Touch up paint

M

mrdaputer

New member
While using my brothers cheap sight pusher I scraped off a little paint on my Walthers PPQ. I know you get what you pay for lol. I was wondering if I could use a Birchwood Casey Super Black Touch Up Pen? Or what is the best way to touch it up?
 
I'm unfamiliar with the PPQ, so can't recommend a color...

Take something off the gun -- maybe the slide with the barrel removed-- to an auto parts store and look at the various touch-up paints (in small bottles). Chances are you'll find a match. For many guns, a matte black works well -- it's a perfect match for the CZ polycoat, for example.

If you need a matte color but can find only glossy colors that match, lightly hitting the painted spot with a very fine sandpaper after it dries may take off some of the gloss. But do it carefully.

Done well, maybe using a small brush, you'll be able to cover a scratch and make it almost invisible.

I've found that once you've found a color match, getting a spray can of the same color (typically $7-$9) and spraying some onto a plastic sheet or aluminum foil, and then using a brush works better. The paint in the spray can is typically a bit THINNER than the stuff in the small bottle, and doesn't build up. It also doesn't dry up or get thicker over time.
 
I've learned that the Birchwood Casey Super Blue (assume that's similar to what's in the pen) will NOT work on Tenifer-treated steel such as that used on the PPQ slide.

The Tenifer is a ferritic nitrocarburizing treatment to the steel that prevents bluing (which is controlled corrosion) from working. In not sure what the actual "black" finish is on the Walther slides, but I don't believe it is paint (which is essentially what the CZ polycoat is). Whatever it is, it's a pretty tough finish. I'm surprised you were able to damage it with a sight pusher.
 
Nothing is going to work well on the Tenifer treatment on the PPQ. The finish will prevent just about anything adhering long term.
 
Don't discount the paint until you try it.

For a small scratch it can help. For holster wear, it probably won't. If you get a small quantity, you can renew it from time to time. (It does work on some anodized aluminum, as with a Beretta frame. If you screw up and rub it with solvents, just redo it.)
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Does anyone else find that amusing?
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Mostly the folks who haven't tried it.

It certainly depends on WHERE the scratch is you're trying to cover up -- and whether you get a good color match or not. The OP scratched a family member's slide while using a sight pusher, which might suggest a scratch in a visible area on top of the slide -- an area that would catch your eye almost every time you pick up the handgun. It might also depend upon whether the scratch is in an area where you apply solvents regularly, but not everybody wipes down the entire exterior of their weapon with a heavy-duty solvent after every use.

A silicon wipe does not damage the paint, and neither does a slightly damp cloth -- and in my experience, a light pass with many common gun cleaners or solvents doesn't seem to do much to auto-body touch-up paint unless you really soak the paint, rub hard, and try to REMOVE it. As soon as the solvent evaporates, you're good to go .

(Lots of folks use fingernail or model paint on sights, and don't really complain about solvents forcing them to repaint the sights regularly. Some of these materials aren't that fragile.)
 
"Touch up paint for guns."
Does anyone else find that amusing?
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Absolutely, its called patina, looks of being used and not spending its life in a safe. Just my opinion, if folks are so worried about wear-scratches-dings-dents then just buy them, place them in the safe and sit back and admirer them and DON'T TRY TO REMOVE THEM FROM THE SAFE-POSSIBLE DAMAGE COULD OCCUR IN HANDLING :eek:
 
Absolutely, its called patina, looks of being used and not spending its life in a safe. Just my opinion, if folks are so worried about wear-scratches-dings-dents then just buy them, place them in the safe and sit back and admirer them and DON'T TRY TO REMOVE THEM FROM THE SAFE-POSSIBLE DAMAGE COULD OCCUR IN HANDLING
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A (bad) scratch, like that mentioned in the original post is not patina. From Wikipedia:

On metal, patina is a coating of various chemical compounds such as oxides, carbonates, sulfides, or sulfates formed on the surface during exposure to atmospheric elements (oxygen, rain, acid rain, carbon dioxide, sulfur-bearing compounds), a common example of which is rust which forms on iron or steel when exposed to oxygen. Patina also refers to accumulated changes in surface texture and colour that result from normal use of an object such as a coin or a piece of furniture over time.​

Wear from long-term use is one thing, as is holster wear (seen in a lot of the police trade-ins many of us have bought over the years). But, what some of us call IDIOT MARKS, that come from accidental mis-handling , are generally viewed differently -- and are not as easily tolerated as the "character" the finish of a gun can acquire from long use.

Patina and some wear can be admired -- scratches just say, "Ooops, I did something I shouldn't have done..."

.
 
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Wear from long-term use is one thing, as is holster wear (seen in a lot of the police trade-ins many of us have bought. But, what some of us call IDIOT MARKS, from accidental mishandling, are different, and not as easily tolerated as the "character" of the finish from long use.
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I agree 100%.
 
Bill Deshivs said:
I'm talking about the fact that guns are painted like appliances now, not hiding scratches.
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Some guns are painted like appliances. Some are plated. Some are Parkerized. Some are stainless steel with no finish. Some stainless slides have a coating which is hard to match. Some (like Witnesses, may have a coating of some on top of a special surface hardening treatment, aka WonderFinish. A few are blued. (The CZ polycoat is really a powder coat applied on top of maganese phosphate base.)

I dinged one of my older Sphinx pistols, much like the OP, putting a scratch on the slide near the rear sight; that gun had a dark (matte black) slide and a high-gloss stainless frame. I touched up the scratch with matte black auto-body touch-up paint, using a very fine paint brush, and the repair was not visible. That slide wasn't Polycoated.

For a lot of guns cold bluing doesn't work -- because of some cold bluing products are crappy, because the frame may be aluminum (and Birchwood Casey's , or if steel, the bluing color doesn't match the existing blue. You typically can't cold-blue a SIG frame (as most of them are aluminum or stainless). Scratch a SIG or Glock slide and you don't have many options.

.
 
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T. and Walt- As someone who refinishes a lot of gun parts, I very aware of all that. And I know paint has been used as a firearms finish since WW2.
I just thought it ironic for some reason. I guess I'm a dinosaur.
 
Bill:

I'm sure you know the different ways guns are made and finished and the techniques and materials involved. I also know of some of your areas of expertise and hold your work in high regard.

I know that you aren't the only person reading responses, and I also know that some of them aren't familiar with all of the different points that come up in these discussions. I try to clarify things for those readers (when I'm not unintentionally confusing them.)
 
Paint is a perfectly good way of preserving metal and making a firearm rust resistant. The British and French used it on rifles, handguns and SMG's before and during WWII and it worked fine.

Today there are several excellent paints (under many fancy names, but all are basically paint) that can mimic other finishing methods at much less cost and preparation work.

There are two main reasons for the growing use of paint on firearms. The first is that paint can be obtained in many colors and shades, protects the metal well, and touch-up is easy. The second is that not many local gunsmiths are willing and able to wade through the morass of local, state and federal rules and regulations to set up a traditional hot tank bluing facility. (Most of us have had very poor results with the various "cold blue" preparations.)

Jim
 
Absolutely, its called patina, looks of being used and not spending its life in a safe. Just my opinion, if folks are so worried about wear-scratches-dings-dents then just buy them, place them in the safe and sit back and admirer them and DON'T TRY TO REMOVE THEM FROM THE SAFE-POSSIBLE DAMAGE COULD OCCUR IN HANDLING
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The absolute same thing could be said for cars.
 
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