Playing with cerakote

Discussion in 'Firearms' started by Vetter, Mar 25, 2013.


  1. Vetter

    Vetter Monkey+

    I've got this compulsion to paint things! I've had it all my life! In fact, I stayed in trouble as a teen for painting things" without asking." I once painted my dad's '73 starcraft camper. It really needed it, and I did a good job! But upon my dad returning home to see it, he immediately left only to return later with a 5 gal bucket of acetone. Good memmories......
    I've since painted thirty or so cars, a pair of jets skis, dozens of motorcycles, a casket, bicycles, a stunt airplane, a tanning bed, etc.
    Now that I'm into guns(relatively recently), that compulsion hasn't left me. I've been yerning to coat part of my collection! My problem is, none of my guns need to be coated....
    So when my bro inlaw picked up a heavily worn Para GI Expertat a gun show, I jumped at the opportunity to tell him how horable it looked! And then, I offered up my services if he'd buy coating.
    I'm sure you guys have all kinds of opinions on different coatings. It seemed that cerakote is one of the strongest DIY coatings but is harder to apply. yadda yadda, heres the pics.
    detail stripped and blasted
    3BDD14DA-196B-427E-8446-3C865311D568-7586-000006C300897FB2_zps29d3b6af.
    before and after
    D078C332-43AB-4214-AF82-3D00543B0F95-7586-000006C2C7AA8952_zpsa042b828.
    I wanted to do a different color scheme, but he's a marine and this is what he wanted. Turned out great! Finish is identical to the factory finish on my Kimber! And the best part is that I have enough cerakote to do about 20 more guns!
    next up! This ones going burnt bronze and black.
    7148D3C4-5261-45B2-8A67-CFDB80FC0969-7586-000006C2EA96EA48_zps85375f9b.
     
    kellory and ssonb like this.
  2. Vetter

    Vetter Monkey+

    Coated a pair of Glock slides and one of my ARs this weekend.
    Let me know what you think.
    C45FCB2E-0FA7-418E-BF22-2B6F952B886E-1621-0000017AFE40748D_zps0e687e8a.
    7F89DE7E-922E-4751-96E1-EF34E71AB3E7-1621-0000017AF866EFA0_zpsd1186589.
    481D2A3B-C1BB-4281-9C3D-8E740E7BA82E-1621-0000017AE5B55EAC_zpsaedc3d22.
     
    NotSoSneaky and kellory like this.
  3. Elessar

    Elessar Monkey+++

    Very nice work. I like that burn bronze color. The upper looks great!
     
  4. Vetter

    Vetter Monkey+

    Did a few more this weekend.
    BAA27D95-F22A-4CC1-AAE5-80C0FC86FE4A-925-000000BA73C42ACE_zpsa2c1cd50.
     
  5. Vetter

    Vetter Monkey+

    One might say I've gotten carried away with this Cerakote stuff?
    4D95865D-C536-4D31-998C-8A8BB3816F00-5510-00000542E6F8D5E8_zps48538702.
    184BB1D0-D908-4371-8772-07014A2FE198-5510-00000543035BC801_zps4f99d246.
    49E1EE91-4CEE-4B7B-886B-DB1DCD7DAA2E-5510-000005431D224DB3_zps2f755e38.
    1D632BDE-D383-4D3C-81F4-23CD9A58F361-5510-000005427EC67B83_zpsfdee0bb3.
    6A1B7EB0-83B3-4212-A6A4-C06EB375F9CC-5510-000005425CB8749E_zps960ef3b3.
    I ran out of my own stuff to coat, so this guy offered to pay me to do his. Weird, ehh?
    I tried to convince him not to coat this beautiful Caspian slide, but when someone offers me money......
    CAC592F0-43E5-49D2-91AE-367684D54466-5510-00000542745A7328_zpsb223e0d2.
     
  6. franks71vw

    franks71vw Monkey+++

    how did you do the glocks, did you remove their original finish??? and is there any baking involved?
     
  7. Vetter

    Vetter Monkey+

    Yes. You blast the parts, Thoroughly clean them, Apply coating, and bake.
     
  8. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    nice hobby that can morph into a bit of a cottage industry. I ran a similar gamut with parkerizing a while back; it's contagious!
     
  9. franks71vw

    franks71vw Monkey+++

    Last dumb question, say you build a receiver flat bend it rivet all the parts etc. How would you coat or with what would you coat the internal surface area of a receiver. Would you leave it undone and just worry about the outside or would you parkerize/ black oxide the entire receiver and then reblast and do the outside?
     
  10. Vetter

    Vetter Monkey+

    " flat bend it rivet all the parts etc" I have no idea what you are talking about. lol

    I coat all internal parts with cerakote as well. It goes on as thin as .0005! And ceramic is significantly slicker than SS.
    I havent' come across a tolerance problem yet.
    I do only apply one coat to internal friction surfaces, whereas I'll apply 2-3 to areas prone to wear.
     
  11. DarkLight

    DarkLight Live Long and Prosper - On Hiatus

    @Vetter - There are, um, certain receivers that can be made out of sheet metal (as I'm sure you know). Not entirely sure about "flat bend" but the rivets gave it away. ;)
     
  12. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    "Flat bend" - stamped sheet metal shape that can be bent into the shape of the receiver for further work. That way, the receiver is not logged into the yellow sheet database since it isn't a receiver when shipped.
     
  13. Vetter

    Vetter Monkey+

    Like ive said, I havent been in the gun world for too long.
    I'd seen the 80% AR recievers, but I was unaware of the AK Flat recievers! Makes sense! Learn something new everyday....

    As far as adhesion of cerakote to a "flat bend", check out their website. I would expect to see some sheen variation if bent after coating, but from their testing, it doesnt look like adhesion would be an issue.
    Cerakote Coatings: Testing
     
  14. Vetter

    Vetter Monkey+

    Bringing back an old thread.....
    Since I first started this thread, I've coated just over a thousand firearms. It's morphed into quite a lucrative "little" side business.
    If it's "legal" to link to my website......
    ARKWeaponcoatings.com
     
    oldawg, Brokor and BTPost like this.
  15. Tikka

    Tikka Monkey+++

    Vetter,
    You do very nice work.
     
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