Ok so awhile back I bought a Heritage Rough Rider. It's a 22 caliber, single action cowboy-style six shooter that basically looks like a downsized Peacemaker. Anyway, it looks like they powder coated the Aluminum frame black, and for whatever reason, the powder coat didn't dry properly. The gun still sort of smelled like paint, and was almost tacky to the touch. Well as you have probably guessed, that crappy powder coating job rubbed off in places! So now I'd really like to take that shitty finish off of there and redo it so it looks like something. The problem is I don't have any experience with Aluminum. I've re-blued lots of old guns in the past, but I'm pretty sure gun blue doesn't work on Aluminum. So what should I to get it back to black? I know I don't want to mess with any of that bake on stuff, but can you guys recommend anything? Thanks in advance!
Powder coat starts out ad dry dust and is melted and then solidifies. If it was sticky, either some chemical destroyed the finish or is was a paint of some sort that was not cured properly. I would go with the first suggestion.
Thank you for pointing-out one of my favorite subjects in this forum. That aluminum receivers on most guns have many drawbacks. As another poster has said, they do make a substance called Aluminum Black. I have some of the stuff made by Birchwood Casey. Now for the very bad news. Like most liquid or paste quick-blue items, it does a really really crappy job. The finished product will look like something that a 5 year old did with finger paints. Ok, so you want to do it yourself and not spend a ton of money to have the aluminum parts refinished by a professional. I understand that, because I am tight with a buck myself. So this is how I would do it. Buy the Aluminum Black product. Then take some raw aluminum and practice your craft on it for awhile. Examine the results. While I will stand by my statement that the finish you encounter will not look perfect, you might be able to recreate something that looks like a crudely done case hardened finish...which would actually compliment the looks of a pint-sized SAA clone.
I've had very good results with Aluminum Black, both on aluminum AND steel, believe it or not. Aluminum Black is STUPID simple. Prep the aluminum by stripping the oxidization layer off of the bare metal with fine steel wool or a buffer wheel or something relatively soft that doesn't take off significant amounts of the metal, then just swab the blue liquid on with a q-tip -- it's cool because you can watch the metal turn black as the Aluminum Black instantly oxidizes the upper layer of the aluminum, giving you a pretty matte black finish. Duracoat is not particularly difficult, but it is much more time consuming than Aluminum Black. A good in-between could be Alumahyde, which a friend of mine is familiar with but I am not. Aluminum Black is SO simple, I just black things with the stuff and call it a day. Looks OK for most things except touch up bluing, in which case I use cold blue paste, which I don't recommend in this case.
The best powder coat is inferior to most paint. I have seen steel rust under the powder coat and then the coating just jumps off in sheets. If you go to a boating supply store you can buy real zincromate primer. Zincromate under epoxy or enamel will give you a finish that is better than the powder coat could ever have been. All can be done from a rattle can. You are correct about cold bluing not working, and anodizing is an electroplating process that you would need to have done professionally.
