Used to think a full reblue was the only fix for worn parkerizing. A job in Tucson last month proved me wrong.

Had a customer bring in a well-used M1 Garand with the parkerizing worn down to bare metal on the receiver. Three years ago, I would have told him it needs a full strip and re-park. Last month, I tried something different. I mixed up a small batch of cold blue, just the Birchwood Casey stuff, and applied it with a cotton swab in very thin layers. After each coat, I rubbed it with 0000 steel wool soaked in oil. Did this maybe five times, letting it sit for an hour between coats. The result blended the worn spots right in. It's not perfect, but it looks honest and saved the original finish. Anyone else have a good method for touching up parkerized guns without going full nuclear?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_felix5d ago

Honestly, that oiled steel wool step is the real secret. It knocks down the shine and helps the new color bite into the old finish, like you said. If the color match feels off, a tiny drop of flat brown model paint in the cold blue can warm it up. The goal is just to kill the glare from the bare metal, not make it look new.

skyler_white9526d ago

That's a really clever fix! I read a forum post once where a guy used a mix of cold blue and a tiny bit of flat black enamel model paint to match the gray tone on an old shotgun. He said the key was to thin it way down and build it up slow, just like you did. Your method with the oiled steel wool between coats sounds like it makes it settle into the existing parkerizing texture instead of sitting on top. Saving the original finish is always the goal when you can. Nice work figuring that out.

laura21126d ago

Yeah, that's the trick. My first try looked like I used a Sharpie, @skyler_white95. Took me three ugly attempts to learn that patience thing.