Parkerizing/Phosphating Kits

[Greg L.]

Has anyone used and had acceptable results with any of these kits for Black/Grey Phosphating/Parkerizing?

Allegheny Arsenal. Inc
Brownells
Parkerizingkits.com
Shooters Solutions
Calvan.com

The reason I ask is that if these kits provide the proper phosphate finnish then instead of looking all over for the various chemicals, I might just ship a kit to a friend of mine in the bay area and pick it up when I go to the regional meet in April. ...Might save me alot of head ache too!

[Mike M.]

I used Caswell plating kits

I had good results from there kits. Mike

http://www.caswellplating.com

http://www.caswellplating.com/

[Randy R.]

Re: Parkerizing/Phosphating Kits

I am happy with the kits from Shooter Solutions.

[Greg L.]

Re: Parkerizing/Phosphating Kits

Actually I just ordered a caswell kit for the cad plating but I understand that their kit for phosphate isnt so good. Right now I'm trying to decide if I should try and get a pre mixed solution from one of the companies that I mentioned or get the chemicals in Canada and follow the procedure in the corvette restorer CD. No one wants to ship their kits up here and finding the chemicals up here is a bit of a challenge... So if I could confirm that some of these kits will give a proper "crystal" type appearance then it just might be easier to order that kit, send it to my buddies place and pick it up when I get there.

[Chuck S.]

Greg, In Response To Your Email...

The chemicals were manganese phosphate (not manganese dioxide; I don't know where that came from) and zinc phosphate. The gentlman which originally supplied me the manganese phosphate and gave me a lot of background on the process either went out of business or passed away. My suspicion of that was mentioned in the article.

Maybe a year(?two years?) or so ago, I did an internet search to find another supplier of manganese phosphate in small quantities. I discovered that the phosphate processes used for industrial metal finishing were the same as the "Parkerizing" used to finish firearms, military arms in particular. The source I settled on was Calvan (link to their website below) which supplies gun hobbyists as well as motorcycle and auto restorers. I have not tried the chemicals I ordered yet. Someone else was also very interested in obtaining the chemicals, and later reported satisfaction with the results. If you search the archives, you will find those threads.

As you found with other suppliers, Calvan only ships to the continental US. Don't feel slighted...I guess that means Hawaiians, which aren't furriners, can't get anything from them either. I recommend you have Calvan ship what you want to your buddies' place, and you pick it up there. The only interesting part for you will be getting the chemicals back into Canada without a hassle. Good luck...I hope you're not dark-featured with a big nose.




Calvan.com

[Greg L.]

Re: Greg, In Response To Your Email...

The manganese dioxide came from my failing mind due to information overload trying to locate these chemicals up here in the great white north;)

Anyways, thanks for your response Chuck. I think I will try Calvan or Shooter Solutions because the time I am spending trying to find this stuff up here is getting way out of hand...I see why the good ol spray bomb gets used so much! I had hoped to get going ASAP with this part of my resto but I guess I'll wait untill I get back from San Fran in April. I shouldn't have much hassle bringing it back. I work at the airport here and use my airport ID because my passport has expired...being a blue eyed blonde doesn't hurt either!