the heat treatment of parts that need to be hard and create problems, like softening the locking lug area of a slide. Except for small, non hardened parts, I don't recommend it.
In some guns, of course, a factory flame blue color is part of the heat treatment and is carefully controlled.
Jim
Flame bluing or fire bluing provides a result that is pretty, but not very durable. Worse, it can hurt the heat treatment of parts that need to be hard and create problems, like softening the locking lug area of a slide. Except for small, non hardened parts, I don't recommend it.
In some guns, of course, a factory flame blue color is part of the heat treatment and is carefully controlled.
Jim
Beretta Boy
New member
Wow, thanks for the replies... very informative
Reading the above topics on blueing I was wondering if anyone ever used powder coating as used in the automotive field. That is suppose to provide a very durable coating.
Would that be possible for firearm use? This sort of sounds like parkerizing?
Just curious
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We preserve our freedoms by using four boxes: soap,ballot,jury, and cartridge.
Anonymous
[This message has been edited by loknload (edited March 06, 2000).]
Would that be possible for firearm use? This sort of sounds like parkerizing?
Just curious
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We preserve our freedoms by using four boxes: soap,ballot,jury, and cartridge.
Anonymous
[This message has been edited by loknload (edited March 06, 2000).]