[Ronin48]

In going through my junk rifles i found a "Korean Conversion" that had bee professionally blued and the stock cut. I have a spare stock and am wondering if there is a do-it-your self parkerizing kit. Once restored the rifle would be sold as a restoration along with the correct bayonet, belt and Korean conversion book. Or if someone would like to tackle the project with or without my stock let know.

 

[davef]

I dunno ,Doss..you might want a pro to do that for you. Even if you have a suitable tank ,you playing with that much near boiling phosphiric acid ,is the stuff of nightmares.Thats not a safe fun project like plating or bluing. Should be a plating/coating plant somewhere there could do it for you at a fair price...or it would make a nice deer rifle.

 

[Ronbo6]

Some years ago, I obtained a bottle of parkerizing solution that is supposed to duplicate the greenish hue you see on early US military stuff, but reading the instructions on the bottle (and not being really able to get together the setup and location needed to use it properly) has scared me away from actually trying to use it.

 

[Portholio]

ooooh Phosphoric Acid!!!! Not the stuff they put in cans of Pepsi!!!! J/K. It IS corrosive, but one of the tamest industrial acids to work with. If you can bead blast metal, manage to not touch the metal with bare hands, and then boil water....you can Parkerize. After you use up the solution, you can neutralize with baking soda, and make it safe as salt water.

There are several articles on the net on how to do this with a turkey frier and a piece of PVC sewer pipe. It is probably the best kept secret in gunsmithing - the easiest legal way to make a $100 IMO.

 

[JMCJR]

Very difficult to do well without practice, lots of practice. Be able to strip your mistakes and redo. You can get really nice results, equipment is costly...send to a profdessional and save a ton of money.

 

[Ronin48]

You fellows talked me out of it, maybe a spray can of green paint? Ha, As Foghorn Leghorn would say "That's a joke son."

 

[arisakadogs]

Still looking for a hobby I see

 

[TheGreenMan]

There are some how-to videos on Youtube for parkerizing.
I stumbled across them trying to find a hot bluing video.

 

[ThirtycalGB]

Since this is a favorite subject of mine, I'll mention that home parkerizing is pretty expensive unless you're doing alot of guns. The three big things you'll need are

1) Sandblasting cabinet set up with 80-grit Aluminum Oxide
2) Parkerizing chemicals (phosphoric acid, Zinc Phosphate / Manganese Phosphate, cleaning solution) - Brownells is very good.
3) Stainless-steel tank & burner setup (180 degrees F) (and optional steel tank for cleaing solution).

The two most important factors are:

A) Getting a good deep cut down to fresh steel with the sandblasting media
B) Getting the steel absolutely clean and absolutely oil-free after sandblasting

If you do those two steps, then the actual parkerizing step is very easy and nearly foolproof (assuming you've got your chemicals at the proper solution and temperature).

I collect & build Soviet AK's from kits, and this is my parkerizing setup. Note the stainless tank in foreground, and the steel tank on the stove in the background:

Here's what a part looks like when it comes out of the cleaning solution after parkerzing...

The hard part of refinishing is to try to get the correct finished color. This is where the 'art' comes in. It's pretty easy to gets shades of black... It's very difficult to reproduce that elusive 'green' that you sometimes see on original 1911A1's and some 1903A3's. I think the reason is because part of that color is due to oxidation over many years and thusly is difficult to simulate...

Here's an example of a typical grey/black that I've done in my garage. It's a great match for mid-century Eastern-Bloc weapons & more the modern US military parkerizing you'd find on an M16A1 for instance:

Blueing is quite different from parkerizing, but requires the same attention during the preparation phase. The biggest difference is that blued rifles are generally best on smooth metal (which requires glass beads instead of Al-Ox when sandblasted). The chemicals are considerably more caustic as well, which puts it into a somewhat risky catagory for home-builders. The parkerizing solution is pretty safe in comparison, but you still need to use common sense tools like eye and skin protection, and very importantly a full-face organic breather.
Just thought I'd share since I don't often get to contribute on this forum due to my newbie-ness with Japanese stuff.

-Thirtycal

 

[garnettstancil]

I bought a can of spray "Parkerize Finish" from Brownel's a few years ago. It works great and is easy to use. Wash with hot soapy water, dry, and spray. Two light coats did a really nice job. At the time, the can was $28.00 including shipping.

 

[03man]

I bought a can of spray "Parkerize Finish" from Brownel's a few years ago. It works great and is easy to use. Wash with hot soapy water, dry, and spray. Two light coats did a really nice job. At the time, the can was $28.00 including shipping.

Maybe so, but it ain't real "parkarizing".

 

[davef]

Maybe so, but it ain't real "parkarizing".

It aint a real original "parkarizied "rifle so aint real finish should be OK..Like the other night at the dancing hall we was watching the show and my friend said " lookit thar, them aint real!!!" and I said "nonsense!!! If'n I can play with em ,theys real " .