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  #1  
Old 08-30-2015, 4:26 PM
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Default Cerakote Specialist in Bay Area

I was just about to have my 1911 Cerakoted by the great Pete Swanson but he wrote to inform me that once he clears out his back-orders he's leaving the state! Now I'm in a bit of a pickle.

Aside from Pete, the Cerakote site lists two shops:

D&B Custom Coatings: I have been in email contact with Mr. Cravea, but there are some elements of the exchange that have given me cold feet. His website goes to a GoDaddy dead link site, and he advised me to ship my 1911 via USPS Priority, which according to the ca.gov site is expressly forbidden.

Echo Firearm Refinishing: Hasn't responded to my email (though I only mailed a few days ago and could wait until Monday.)

Does anyone have any experience with either of these shops? Darin at D&B was quick and courteous in his response but I was more than a little thrown by the questionable shipping advice and a dead website is never a good sign.

Last edited by Doctor Suarez; 08-30-2015 at 4:27 PM.. Reason: typo
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  #2  
Old 08-31-2015, 7:44 AM
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Yeah I was really bummed to hear he's out of the business too after he did a really nice job on a lower receiver of mine.

Here's a thread from another cerakoter that I was going to use before I found Pete. He's in San Jose and responded pretty quick to my questions. I think he charges a tad bit more than Pete....
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  #3  
Old 09-01-2015, 5:25 PM
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Wound up going to Darin of D&B Custom Coatings in Napa. Drove it all the way up. Nice guy, very enthusiastic and friendly. Am eager to see how the ol' Kimber comes out.
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Old 09-02-2015, 9:08 PM
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I have heard mixed reviews about Darin's work. Please post review of final product. There are others I would recommend to stay away from. Seen the work. I have not seen Darin's work personally. Please let us know.

Anxiously awaiting because I have guns that need to be done.
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  #5  
Old 09-02-2015, 9:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by F-2_Challenger View Post
I have heard mixed reviews about Darin's work. Please post review of final product. There are others I would recommend to stay away from. Seen the work. I have not seen Darin's work personally. Please let us know.

Anxiously awaiting because I have guns that need to be done.
I'd be curious to hear about these no-go vendors of yours. Do you feel comfortable naming them?

What are the negatives you've heard about Darin? He's easy to work with at least. My gun needs the coating so I'm not worried about losing aesthetic value. My chief concern is that the pistol won't function as well as it did before it was detail-stripped. Prior to cerakoting it had a bit of pitting but it worked perfectly.
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Old 09-02-2015, 10:46 PM
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I had an email exchange with Pete. I am under the impression he will re-open shop once he relocates. Doesn't help if you didn't want to ship, but if you were a Pete Swanson fan it sounds like he'll still be doing gunsmith work. You'll just have to ship to him if you want him to work on it. I don't know any further details on timeline. He mentioned "in some number of months".. My guess is he needs to get settled and then re-apply for FFL, etc which will take him some time.
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Old 09-03-2015, 11:01 AM
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I've seen and heard of good results from RC Refinishing in San Jose. I've also seen them attend the Crossroads Gun Show at the Cow Palace. The work looked good, but was priced at almost double what Pete Swanson wanted. And all I wanted was to color some MagPul parts.
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  #8  
Old 09-08-2015, 6:48 PM
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I have used Anthony Riccardi at R&D Armory in Redwood City and very happy with the results: RDArmory.com
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Old 09-11-2015, 10:29 AM
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How did the Kimber come out? I have one as well, and am curious to see the work. Can you post a photo if you have it?
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  #10  
Old 09-12-2015, 4:31 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PapaDelta View Post
I have used Anthony Riccardi at R&D Armory in Redwood City and very happy with the results: RDArmory.com
Does he do the prep/bead blasting as well?
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  #11  
Old 09-12-2015, 7:50 PM
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How did the Kimber come out? I have one as well, and am curious to see the work. Can you post a photo if you have it?
Still in the shop. SHOULD be done in the next four days or so, but I imagine it'll be a little late. I will post pics here and on my instagram (@gungeekonthedl) when it's back in my mitts.
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  #12  
Old 09-12-2015, 9:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ugimports View Post
I had an email exchange with Pete. I am under the impression he will re-open shop once he relocates. Doesn't help if you didn't want to ship, but if you were a Pete Swanson fan it sounds like he'll still be doing gunsmith work. You'll just have to ship to him if you want him to work on it. I don't know any further details on timeline. He mentioned "in some number of months".. My guess is he needs to get settled and then re-apply for FFL, etc which will take him some time.
Is he locating within the state in NorCal or in driving distance? I commute into Fremont and thought he would be my guy now that the better half wanted her own in something silver for her first build...I waited a bit too long apparently... .
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Old 09-12-2015, 9:16 PM
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Does he do the prep/bead blasting as well?
not sure, perhaps you might want to call/text him at 650-288-1159. I only had him do cerakoting on a new gun that didn't require bead blasting or special prep.
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  #14  
Old 09-14-2015, 3:33 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Doctor Suarez View Post
I was just about to have my 1911 Cerakoted by the great Pete Swanson but he wrote to inform me that once he clears out his back-orders he's leaving the state! Now I'm in a bit of a pickle.

Aside from Pete, the Cerakote site lists two shops:

D&B Custom Coatings: I have been in email contact with Mr. Cravea, but there are some elements of the exchange that have given me cold feet. His website goes to a GoDaddy dead link site, and he advised me to ship my 1911 via USPS Priority, which according to the ca.gov site is expressly forbidden.

Echo Firearm Refinishing: Hasn't responded to my email (though I only mailed a few days ago and could wait until Monday.)

Does anyone have any experience with either of these shops? Darin at D&B was quick and courteous in his response but I was more than a little thrown by the questionable shipping advice and a dead website is never a good sign.
I can personally vouch for Darin at D&B Custom Coatings. He does awesome work and is most trustworthy. The reason for the dead link to the website is because of a recent change in their business model. For years, Darin, his mom Irene and dad Gene ran Darin's Gun Exchange in downtown Napa. They closed the retail operation in July and Darin now operates D&B which specializes in Cerakote and custom gunsmithing services only.

When you do contact him again, tell him John Breglia recommended you his way.

Hope all works out...

Cheers.

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  #15  
Old 09-15-2015, 11:20 AM
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I'm not sure what they charge, but I know that the guys at Spartan Rifles offers it also. I have had guns worked on/built there, but no refinishing, but have seen their work, and Victor does a great job, even compared to Pete, who's work I have had done. Their hours are sketchy since they are primarily gunsmiths, but if you are from the SJ area, they are worth a shot.


Jerry
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  #16  
Old 09-26-2015, 8:01 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PapaDelta View Post
Anthony Riccardi at R&D Armory in Redwood City: RDArmory.com
Any one know if he is a CalGun member? I would like to support a fellow C/G'er.
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  #17  
Old 10-05-2015, 2:15 PM
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Any one know if he is a CalGun member? I would like to support a fellow C/G'er.
Yes, he is. Here's his work on my Springer, graphite black on the slide & frame. I'm satisfied with the result:

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  #18  
Old 10-05-2015, 8:29 PM
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New kids on the block. Quality work from what I have seen.

http://www.thegunattic.com

Located in San Jose.
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  #19  
Old 10-13-2015, 1:22 PM
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Originally Posted by 2W2X1 View Post
New kids on the block. Quality work from what I have seen.

http://www.thegunattic.com

Located in San Jose.
I tired contacting them and got no response from a phone call or e-mail.
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  #20  
Old 11-15-2015, 1:04 PM
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Okay, finally got a chance to take the Kimber to the range, and I am very pleased with the results. Mr, Cravea did an excellent job and the gun runs incredibly smoothly. The coating is slick and perfectly matte-colored. It feels like a whole new gun and it looks much more stark and businesslike.

Here are some images:



Shown here with my new Glock 17. No gun Balkanization in my house.


Also as you can see I'm a huge Hogue fanboy.

Thanks for all your help and I would not hesitate to recommend Mr. Cravea at D&B Custom Coatings for your next cerakote job.
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  #21  
Old 11-18-2015, 7:54 AM
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Darksoul also does cerakoting.. he's in SJ as well. Great communication and all around cool guy cool.

He recently did my 1911 and it came out looking great! I did nick one of my parts, so I need to have him refinish it.

I definitely plan on bringing back more things for him to cerakote!
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  #22  
Old 12-17-2015, 10:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by haw1144 View Post
Darksoul also does cerakoting.. he's in SJ as well. Great communication and all around cool guy cool.

He recently did my 1911 and it came out looking great! I did nick one of my parts, so I need to have him refinish it.

I definitely plan on bringing back more things for him to cerakote!
Ted does great work, great guy and has reasonable rates. He has done four AR's for me so far and I want him to do my next SPR build in some kind of Kryptek typhon / camp hybrid.. Got a knife from him today that's awesome too.. Hit up Darksoul you won't regret it.
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  #23  
Old 03-01-2016, 1:02 PM
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When Pete did my 870 some time ago, he refinished the inside of the gun as a rust preventative. Does anyone else do this before cerakote in the bay area?

Jerry
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Old 06-24-2016, 9:30 AM
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Pete Swanson is still doing cerakoting. I shipped off my lower, upper, barrel, FRS-15 tube cover, 2 mag base plates, HK P2k slide and slide stop, from oakland to oregon. It was about $35 shipping. The total cost to Pete was $190 and that includes return shipping.

The turn around time from him receiving the parts was 1 week including return shipping time. He responds promptly, and the work he did was fantastic. He even pushed in my meprolight nightsights as a bonus.

Pete also does laser engraving, so I went ahead and got my info engraved as well.

His email to contact is 'peteswanson@sbcglobal.net'

I'll post more pictures of the AR build in another post, but I just wanted to let people know Pete is still around and doing great work!

[IMG][/IMG]
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Old 07-06-2016, 3:08 PM
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Have you checked out Exolutions? I believe they do Cerakote coating in the Bay Area and East Bay. Here's a link to their page if you want to check them out: http://goexo.com/site/cerakote/
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  #26  
Old 07-06-2016, 8:10 PM
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PM SAGISI . he is in San Jose. good price
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  #27  
Old 07-30-2016, 1:18 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ddasilva View Post
Have you checked out Exolutions? I believe they do Cerakote coating in the Bay Area and East Bay. Here's a link to their page if you want to check them out: http://goexo.com/site/cerakote/

Exolutions did my Sig in disruptive gray/graphite black, Mike did an awesome job. I highly recommend them.


Last edited by 9kracing; 09-29-2016 at 5:42 PM..
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  #28  
Old 08-01-2016, 10:09 AM
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I went to RC refinishing in San Jose, pretty big shop. It was a simple job, stripped raw lower cerakoted to FDE, came out real nice though and cost was in line with what I spent at Templar when they were still doing it.
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Old 08-01-2016, 10:48 AM
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Some of my work


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  #30  
Old 08-01-2016, 10:51 AM
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Old 08-01-2016, 10:52 AM
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Old 08-01-2016, 10:52 AM
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  #33  
Old 10-04-2016, 9:27 AM
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If anyone is considering going to d&b customs in Napa for cerakote I would not recommend. This was my first experience and will be my last. I'm assuming the cerakote was applied correctly, however the prep work and "tape" that was applied appears to have been done very hastily and rushed, there are uneven tape lines everywhere, one item that I requested to be media blasted to make sure an old crappy paint job was removed, was either not media blasted, or it wasn't media blasted. Overall the job looks terrible. The owner was friendly enough and very quick to return phone calls and the price was right, however, I would steer clear....pretty sure I could have done a better job with a rattle can and sandpaper.
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  #34  
Old 01-08-2018, 6:28 AM
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Just Cerakoted my AR15 at D&B customs Dec. 2017 and my exceptions was just a custom AR. That baby came out like a piece of art. Loved it. 30 days!
others have a 6 week waiting period, and have to ship out and in. And he also busy but still calls you back!
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  #35  
Old 02-09-2018, 6:37 AM
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Exolutions doesn't respond on ig or from website. Anybody have otherocal shops that do good hard coatings?
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  #36  
Old 02-19-2018, 3:04 PM
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@4rdzilla Shoot us an email at sales@goexo.com. Apologies if we missed an email or message from you!
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  #37  
Old 05-04-2018, 7:19 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wamphyri13 View Post
I've seen and heard of good results from RC Refinishing in San Jose. I've also seen them attend the Crossroads Gun Show at the Cow Palace. The work looked good, but was priced at almost double what Pete Swanson wanted. And all I wanted was to color some MagPul parts.
Ryan
This report has not changed since this was posted 3 years ago, RC Refinishing does good work, they’re just really proud of it and charge near double what others charge...


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  #38  
Old 05-21-2018, 7:26 PM
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If you guys need cerakote work done on the Penninsula, I may be able to help you out. Look me up on Instagram @Bad_Rock_Solutions
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