CeraKote Before and After

[Brian Ahearn]

Nice job on both pieces, I don't know about you but I suck at taking pictures of the finished product, just got a new nikon to try and improve my photography and I am getting help from a professional to improve my pics. Again nice job and your right its your customers that have to be happy about the product. Anytime you post on forums though you will get a wide variety of opinions . Again nice job!

[ithinkimamedic]

Sorry, but both the Kahr and the 638 look worse when you were done.

Really?!?!? did you look at the before/after pic of the smith and you honestly think the finish looks worse?!?

while the Smith just looks like somebody spray painted it.

Frankly I'm not sure you are coming with this statement, I've seen plenty of "spray painted" guns here on PAFOA... IMO most look like hell, some look really nice though and then a bunch just are what they are. I think the refinish looks great, especially considering what the gun looked like going into the process and I defiantly don't think it looks like it was spray painted shottly as implied.

How long have you been refinishing firearms? Any suggestions on how to do a better job? Could you do a better job and if so how much do you charge?

[SCBaldr]

Question for you guys who Cerakote a lot. If I have a pistol whose slide to frame fit has gotten looser over the years, but the frame rails are still in perfectly serviceable condition, can I apply as thick a coating of Cerakote as I dare into said rails and get the slide-to-frame fit to tighten up? Will the Cerakote be as tough as the original anodize on the Sig Sauer frame rails? How long will that fix last, if its possible? Have you found in the guns that you have refinished that the fit is tighter? Does the Cerakote stand up to the wear in the frame rails?

In theory, It should stand up to the wear better than the original anodizing did. The Cerakote is supposed to be thicker and harder than the Anodized Aluminum. I imagine that if the rails were properly greased, the Cerakote would last quite a while.

I have good painting equipment and I am capable of good prep work, so no worries on those scores.

[DBZ220]

Looks good! I dig the two-tone Kahr a lot. Just curious, but what's your turn around time like?

[PennsyPlinker]

Nice job on both pieces, I don't know about you but I suck at taking pictures of the finished product, just got a new nikon to try and improve my photography and I am getting help from a professional to improve my pics. Again nice job and your right its your customers that have to be happy about the product. Anytime you post on forums though you will get a wide variety of opinions . Again nice job!

What are the benefits of this coating?

What colors are available?

What areas do this?

Louis, do a search for colors. As for area, Brian, quoted above, is just north of you. He did this for me a little while back. I have more on my list...

[Xringshooter]

Question for you guys who Cerakote a lot. If I have a pistol whose slide to frame fit has gotten looser over the years, but the frame rails are still in perfectly serviceable condition, can I apply as thick a coating of Cerakote as I dare into said rails and get the slide-to-frame fit to tighten up? Will the Cerakote be as tough as the original anodize on the Sig Sauer frame rails? How long will that fix last, if its possible? Have you found in the guns that you have refinished that the fit is tighter? Does the Cerakote stand up to the wear in the frame rails?

In theory, It should stand up to the wear better than the original anodizing did. The Cerakote is supposed to be thicker and harder than the Anodized Aluminum. I imagine that if the rails were properly greased, the Cerakote would last quite a while.

I have good painting equipment and I am capable of good prep work, so no worries on those scores.

I don't know that you would want to try to tighten up the slide to rail fit by just using CerKote. Although it may work, I would rather tightenit up by adjusting the slide fit (they have tools to squeeze or expand the slide for tighter/looser fits) over putting a thick coat of something on.

The guns that have been coated are tighter, but that is to be expected, you are putting on a coating, it doesn't get absorbed by the metal, so it will make things thicker. I haven't seen any guns "fixed" that way (with CeraKote on the rails for a long period of time) so I don't really know how it wears. That said, I just finished a RIA .45 and will evaluate it over a period of time and let people know how it does wear on the rails over a period of time and the round count.

If you follow the directions, it's not real hard to do.

[aubie515]

I suppose you cannot please everyone, but to say the SW looks worst is incorrect.

The Cerakote jobs look very good IMO.

Ron...are you set up to do barrel actions? I normally coat my own, but I don't have an oven large enough for my barrel action. If you are able to rifle, can you PM me a price list. I've seen some great prices on cerakoting online, but would rather not ship them to another state...so depending on price, I may have some rifles for you.

Also do you stock the Federal Brown colors or are you just sticking with black (yuck), OD and FDE type colors?

[Xringshooter]

Looks good! I dig the two-tone Kahr a lot. Just curious, but what's your turn around time like?

I do this part time (I have a fulll time job that takes me away from home every other week) so I work in the evenings and weekends when I'm home. Depending on what all needs to be done (the prep work) normally a couple of weeks max (depending on my travel schedule). The actual work only takes a few hours, again depending on what all needs to be done to the gun and what the customer wants. The tear down and prep about an hour, coating about a half hr, curing takes 2 hrs, cool down a couple hours and then reassembly.

If I got a gun at 8 AM and had no interuptions, it should be done in the afternoon, again depending on the gun, and what is going to be done.

For example, for a revolver, if you wanted something like the 638 that is shown, it has to be completely disassembled to do the coating of the frame. Then the frame and whatever else is getting coated has to be blasted, degreased, air dried, the coating gets mixed, the parts all get sprayed, then into the curing oven for 2 hrs, then cool down. Then removal of any coating from the internal areas where it may hamper the operation and finally reassembly testing and lubrication. If using more than one color on the gun, the spraying equipment must be cleaned, the already sprayed parts need to dry enough to be handled, and the next color be mixed and sprayed (before going to cure).

So the actual coating doesn't take that long, but in my case, because of my other job, my clients know it could take a couple weeks from when they drop it off as I may have other guns in the shop also to be worked on.

CeraKoteing is sorta like bluing, it's easier to do the guns in batches so you don't waste the material. Once you mixt a batch, it is only good for a few hours and even mixing a half of a batch (9ml) can be a waste if you don't have enough guns to do to use it all.

[Xringshooter]

I suppose you cannot please everyone, but to say the SW looks worst is incorrect.

The Cerakote jobs look very good IMO.

Ron...are you set up to do barrel actions? I normally coat my own, but I don't have an oven large enough for my barrel action. If you are able to rifle, can you PM me a price list. I've seen some great prices on cerakoting online, but would rather not ship them to another state...so depending on price, I may have some rifles for you.

Also do you stock the Federal Brown colors or are you just sticking with black (yuck), OD and FDE type colors?

I can do a barrel on an action, my curing oven is an old Stack-On Gun cabinet that I insulated. If you would, since I am new to doing this, drop me a PM with some of the prices you have seen. I'm new at the coating business and still trying to figue out the best way to charge for doing this (set price for specific items, individually priced depending on the work that the customer wants, etc.).

Right now I have FDE, Sniper Gray, OD, Coyote Tan, Graphite Black, Desert Sand and Stainless Steel (the color). I can easily get other colors from CeraKote as needed.

[pacpiper]

Looks great!

I have a Lee-Enfield MK4 No.1 that has been "painted" but is in great shape. I've always thought of redoing it in a more natural coating and I think this may be the way.

If you're interested in trying your luck on a Milsurp, shoot me a PM and a price if interested. No rush at all!