Parkerizing at home: DIY

[TheMediator]

Hello all!

I come to you hat in hand looking for advice. I am attempting to delve into the world of parkerizing, manganese phosphating in particular. Apparently nobody in Canada retails a pre-mixed solution so I have come to a crossroads:

1) play mad scientist and attempt to make a solution myself or;

2) import acid concentrate from overseas, add water and see what happens...

I have read that one can use distilled water, phosphoric acid, and manganese dioxide in some ratio (can't seem to find a consistent answer online) to make a DIY solution with the addition of some degreased steel wool to season the mixture. Does anyone have a recipe or suggestions as to what ratios to start with and I can experiment from there?

If all else fails a friend of mine who does import/export allegedly can get powdered acid concentrate that simply needs to be diluted with water and can be used, but since it's coming from overseas the minimum order is 10's of kgs of it. This makes it a bit expensive especially if it's just for a few small-batch hobby experiments.

Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[sniper73]

You can buy black manganese from eBay sellers or harvest from d cell batteries, Canadian tire sells rust removal jelly ( phosphorus acid) can’t remember the exact recipe I used but there’s your raw materials

 

[turbo_bird]

Check out www.pjsproducts.com, I bought chemicals from them and had pretty decent results. I've done a couple pistols with homebrew parkerizing as well, but the commercial solution was easier and didn't stink up my kitchen.
This was done with manganese phosphate and zinc phosphate for the two tone look.

This one was done with a homebrew solution using rust check from Canadian Tire. The slide is still the original blued finish.

This one was done in much the same homebrew solution, but I added that manganese part of a d-cell alkaline battery to it. It came out with a bit of a greenish tinge and there seemed to be a lot more sediment in the solution which settled out on the parts and made it tough to get an even finish.

The homebrew solution I used is post 14 in this thread. https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/for...ckyard-bbq-parkerizing?highlight=Backyard+bbq
Kristian

 

[FALover]

.....

 

[gstprecision]

X2 for Pjsproducts.

I get my solution from them and results are great.

 

[tiriaq]

X3 for the PJSproducts.
Easy to use, with excellent results.
When I am going to do a batch of parts, I set everything up, blast, and then into the tank. I do not blast, and then keep the parts hanging around before finishing them; want clean steel. I use aluminum oxide grit, and relatively low air pressure. Produces a pleasing finish.

It is worth mentioning that parking is done at a much lower temperature than hot caustic bluing; that the solution is far less dangerous; that the process is less critical; that a smaller heat source is required.
It would be inappropriate to park many guns, just wouldn't be right. But for many, it is an effective process that is easy to do, and requires minimal prep.
If bluing is appropriate, consider the hot water process. PJ sells that solution as well. Unlike hot caustic, hot water bluing is appropriate for a home shop.

 

[Evanguy]

Ive only ever done hot costic bluing. This looks interesting. Ill be watching this thread

 

[dogzilla]

I found pj’s to be more grey than black. There was a sponsor here that sold liquid black phosphate solution but I don’t remember who or if they are still in business. You can get manganese from any pottery crafts supplies store and it’s cheap. You get phosphoric acid from any hydroponic store. And you must use distilled water. It can be very fiddly. I sandblast all parts, and from then on you can’t touch them with bare hands or the acids in your hands will leave spots. Temperature of the solution is important, a lot of people warm the parts before dropping them in the tank so you don’t drop the temperature too much.It can be a lot like black magic. One batch can be flawless and using the identical solution the next can be full of spots. I don’t remember the exact solution (everyone has there own proportions it seems) but amounts aren’t as critical as proportions. More acid means rougher texture. You definitely want to try it a bit before you do your prized firearm. The other problem is you get different results from even slightly different material. They say you can re use home brew, but that’s not what I found. Dump the finished parts in water and I always rubbed them dow with a generous coating of motor oil.

 

[trevj]

I would casually suggest that if you found no consistency in the ratios of the chemicals in the various sources, that it it because it is not as critical as you might think, and each of those recipes has worked for the guy that developed it.

If you don't go with a commercially available source, then I would also suggest testing the solution you make, well, before committing your parts to the deep, as it were!

 

[TheMediator]

These results look great and thanks for the link for the homebrew solution! I'm going to look into PJ's as well and experiment. Standby for results!

 

[turbo_bird]

Just be aware that different steels parkerize differently. I have one 1911 frame that I did a tiny bit of welding on, and the weld showed up as a small defect in the finish, even though it was invisible before parkerizing. The bottom of the grip frame was slightly bevelled at the back, and I didn't want a gap between the grip and the magwell. I don't have a picture, but the where I welded the magwell to the bottom of the mainspring housing is also visible in the finish.

Kristian

 

[Potashminer]

I have an acquaintance who has successfully home parkerized several items, and had two spectacular failures by changing the pot he was using - a 1911 frame went brown and a M1 Garand receiver went purple! This was with a batch of well seasoned chemical that had produced good park, until he got a "better / different" stainless pot. After considerable research, including with the supplier, turns out these colours occur due to variations in the composition of the stainless steel that made up the pot. So, probably want to try "test" pieces first, to verify the colour that you get in your set-up.

 

[DCFF]

Hey Guys
PJ's or through Duracoat USA.
I use both the mag and zinc in application depending on customer needs.
Make sure stainless container.
I use distilled water as i find i get the best even results.
If you want a bit darker, up the ratio of product to water and leave in longer.

be good
Jordy

 

[dilly]

I’m about to try it for the first time. I got the zinc formula from PJs and a stainless tank from Canada ammo.

 

[TheMediator]

In case anyone else finds themselves in the same journey as myself PJs no longer sells the Radocy parkerizing solution. They now carry a brand called Allegheny Arsenal. Joan insists it is a professional product and will send a lengthy email full of product information and give you a little print out as to how to use it when you order. Stay tuned for some hopefully worthwhile results!

 

[turbo_bird]

In case anyone else finds themselves in the same journey as myself PJs no longer sells the Radocy parkerizing solution. They now carry a brand called Allegheny Arsenal. Joan insists it is a professional product and will send a lengthy email full of product information and give you a little print out as to how to use it when you order. Stay tuned for some hopefully worthwhile results!

I've never tried the Radocy, but the stuff she sells now worked good for me. That's what I used for my two tone 1911 on the first page.
Kristian

 

[dilly]

In case anyone else finds themselves in the same journey as myself PJs no longer sells the Radocy parkerizing solution. They now carry a brand called Allegheny Arsenal. Joan insists it is a professional product and will send a lengthy email full of product information and give you a little print out as to how to use it when you order. Stay tuned for some hopefully worthwhile results!

I will take some pictures of my project and post them up.

 

[Quiet]

Looks like an interesting project. I've successfully re-blued a rifle using a home-made rust bluing solution from leftovers of hardware/dollar store ingredients. Produced enough solution to to do a few rifles for pennies each (not including my time..).

For parkerizing, would an old-fashioned carbon-zinc style battery (dollar store Panasonic, etc.) be a more pure source of raw materials than an alkaline battery? Does it matter if it is new or drained? Cola has phosphoric acid too, but I imagine all that sugar won't help.

 

[TheMediator]

I've heard people dabble with different batteries, they seem to be a pretty viable source. I'd be curious as to how a cheap home mix stacks up against vs the "professional stuff"

The solution I purchased was 90$ a quart and makes 7gal worth of usable solution (allegedly can be used 2 or 3x).

 

[dilly]

I said I would post up pictures detailing my DIY for anyone wanting to try this. I am happy with my results.

So, I used the chemicals from PJ's here in Canada. I went with the zinc phosphate (grey) because I was looking for a military look to the finish.

I glass bead blasted the parts as I read it makes for a superior finish.

As a test, I took a piece of cut barrel and sanded one area to 320 grit, bead blasted the middle band, and left the end with the original bluing.

Mix solution in 3.125 gallons of distilled water, heat to 175 degrees, and suspend parts into the solution for 20 minutes. they start bubbling immediately and turned dark within minutes. The reaction eventually trailed off near the end.

I removed the parts, rinsed them in water and blew them dry with an air compressor. As you can see they are rough and covered in what looks like crystals.

They then got a good coating of clenzoil. The finish was exactly what I was looking for. Very even medium grey colour and VERY tough.

So here is the test barrel. As you can see, the blasted area looks best. The sanded area turned, but the finish isn't as consistent. Interestingly, the blued area seemed to coat, but it is black in colour.

As a further test, I let this part sit on the bottom of the tank rather than suspending it just to see what would happen. As you can see, it left a mark. Definitely properly suspend your parts in the solution with minimal touch points.

Hope this helps.