smyrna wrote:I was talking to a guy that does this the other day and he only described the process and not the specific products used. He said that it is similar to some factory finishes used today such as "KimPro" by Kimber. Anybody have any first hand experience with how these finishes wear compared to other types?
I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for blued steel and a piece of walnut, but I'm just looking for something a little more durable than that. Also, anybody ever try any of the home parkerize kits?
As a matter of fact I have a gallon of the parkerizing kit inbound..I am currently refinishing a Ishapore Enfield 2A in .308
Correction..I just opened the box with the gallon of parkerizing solution, now all I have to do is get the sandblaster and the air compressor and the aluminum oxide blasting media
Here are the pics I have so far

Original Enfield, encrusted with cosmoline, stock almost black

Parts, stock was run thru the dishwasher w/ about 1/2 cup of industrial purple degreaser, hot water wash setting, heated dry off, I bagged up all the parts so I wouldn't misplace them or loose them

I used some stripper to loosen the gunk and black spraypaint stuff that got on the stock and to remove all the stuff that was on the stock, this was incredibly messy and I put a plastic bag underneath it to help cleanup, I ran the stock thru the washer one last time to ensure I pulled all the cosmoline out of the stock, it was bone dry!

This is the finished stock, my camera isn't the greatest and the color doesn't do the wood justice, I put a healthy coat of walnut wood dye in the wood and let it dry, then I put 3 coats of Minwax polyurethane satin (fast dry in the spraypaint can) to coat it, I'm more of a function over form kinda guy, not interested in collectability, if I buy a gun I plan on using it, and trust me, if they would have had polyurethane back then when they 1st made it thats what they would have used instead of Tung oil, this stuff is tough as nails!
I just opened the box with the
Manganese Phosphate Parkerizing Solution
I will soon have this puppy stripped, de-greased and ready to parkerize.