Cerakote, Duracote, Durablue, cold bluing etc

[MarkAlt]

I have a few Rock Island 1911s with a nice, but flat parkerized finish.

A handful of other brands that have some type of 'cote', mostly flat or just barely semi-gloss. ...not much sheen

I know the spray-on finishes can't compete with true bluing, and that's okay. I am looking for an inexpensive (possibly do-it-yourself) alternative that has a gloss finish. All of these guns are fun, range-shooters and see casual use.

Has anyone experimented with home finishing, or inexpensive coting companies that offer a little shine?

Photos and suggestions please?

 

[H Richard]

The "secret" to a shiny high gloss finish is the polishing of the metal before any finish is applied. This is an art, and shouldn't be tried by a beginner to anything of value. It takes practice to polish the metal and keep all the "lines" of the fun in crisp condition. I've been messing with guns for over 40 years, and I won't do it as I know I don't have the patience to do it right.

 

[DWalt]

The "secret" to a shiny high gloss finish is the polishing of the metal before any finish is applied. This is an art, and shouldn't be tried by a beginner to anything of value. It takes practice to polish the metal and keep all the "lines" of the fun in crisp condition. I've been messing with guns for over 40 years, and I won't do it as I know I don't have the patience to do it right.

Parkerizing is an excellent base for applying a spray and bake Teflon finish. But it is not glossy. As previously said, a glossy blued finish requires a highly polished metal surface first.

 

[tmd17]

Mark, take a look at Mark Lee Express Blue # 1. It is a labor intensive process, but the only special tool/equipment you may have to buy is a carding wheel. (a very fine wire wheel)

Like you, I wanted a DIY process that offered a better looking finish than the spray and bakes or parking and the Mark Lee is it for me.

The product has it's limits as far as producing a deep old school hot salts blue look, but it did give me a nice smooth shiny satin blue.

This is my DIY Colt Agent after a soft melt and then re-blue. I redid the alloy frame with Birch Wood Casey Aluma Black and heat. It is my EDC and it shows on the common wear spots, but over all the finish is holding up well.

 

[DWalt]

Another vote for Express Bluing. I did a 1911 frame with just a hand brush, pot of boiling water and steel wool. Came out beautiful.

It is also the toughest kind of bluing.

The Lee method is nothing more than rust bluing which has been used for a great many years. You can make up your own simple rusting solution using nitric and hydrochloric acids. Many of the old gunsmithing books contain numerous similar recipes for making rust bluing solution and explain how it is used. Lee charges a very pretty penny for theirs. But no matter which rusting solution is used, it involves a fair amount of labor and time to do a good job.

 

[tmd17]

Less than $50 invested in the 16 oz. bottle. I have already re-blued the New Agent, a full size 1911 slide, and numerous small parts. With 10 -12 oz. of the solution left in the bottle, I can probably do two or three more slides or a complete gun with plenty to spare.

I am not sure how much I would have to spend to make up a batch of my own solution to see if I could get it right, but I think I made a wise investment.

 

[Jon651]

I own one pistol that has an after-market Cerekote coating applied to it, but I didn't do it myself. Mine is a satin finish and although I haven't done any research I believe Cerekote has a variety of finishes including glossy. I do like mine a lot, but my only piece of wisdom is to say that any coating is only as good as the prep work that goes into the surface before it is applied.

As for a high-gloss finish, I don't think that is my style. The only ones I've ever seen in person have been hand-polishing to stainless steel, so technically not a coating. Definitely NOT my cup of tea and I honestly would pay less for a pistol with that type of finish. But certainly, your mileage may vary!

 

[Echo40]

My experience is limited to Duracoat, but it's decidedly positive.

My brother bought a Taurus Judge Revolver with a matte black finish which wore off within a few months from minor handling, so he bought a can of Glossy Black Duracoat to refinish it with.
If applied properly with strict adherence to the instructions, then it makes for an extremely durable and attractive finish. It has been on my brother's Judge for the past 7 years, and has only worn off in highly abrasive contact areas from repeated use with a Kydex Holster.

It requires a bit of work such as decreasing the gun, rubbing it down with a light abrasive pad to give the paint something to adhere to, then allowing it to cure for quite a long amount of time (a month or two, IIRC) in order to harden, but if you're willing to put in the time, then it works wonderfully.

Keep in mind, Duracoat is essentially just spraypaint mixed with epoxy in an aerosol can, ergo it isn't really a finish so much as it is a protective coating, ergo it's more wear-resistant than a finish like bluing, but is less attractive overall, especially as it wears.
That's not to say that it looks bad, merely that it doesn't look as nice as bluing, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

You could probably Google Image Duracoat to get an idea of how it looks and wears in general, although don't be too surprised if you get a decent amount of negative reviews from folks who attempted to spray it directly onto a firearm which hadn't been degreased and gave it no time to cure before shoving it into a Kydex Holster, then acting outraged that it got scraped off.

 

[2152hq]

There's 2 types of Rust Blue.
Express or Hot Rust blue
&
Slow or Cold Rust Blue

They use different solutions to get the rusting action.

Express Rust is a Start-to-Finish process where the solution is swabbed onto the warmed parts and the rust forms immedietely. Then the parts go right into the boiling water for about 10 to 15 min where the red rust turns to black oxide. Then out they come and are carded to remove the loose oxide leaving the blue/black color still on the metal.
Immedietely another coat of the rusting soln is applied to the warm metal and the process is done all over again.
If the part(s) cool off, they can be warmed back up by either placing them back into the boiling water tank or simply warming them with a propane torch orover the gas burner. Don't get them too hot.
200F is plenty.
The process can take anywhere from 4 to 10 cycles to get the color you want.

Slow Rust/Cold Rust Bluing...Polished parts are swabbed with the soln when they are room temp.
Then left to rust on their own.
Temp & Humidity play a role and generally most solns rust best at 75F+ and 75%+ humidity.
It can take a few hrs to overnite for a coating of fine grain rust to form.
Slow Process. but can be speeded up greatly with artificial heat and humidity to about an hour and 1/2.

Once the rust coating is formed, they go into the boiling water for the same 10 to 15 min.
Then out and carded. You can let these cool off if you want to before carding becasue they will not be recoated with rusting soln again until they are cooled off anyway.
Re-coated,,rusting again, boiled, carded..same routine.
4 + cycles and there's your Slow Rust bluing job.

Express Rust solns can be home brewed but generally use quite a few chemicals. 'Bakers Formula' was a popular mix back in the day.
I use MarkLee's Express Blue .

Slow Rust is a much simpler rusting soln. Most anything that can cause rusting to appear on clean polished steel will work.
I use Laurel Mtn Bbl Brown soln now.

Altering soln strength and playing with the rusting times can get you very shiney high gloss rust blued surfaces.
They don't all have to have that matted look to them.
The type of steel does have alot to say about it and you just get to know what are the ones that will blue the easiest and which ones will give you some problems after doing this for a while.

Keeping everything clean and free of oil contamination is one of the top things you have to do for a successful job.

 

[MarkAlt]

This is all excellent info and I appreciate it.

If I were 20, more like 40 years younger, I would just jump in and do it. But realistically, it's a job for someone with more experience and patience.

The processes and different coatings fascinate me, just as the guys that do high-end vehicle painting. It's really an art.

I will probably ship 1 or 2 pieces out and try a semi-gloss cerakote. Something that looks like DLC, if that's possible.

And, if anyone has re-finished examples, I'd love to see the photos.

Thank you!

 

[Biggfoot44]

The "secret" to a shiny high gloss finish is the polishing of the metal before any finish is applied.

This sums up the whole discussion .

To turn matte into shiny requires X amount of careful labor . You can pay a Pro , or you can make a seperate hobby of learning metal polishing , slowly, by hand . If you're good & lucky . First isn't cheap in money , second involves major amount of ( your) manhours .

Of the listed choices , I would go with Dura Coat , because of the nearly unlimited color palette . Yeah , Yeah , Ceta Kote is most - est indestructible . But Dura Coat is more protective than old school blueing , so it still exceeds my personal baseline .

On somewhat of a tangent , if we expended the question to : " What would you do with a pistol w/ cheesy finish , that personally offends you , AND collector value 50 years from now isn't a factor " ?

Mahovsky's Electroless Nickle , with comment to polish it as relatively shiny , that doesn't cost more than $100 upcharge .

But then , my first 1911 was old school nickle , and it influenced my tastes .

 

[Jon651]

Here are some pictures of one of my Hudson H9's. It was done in Ceracote OD Green and has aftermarket side panels. It has one scratch where the slide release touches the slide on the left side, but other than that it has been tough as nails.