I'm in the middle of refinishing an 870 and I hit a little snag. I was stripping the mix mash of finishes off of the metal parts only to find out that the trigger group is aluminum, not steel. The finish that was on the trigger guard looked like bluing but clearly I was wrong. What does one use to match a blued finish on a piece of aluminum? I was considering just painting it but there must be something else out there that will match a blued finish. Any help would be appreciated.
So I found out the hard way....
- Thread starter dfrombc
- Start date
You're likely stuck with paint.
Anodizing would be the best way to go but it'll blow your budget out of the water. Anodizing is a multi step process involving cleaning and prepping the part, then electrolysis then dyeing and finally boiling the part in water to seal the dye colour into the pores of the anodized base. There's no "wipe on/wipe off" solution in a bottle for anodizing.
If you do go with anodizing then you want to polish or otherwise treat the base metal so that it has the same sort of surface finish as the steel parts. The final anodized sheen and texture will mimic the metal surface that you start with. It just comes out coloured.
Regular enamels are OK as long as you're careful about keeping most of the regular cleaning solvents away from the trigger guard. The gun specific two part paints won't have this same issue.
Anodizing would be the best way to go but it'll blow your budget out of the water. Anodizing is a multi step process involving cleaning and prepping the part, then electrolysis then dyeing and finally boiling the part in water to seal the dye colour into the pores of the anodized base. There's no "wipe on/wipe off" solution in a bottle for anodizing.
If you do go with anodizing then you want to polish or otherwise treat the base metal so that it has the same sort of surface finish as the steel parts. The final anodized sheen and texture will mimic the metal surface that you start with. It just comes out coloured.
Regular enamels are OK as long as you're careful about keeping most of the regular cleaning solvents away from the trigger guard. The gun specific two part paints won't have this same issue.
Anodizing in small scale is sketchy and inconsistent. Better to use the Ceracote or similar baked on or epoxy type paint. You will get better looking, more reliable results.
FWIW, we did some anodizing while I was in trade school. You essentially need an acid bath, a pretty decent DC power source, and you use those to grow a set of crystals on the surface of the part. Then you dye it, which may or may not 'take', then you boil it to lock in the dye. PITA to set up for one part unless you really need another hobby...
I'm pretty sure the factory finish is a paint anyway. May be wrong.
Cheers
Trev
Some of these parts are pot metal and cannot be anodized, ie Win and Rem trigger guards. Cerakote is tough stuff, tougher they claim than just about any finish. I am still in the testing stage with it but it looks really good. I did the slide on a CZ75 and it looks so good that I will now have to do the frame as well. As for anodizing the company that we used charges $40 min charge and this is not "hard coat" anodizing which is actually just thicker but takes a lot more AC running the chillers to do.
Thanks for the help guys. The project has went sideways anyhow. Against my better judgement I attempted a cold blue on the rest of the gun. Even after all my prep, polishing, degreasing and 7 coats of oxpho blue it still looks like crap. It came out even but super thin. We finally got some sun here today so the gun came out of the shop assembled and I can see right through the bluing. Looks like it will all get stripped again. The trigger guard will get cerakote. As for the rest of the gun I may attempt a rust blue but after the last couple days a spray / bake on coating is looking like a good option.
- Location
- East ontario
Well seems like you need to do a bit more research next time.
If you are looking to high gloss finish I can't help.
But if you want Mil spec. Parkerizeing done let us know we can quote you a price on each part.
*** steel only
BBB
If you are looking to high gloss finish I can't help.
But if you want Mil spec. Parkerizeing done let us know we can quote you a price on each part.
*** steel only
BBB
