NICK KAIKKONEN of Vulcan Gun Refinishing parkerising review (pics are up!!!)

MRCLARK

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NICK KAIKKONEN of Vulcan Gun Refinishing parkerising review post your pics & reviews

A while ago I have been looking to refinish my Inglis Bren MKII as it had some pretty rough dings in it. It was drilled, split in some areas but it had a nice dark grey park to it that I loved the look of. Now every where I went for a quote offered either a black oxide or a light grey park. I tried a black oxide and a park from one other other "folks" a few years ago on a deact and refused to take this Bren to those butchers again.

I got it back scratched, and the finish usually bled out in about a week.

I,m sure you have all run into these problems as well with the stove top gunsmiths out there who charge an arm and a leg to make you gun look like crap then give you a hard time when you dont like the look of it.

So I started surfing the net looking for someone who might know what there talking about and know how to properly park. I found lots of so called experts claiming to do this and that to get a true military grade green or dark grey park. But in each case it was just the same junk you saw every where else.

Then one night I got an email from one a gentlemen who stated he does professional military grade park work. He sent me some photo's and I was blown away. He does Grey, dark grey if you have something like my Bren and if you have a USGI unit like a BAR, Thompson or Garand he can duplicate the finish perfectly with his Green park. Yup thats right green park.

At first I thought it might be paint or other cheats but he assured me it was not. It was true parkerising and he does it with the same chemicals used back in the day, not crap you brew up in your backyard when your wife is out shopping.:D

He also claimed it will not bleed and if your not happy with the results then he's not happy. It was obvious from talking to him after all this time he really knew his stuff and like me is a perfectionist when it comes to my milsurps.

Then to top it off he's in ontario just south of Windsor.

So he sent me some pics of his work and I was so impressed I hosted them for him here. http://www.pbase.com/mrclark/vulcan_gun_refinishing
Have a look.

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Then he sent me some test samples so I could have a look at some colours for my Bren. My Inglis bren originally came with a Grey or dark grey park and I wanted to make it look as mil spec as possible. I decided on the Dark grey for my Bren and Green for my 1919A4 when I get time to bring it up to him.

So I packed up my bren and he got working on it for me. He contacted me a few times to ask some questions about how I wanted this to look and that, when I wanted it etc etc. Never had anyone ask that before, this guy actually seemed to care? Hell he even drifted out some of the small pins in the gun that held on the flashhider to make sure there was no cosmo under them.:eek:

Hmm the last guy who did work on one of my stens just dunked it in a tank for a few minutes and charged me for what looked like cadpat afterwards.

Anyhow he contacted me and stated it was done. So I drove to windsor anxiously awaiting to see my Bren.

Well let me tell you something I have NEVER EVER SEEN PARKERISING DONE THIS GOOD BEFORE. Its flawless, no imperfections or blemishes, it does not bleed, the blasting was done in such a way that you can barely tell it had been done, the colours are deep and rich. Honestly it is by far the best parking I have ever seen. I,m blown away. I am planning on sending him everything I own that needs work.

The gun now looks mint and not in any way like it had been worked on. Even the small hand scribed stock numbers on the barrel nut are retained as well as all the cartouches are as they were when I sent the gun to him.

He then showed me his collection as he is a very serious milsurp collector as well. He showed me a few of the items he also does in the green park, like his garands and M1 carbines. I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE. Not only was the green park just as amazing I thought it was his guns looked just like they left the factory, on top of that he also does wood refinishing. His guns looked mint from the stock to the rcvr.

If you have a gun that you are deciding to restore and to restore to its original glory you will not be dissapointed.

His name is NICK KAIKKONEN and is the owner of Vulcan Gun Refinishing. supair@sympatico.ca (his email) he can also be contacted at 519-723-4009 or Paged at 519-561-4349


It was awesome. Never seen anything like it. If your an enthusiast for quality like I am give him a call or email him.

His prices are great and on top he is a real gentleman.


Heres some quick pics I took there some better ones to come later once the oil is absorbed and I find a better drop sheet in the back:redface:

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Striker said:
Very nice work. your Bren looks brand new.

Thanks I am very happy with it Nick does amazing work. I wanted to keep it looking as mint as I could. So many people just said to cut corners and just black oxide it etc.

I took my time and found the right smith to do the work and it turned out great and looks like it just came off the line at Inglis.

I,m going to send him a torch cut MKIm when I pick it up. I'll post some before and after pics as well.
 
spi said:
Looks swank. What are his prices like?

depends really on what you need done, I shopped around and even hand some stuff done by other people to compare it, all I can say when it comes to this type of work is you definetly get what you pay for. You want cheap you get cheap really when you think of it.

Best is to give him a call and tell him what you need done, I have had stuff done by just about everyone in the Ontario area at one point and his works is meticulous and the best I have ever seen.

As for prices I found after shopping around his are about he same but the work is phenominal.

Have a look at the pic of the Bren take down lever with the hand scribed stock number on it, thats after blasting and parking. Name anyone who can do that and not have the park run off after about a month.
 
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Whats his turn around on say,a 98 barreled action,do I have to strip it down ? Ive got a custom 9.3x62 in the white and was contemplating to have it parkerized instead of powder coating or such. JITC
 
jiminthecorner said:
Whats his turn around on say,a 98 barreled action,do I have to strip it down ? Ive got a custom 9.3x62 in the white and was contemplating to have it parkerized instead of powder coating or such. JITC

His turn around I would imagine depends on his workload.

If you know how to strip the 98 I would do so before hand to save time and workload. Your best bet is to contact him and see what he thinks at 519-723-4009 or Paged at 519-561-4349.

If he takes a bit longer than others or charges more its for a reason. The job will be thorough and the best work you have ever seen. I,m not afiliated with him at all but I was so knocked out with the work he does I posted this thread and will continue to update it when I can.

http://www.pbase.com/mrclark/mark_2_inglis_bren_gun_restoration_project if you go here you will see more pics of the job he did on my old messed up bren mk2. On the bottom of each pic is the size you can view it at. Check out the pics in original size to get an idea of the quality and the colour. It will zoom in to nine megapixels.

Let me know if you get him to work on your gun I can host pics of it for you here when its done.
 
Nick Kaikkonen and my 98

Well Mr Clark,I just stripped down my 98 for Nick and sent it off. We decided on the dark grey finish. It should be back in time for my Moose hunt(HOPE!?) and I'll let you know how it looks. With a bit of luck I'll get my daughter to email Pics to you and you can post here.:dancingbanana: :D JITC
 
jiminthecorner said:
Well Mr Clark,I just stripped down my 98 for Nick and sent it off. We decided on the dark grey finish. It should be back in time for my Moose hunt(HOPE!?) and I'll let you know how it looks. With a bit of luck I'll get my daughter to email Pics to you and you can post here.:dancingbanana: :D JITC

Hey thats good news, glad to hear it, you'll like the dark grey like I got on my Bren.

Looks like were getting him the bussiness he needed.

Good stuff
 
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