Questions on Winchester Finishes and Decisions to Make.....

[jesse_]

Thanks!

I meant that I need to delve deeper into its micro structure. I have to know quite a bit about anodizing and plating for work, but I'm lacking when it comes to parkerizing.

Here is my current setup. I''ve done one zinc test part, then went on to a few others where the intent is to turn the parts green. The owner of palmettoenterprisesparkerizing told me to take WWII era cosmo (they have since changed formulation) and slather the parts as soon as they dry coming out of the bath. Then wrap tightly with aluminum foil. The parts will be unwrapped in a week.

The basic grey color matches a buddy's 1911 he got from his grandfather. Grandfather was a Korean War era MP who purchased his duty pistol after service. But it was shipped at a later date (he has the box too...). The pistol's finish is immaculate. Methinks that it was shipped later because he requested it to be refinished and they skipped the chromate bath. I know that there are two lines of thought as to why the park turns green, some people saying cosmo, others the chromate treatment. Ok, enough digression....

[Bob Seijas]

SA hated Parkerizing, fought it tooth and nail because it increased friction and changed the dimensions. They found Pentrate, a bluing process, and tried hard to get it accepted instead of Park. In January 1939 they build 10 rifles in the 7000 serial range and sent them to Washington. Ordnance rejected them as too shiny. They made a second lot of 25 in April (12000 range) after frosting the parts with muriatic acid to dull the finish but Ordnance rejected that too. Ord loved the superior rust resistance of Park and finally told SA to shut up and step out smartly. It's one of the very few times SA lost a fight until the M1C/M1D controversy.

[jesse_]

Latest effort.

Manganese park. Bead blaster is down so I had to use one filled with old "Black Beauty" slag and kept the pressure down to 45psi. I wasn't particularly careful on prep. This is to test the process.

These were just some test parts. Post war South American buttplate, a SA clip left out in the rain, some sights, and a reproduction rear sight cover that came with a horrible shiny blue (yeah, the ribs look awful, ain't nothing fixing those).

Can't wait to get the bead blaster back up and do another batch of parts or two before a receiver.

[browningautorifle]

Everything looks fine.

[Bob Womack]

You did well!!!

Bob

[Rockandroll]

Tried for years trying to get a green tint to my park metal. Here a couple of pics of my results.

[browningautorifle]

I don't know why everyone worries so much about it, if you have a nice clean grey or black finish and the rifle looks in almost new condition, it'll be a working showpiece.

That's about the best you can ask for.

[jesse_]

It looks great. Your years of work paid dividends.

This is my first two weeks attempts.

The part at the far right was slathered with 1944 cosmo then wrapped in foil for a week. It looks to have just the *slightest* green tint.

I still have a buttplate and door wrapped. I will put it in the oven to see if I can accelerate/further the process.

The front sight was manganese parked and came out much much blacker than the far left sight cover.

You are the keeper of many secrets.....