20091108

Home parkerizing

Bettie Jean got the home parkerizing treatment. The parts kit from Sarco had some parts in need of a refinishing. Trigger guard and housing in particular. Before:



Brownell's Zinc Phosphate was the source, though I read of some hardcore DIY people who will cook their own from concrete etch solution and steel wool. I wanted zinc because of the gray appearance. Most of the rest of Bettie Jean's furniture is done in zinc already, and in good shape.

I cooked the parts in the parkerizing bath in a Pyrex casserole from the Goodwill store, heated on a Coleman camp stove. After 15 minutes of immersion, I rinsed the part off with hot water from a 30-cup coffeemaker (damned handy item) then shot it with WD40 while it was still hot. After that, I wiped off then blew off with compressed air all the WD40 I could, and bathed the part in vegetable oil.

After:





Next up, the gas cylinder and rearmost of the op rod.

4 comments:

mostly cajun said...

That gas cylinder is going to be a problem, being a stainless alloy...

MC

Cathode "Ray" said...

Why did you use vegetable oil? Veg oils contain glycerides. When the oils 'dries' it will leave behind a sticky tacky residue that is difficult to remove.

Fûz said...

The button on the end of the op rod is stainless. I don't think the gas cylinder is, though. Thanks for the tip, will check that.

Cathode: veg oil is what I had handy, wanted to avoid Quaker State. Will watch for the tackiness.

Firehand said...

Yeah, the gas cylinder is stainless. Originally they had no way to park that, which is why they were painted.