Finish Coatings ?
I recently got a fairly expensive revolver in a trade(Colt)that the owner "thought" was Parkerized but he was not sure since he did'nt do it. I also am not sure what it is. It has a distinct green color, dull green texture and I'm not familiar with all these new home applied coatings that are out now, so the question is, How do you tell the difference ? or can you ? I've thought about removing the coating and rebluing but kinda like it as is, so I'm not sure yet what I'll do. Thanks for any help [;)]
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The Parkerized rifles that I've seen were a definite gray color. The few that I've seen with a green hue were a Teflon coating. 0 -
Thats been my experience too on Parkerizing. Outdoors in the sunlight its definetly OD green and hitting it with steel wool does nothing but slight surface scatches. ??? Thanks for replying 0 -
There are different shades of parkerizing. It can come out looking green. 0 -
Regardless of the color is there a way to tell what the coating is ? 0 -
In the military I've seen light gray, green and almost black Parkerizing.
I did a fair bit of color matching for Division Officers and friends who were picky about matching colors.It was done on an unofficial basis as there was no need to do so.0 -
I have seen greenish tint on home jobs parker finish. Maybe google metal coating and look for pic's that look like yours. If it is stuck on good I'd leave until it wears enought to warrent reblueing. 0 -
Typically Parkerizing yields a that runs from black to dark grey in color, depending on the exact process and metal alloy its done on. Some variants can give a lighter gray finish.
And yes, it can take on an olive greenish look. This is typically seen in older guns, and its supposedly caused by just-Parkerized guns reacting with cosomoline (storage grease). This sort of a "prized" look, actually. I pulled this picture off the web from someone who deliberately creates this look as an example:
If you want us to know what the finish is on your particular gun, a picture might be helpful.
While you probably do have Parkerizing, there are various aftermarket epoxy finishes (eg Duracoat) designed to imitate the appearance of parkerizing, and just knowing the finish is green wouldn't be enough to tell if its true Parkerizing or not.
Edit:
quote:I've thought about removing the coating and rebluing but kinda like it as is, so I'm not sure yet what I'll do. Thanks for any help
If I were you, I'd leave it. Green-tinted park, again, has a pretty cool "vintage" look to it, and you don't see it too often in revolvers.
In practice, I'd avoid refinishing it anyway, unless the finish is so worn/beaten that you think the gun is going to corrode.
If you strip off the current Park (or non-Parkerized) finish, you'd probably have to have the gun polished before rebluing, and this can be a pricey job. You may like the final result more than what you've got now, but its not going to be cost-effective to do this, in the sense that it will cost you more to refinish than any increase in value from the new finish.0 -
I believe the best answer is: There is no way to tell.
Parkerizing is like baking cookies --- there are lots of recipes, using different salts (usually manganese or phosphate). It changes the surface of the metal. Some proprietary finishes change the surface too, but many are the application of paint by different methods.
If the revolver was once expensive, it's not worth a lot now.
Neal0 -
quote:Originally posted by Junkballer
Regardless of the color is there a way to tell what the coating is ?
Without begging the question, I think the best "real world" way is for someone with a lot of experience with both to look at the gun in person.
Short of that, if its a color other than gray/green/black, its not Parkerizing (ie a phosphate-based finish). The synthetic finishes come in a wide variety of colors that true metal/phosphate finishes do not.
Assuming its a Parkerized-compatible color, then again, you've got options that include Parkerized, vs a synthetic finish in that color (eg Duracoat, Cerakote, Brownell's "Alumahyde", etc).
I'm not entirely sure how you would tell one of the synthetic finishes from another just based on appearance (eg Duracoat vs Ceracoat), but someone fairly "expert" in them might be able to do so. In practice, this probably doesn't matter anyway.
In terms of telling Parkerization from these synthetic finishes, the latter are mostly epoxy based finishes, and they go over the gun like a thin layer of paint. True Parkerization is more of a surface metal conversion process. Some clues to telling one from the other would be looking at where the finish meets unfinished metal (if there is any) and where/how it rubs off with wear.
To complicate this, a really good synthetic finish can resemble Parkerizing pretty closely, and in fact, some of the synthetics are applied OVER parkerizing. So, without dismissing the question, telling one from the other may not be so simple for someone not familiar with the coatings.
I can think of chemical or microscopic analysis ways that would be relatively easy and definitive, but neither of these things are likely practical for an individual at home.0 -
quote:Originally posted by beantownshootah
[img]Edit: quote:I've thought about removing the coating and rebluing but kinda like it as is, so I'm not sure yet what I'll do. Thanks for any help If I were you, I'd leave it. Green-tinted park, again, has a pretty cool "vintage" look to it, and you don't see it too often in revolvers. In practice, I'd avoid refinishing it anyway, unless the finish is so worn/beaten that you think the gun is going to corrode. If you strip off the current Park (or non-Parkerized) finish, you'd probably have to have the gun polished before rebluing, and this can be a pricey job. You may like the final result more than what you've got now, but its not going to be cost-effective to do this, in the sense that it will cost you more to refinish than any increase in value from the new finish. Thanks, It looks like it gonna stay, it looks good, just wished it was'nt on an expensive revolver. Seems you all tend to agree which helps me make up my mind. Thanks for all the replys ! [;)][/img]0
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