Saturday, October 20, 2012

A test

Ran across something a while back over at The High Road, a guy tried using engine paint on a .22 revolver to give it a good finish.  Which led to some questions and information.  So, along with something else(that story later) I'm giving something a try on a knife.

Specifically, a bayonet being cleaned up and painted with header paint.  Couple of people mentioned they'd had very good results with it on firearms, which made me wonder how it'd hold up on a blade.  So:

Bayonet after being sharpened and degreased

The stuff I picked up said to do a light coat, wait ten minutes, light coat, ten minutes, then a medium coat; can touch in 1 hour, handle in three.  Three hours later,
I looks very nice; practically a 'drinks light' matte black.  Shows a nice smooth surface.

This has to dry for one week, then be baked to fully cure(ceramic in the mix, and no, I don't know how this one works).  So in a week I'll bake it, then start using it for some things and see how the finish holds up.

5 comments:

Farm.Dad said...

I just traded into a Kahr pm9 with a similar though unknown providence finish . The best thing i can say is that i got about a hundred off it because it looked like home made sin , and paint remover took it right back to two tone nickle without any stripping of the base .

Firehand said...

Damn.

I know that this stuff can be dry to the touch but brake cleaner will strip it off(don't ask) when it's fresh. Also, both on this and the engine paint it specifically states the stuff HAS to be heated after the full drying period or it doesn't fully cure. So if it was a similar stuff and they didn't bake it, that might be it. One reason I want to try this out, "Will it wear?"

Or else they shot it with Krylon or something.

Windy Wilson said...

Testor's!

Did you have to do each side as a separate process or were you able to rig a holder to shoot both sides at the same spray session?

Firehand said...

Used a wire hook to hang it, so was able to hit all sides each session.

Windy Wilson said...

Do report on what you do to bake the finish. Will an ordinary home oven work, does it have to be suspended in order to avoid Achilles-like flaws, is there any odor during the heating process (That could result in accusations of contaminating the oven here).