To Coat, Or Not To Coat....

[Stillwaters]

I'm new here, so be patient with me.... I'm looking at having my .45 coated, & the more I find, the more confused I get. There's Robar, there's DuraCoat, there's Hard Chrome (Metalife), well, the list goes on, but those seem to be at the top. I couldn't find a thread here on this, so if I could get some experience/educated feedback, it'd be most appreciated. What's good? What works? What DOESN'T work? Thanks!

[pa_guns]

Hi

The simple answer is that they *all* work.

Coatings are stuff like Gun Kote, essentially it's a paint.

A finish like Hard Chrome is a plating process. It's putting metal down on the surface of the pistol.

The general category is called finishes.

What are you trying to do and how much money do you have to spend? Is $600 outside your budget?

Bob

[Joni Lynn]

It depends on what you want from the finish and what you want it to look like. Also what you wish to spend on it.
Ion bond or hard chrome would be my choices at this time.

[pa_guns]

Hi

There's always Black Diamond.

Lots of ways to spend a whole lot of money refinishing a pistol.

A basic blue job or a Parkerize are going to cost you a *whole* lot less than the super finishes.

Bob

[Hill]

I'm new here, so be patient with me.... I'm looking at having my .45 coated, & the more I find, the more confused I get. There's Robar, there's DuraCoat, there's Hard Chrome (Metalife), well, the list goes on, but those seem to be at the top. I couldn't find a thread here on this, so if I could get some experience/educated feedback, it'd be most appreciated. What's good? What works? What DOESN'T work? Thanks!

Welcome!
Do you know how to use a search function in a forum? If so, the search function of this site will return several, or maybe hundreds of threads using "refinish", and probably more or other ones if you use the particular names for finishes you mentioned.

It might be the most often asked question of all.

[pa_guns]

Hi

There are indeed a lot of threads on refinishing a pistol aren't there?

What do you want to do with your pistol once it's refinished?

Bob

[Stillwaters]

I just got my STI Spartan back from the 'smith with a Wilson magwell, an Ed Brown extended mag realease button, red fiber optic front sight instead of green, metal trigger (the plastic had to go!), & G10 grips for some IPSC.

-Also have a Springfield (alloy) Champion for carry I'm still breaking in.

Price isn't an issue as much as confidence in what I'm using (& looks don't hurt, either!).

[pa_guns]

Hi

If a $600 refinish job is an ok thing then the only real question is weather you want black-ish or sliver-ish for a color.

Bob

[Hill]

Now, Bob. E-Coat is $250. it's black-ish.
'Bout the same for harchrome in silver-ish. :) (reminds me of something - can't quite put my finger on it)

I could see a 'master' level polish blue job going $600. but it'd be mighty fine indeed.

[pa_guns]

Hi

There's always two parts to the finish job. They charge you for the finishing and for the prep. It's not at all unusual to spend as much on the prep as you do on the finish. If you are budgeting, double the price of the finish alone.

Bob

[Stillwaters]

$600!?!? Don't I at least get a sales pitch? -Perhaps its my naiveté being finished! OK. I'll bite. Why talk about the price & not the process? What IS the process?

I've been checking some threads (as suggested) & am thinking of having the STI Diamond Blacked.

One other question: Although one can delve into the myriad plating/finishing processes, it seems not one of the companies mention 100% guaranteed perfection of their process. Is that a worry?

[pa_guns]

Hi

The whole thing runs like this:

First they pull the finish that's on your pistol off of it.

Next they get down to solid smooth metal.

After that they take the metal to what ever state you have requested for your final appearance. A shiny flat is going to take a bit more work than a matte finish.

The last step is to actually apply the finish it's self.

The reason for the lack of guarantee is that the steps before the finish goes on are the critical ones. There is a lot of "judgement" involved on just how far to take the metal on your pistol down to get a good surface. Often the end result is a compromise between safety, cost, and appearance.

The reason I keep hammering on this is that the prep costs are never quoted up front. They always are a "per hour charge" and are dependent on the condition of your pistol. Having the budget set up for $xxx and then discovering after the fact that the price is twice that is *not* much fun.

Bob

[Stillwaters]

Thanks, Bob! That'll save an unwanted truckload of grief (and sticker shock)! Right now I feel like I'm in a metallurgy course, what with PVD's, CVD's, TDC's, and TI(CN)'s. It seems that nowhere are all these finishes and finishers corralled together in a directory, or am I mistaken? Would you (or someone knowledgeable) care to recommend 4, 5, or 6 of them?

[pa_guns]

Thanks, Bob! That'll save an unwanted truckload of grief (and sticker shock)! Right now I feel like I'm in a metallurgy course, what with PVD's, CVD's, TDC's, and TI(CN)'s. It seems that nowhere are all these finishes and finishers corralled together in a directory, or am I mistaken? Would you (or someone knowledgeable) care to recommend 4, 5, or 6 of them?

Hi

I've been waiting for the answer to - do you want black-ish or silver-ish on the finished product. That pretty well divides things.

Bob

[Stillwaters]

What? No green-ish? I guess black-ish for what I have in mind is acceptable.

[pa_guns]

Hi

Ok, that eliminates hard chrome.

Black Diamond and it's clones are pretty tough, but a bit flat looking.

E-Treat is a bit more shiny.

Ion-Bond looks a lot like E-treat.

None of the people selling this stuff will tell you much about what it really is. My guess is that they want you to come to them for the finish. All of them are very durable. All of them are more durable than the metal under them. In other words you can always do a scratch that goes into the base metal.

Bob

[Stillwaters]

Thanks, Bob! Two more questions: 1. Are there any places that do BOTH the black-ish AND silver-ish? and 2. Is it normal for the refinisher to disassemble and reassemble (& probably charge for it?), or do they prefer to receive parts ready to go?

[pa_guns]

Hi

No matter what finish you do, metal prep under the finish is very important. I would prefer to send the assembled pistol to a pro and let him do the whole process. The cost will be higher, but the outcome is likely to be a lot better.

There are places that do some of each, but unless you are after a two tone look I would pick the color first and then pick the finisher.

Bob