Question about bluing a part....

[Drjones]

I have a GI-style short, parkerized 1911 trigger and I want to blue it (or otherwise darken it) to match the finish of my blued Colt.

Can I just apply bluing or something over the parkerizing, or do I need to first strip the parkerizing off the trigger?

If so, how would I go about doing that?

Help!


Thanks!

 

[AK103K]

You need to strip the park of it and then blue it. I use fine emery to strip the finish(I'd leave the trigger bow alone though) and 44-40 cold blue for the little parts. It holds up pretty well, but will wear eventually, but then again, its easy to touch up.

 

[Drjones]

What would happen if I just applied blue over the parkerizing?

It is going to be difficult to take the parking off, to say the least......it has a checkered face, so there's no way I'll be able to remove the parkerizing from the checkering....

 

[AK103K]

Its not going to take over the park. I've never had any trouble taking the finish off, park or blue, using emery. The hardest part will be the checkering, but it can be done. If you have access to a glass bead cabinet, it would be a lot easier and faster, but its not hard by hand.