A better, more durable finish than Cerakote? And story of woe.

[Orion8472]

I'm wanting to redo my CZ SP-01. Several years ago I was into the "distressed look" [for some reason] and an ex friend [a gunsmith] did this. I never really liked it much, but it's looked like this since. At one time, he said that if I ever wanted to sell it, he would buy it.

But he proved to be unreliable. For example, I was going to have him do a Cerakote finish on my Henry Golden Boy, but he procrastinated for nearly a year and when I went to get it back to shoot it, he had left it in a rifle carry case next to his garage door and part of the barrel and most of the lever had developed surface rust. All he said was "that's why it needs to be Cerakoted". I didn't want a Cerakoted barrel, I wanted the "Brasslite" parts done only. I eventually took it to another gunsmith who did hot bluing and had it refinished at $140 dollars. When I told him about it, he just said, "He does good work". Didn't say, "that was MY bad, here's the money for that". The guy is totally a narcissist and extremely arrogant and I eventually stopped hanging out with such a toxic person.....but I'm getting side tracked.

I'm wanting to do another finish and was wanting to know which finish is better than Cerakote? I'd prefer a basic black-ish...or a silver. I got some nice medium tone wood grips for it and want a nice finish to match them. Any suggestions?

 

[Jim Watson]

Ion Bond or other brand DLC.

 

[earlthegoat2]

NP3 type finishes or the the Roguard finish that Robar used to do and others have pretty good copies of.

 

[Pat Riot]

I like Cerakote. If I wanted something tougher I would think hard chrome.

 

[Col. Harrumph]

Maybe consult with Ford's Guns? Or even Turnbull (if you have too much money)?

 

[Orion8472]

Turnbull wouldn't do this gun. Asked already. The double stack frame makes the metal too thin and might warp in the heat. Believe me, if I could do a nice bluing, I would.....but apparently CZ doesn't really use the best metal for that.

BTW, is Hard Chrome necessarily super shiny, or could they do a matte finish type?

I might just do a Cerakote finish again. Probably cheaper. And probably just a semi matte black for a classy look.

 

[Project355]

Matt satin or almost gloss. Satin brushed looks a lot like stainless. I had a Python matt hard chromed. Looked like putty.

 

[Stophel]

Rust blue. But, it's time consuming, labor-intensive, and technique-critical, though technically very simple to do.

 

[bannockburn]

Check out Ron Mahovsky's SS Chromium Metalife finish (mahovskysmetalife.com). It's hard chrome plating that's silver colored and looks pretty much like stainless steel. It will give your gun a lifetime of protection, maybe a couple of lifetimes as my Beretta Model 70S that was Metalifed still looks as good as the day I got it back from them and that was many, many years ago!

 

[mrcabinet]

CZs rust blue very nicely - I've done several. The key is prepping properly, keeping it clean and not rushing the process. It's easy to do in the garage and you will really feel like you've accomplished something when it's done.

 

[commygun]

CCR does lovely, if slow, work. Their House Black is about as close as a coating can get to a black bluing.

 

[Orion8472]

commygun, do you have a web link for CCR?

Thanks.

 

[KevininPa]

Bannockburn beat me to it. Mahovsky hard chrome.

 

[commygun]

http://www.ccrrefinishing.com/

 

[Orion8472]

BTW, has anyone looked at the attached in the first post? What is your opinion of something like that?

 

[Orion8472]

Here's the other side.

When I take this outside, it actually has a bit more of a greenish hue than tan.

 

[KevininPa]

Turnbull wouldn't do this gun. Asked already. The double stack frame makes the metal too thin and might warp in the heat. Believe me, if I could do a nice bluing, I would.....but apparently CZ doesn't really use the best metal for that

BTW, is Hard Chrome necessarily super shiny, or could they do a matte finish type?

I might just do a Cerakote finish again. Probably cheaper. And probably just a semi matte black for a classy look.

Mahovsky likes to do a bead blast finish. He refers to shiny chrome as pimp guns. And his prices are very reasonable.

 

[Jim Watson]

His prices are a good deal lower than the other platers, how does he do it?

 

[DocRock]

Not trying to talk you out of changing it, but I’d say I rather like the way it looks now.

Good luck.

 

[mjsdwash]

Hard chrome is my suggestion. I have a Kel-Tec with hard chrome, its as shiny as a worn out nickel. Just a little brighter than pot metal.
If it were mine, I would parkerize it and call it good. Short of deliberately abusing the finish, you'll never do more than put nice looking wear on it. I had a RIA that was parkerized (by me, not the factory), and I left it in a puddle of water for a few weeks, after I took it out on a freezing day, set it somewhere and water condensed. After I got around to dealing with it, I found it sitting in its puddle. No rust. You get the aged look with it too.

 

[Golfanaticshooter]

Turnbull wouldn't do this gun. Asked already. The double stack frame makes the metal too thin and might warp in the heat. Believe me, if I could do a nice bluing, I would.....but apparently CZ doesn't really use the best metal for that.

BTW, is Hard Chrome necessarily super shiny, or could they do a matte finish type?

I might just do a Cerakote finish again. Probably cheaper. And probably just a semi matte black for a classy look.

I have a CZ 75B and want to have it polished and blued. I got a quote from the custom shop, its around $600.00 and 10 weeks. Have you contacted them?

 

[KevininPa]

His prices are a good deal lower than the other platers, how does he do it?

He does everything in batches. Turnaround time could be fast or slow depending upon how many items he has to hard chrome.

 

[hso]

What is your opinion of something like that?

All a matter of taste. You didn't like the way it looked and that's all that matters.

 

[bannockburn]

KevininPa

Your Hi-Power looks just my brother's who had his Metalifed when his gun developed a problem with the original blued finish. Everyone who saw it wanted to know where did he get the stainless Hi-Power from!

The only time I had a slight delay in getting my gun back from Mahovsky was when they did my Beretta Model 70S. They decided to leave the adjustable rear sight with it's blued finish on it. Since they had never seen this particular sight before it took them a little while to figure out how to take if off and then get it back on there after it was hard chromed plated!

Everything worked out fine and the gun has been perfect ever since I got it back!

 

[KevininPa]

"Your Hi-Power looks just my brother's who had his Metalifed when his gun developed a problem with the original blued finish. Everyone who saw it wanted to know where did he get the stainless Hi-Power from!"

Heh, yeah,... I get that a lot too!