Cerakote Review on G23, Ruger 22/45 MkIII and Mount

[damngato]

Looks great! Thanks for sharing

[LOW2000]

Just one correction ...... the surface is not bead blasted it is sand blasted with 120 grit aluminum oxide .....

If we're going to play the minutia game, it's media blasting. Sand blasting is a media, aluminum oxide is a media, plastic beads are a media, soda is a media, walnut shells are a media.

[Thunder Spud]

Stupid Question Alert:

First, AWESOME WORK - VERY PRO!

Don't you have to oven the Cerakote? So how does the Plastic/Polymer on the grips hold up in those temps?

[Gunsmith Dan]

LOW2000

Are you serious???? Bead blasting hammers the surface while aluminum oxide cuts into the surface, that is a big difference because bead blasting to slow or for to long in one spot will not remove material.

Thats like saying using 120 grit sand paper or polishing wax on your car's paint job will get the same result, because they both are surface finishing materials?????????????????????

Thunder Spud

There is air cure and oven cure Cerakote, oven cure being more durable. Plastics are fine because you oven cure plastics around 170 degrees while metal is oven cured around 250 degrees. You also sand blast the plastics but at half the pressure than metal otherwise you will put holes into your frame.

[Foebia]

WOW,very nice.

[Foebia]

WOW,very nice.

[LOW2000]

LOW2000

Are you serious???? Bead blasting hammers the surface while aluminum oxide cuts into the surface, that is a big difference because bead blasting to slow or for to long in one spot will not remove material.

Thats like saying using 120 grit sand paper or polishing wax on your car's paint job will get the same result, because they both are surface finishing materials?????????????????????

Yes, since we're getting into a stupid internet argument over this...

You said it was "sand blasted" with aluminum oxide, like that is somehow different than "sand blasting" with glass beads. Guess what media you use when sand blasting? Thats right, sand. "Sandblasting" is sometimes just used as a colloquial term for abrasive blasting. The only thing that matters is the relative abrasiveness of the media vs the item being blasted unless you're talking about how much you are peening the object.

And yes, polish on a car IS the same, it is just a finer grit than sandpaper sometimes. If you're talking about a "polishing wax" then it is a wax with embedded grit, and it absolutely is removing material from the finished surface. There are polishes that are 1500 grit, and sandpapers that are 3000 grit, but whether you think you can see a difference or not, they ARE removing material from the paint/clearcoat.

Either way, you're trying to poke at the semantics of what he said, but are introducing the same issues with the terminology you're using.

[jfifer]

This got reals stupid reals quick. Them paintjobs be purty.

[Gunsmith Dan]

Yea I have to agree the arguement is getting stupid, another wiki expert trying to make himself look smarter by coping and pasting wiki gibberish than the person who does it for a living.

the term "sand blasting" is used when a sand type material (material that has a uniform flat, triangular or even squared apearance and has a crystaline structure) which is designed to cut into a surface and remove material.

The term "grit blasting" is used for any material that has been ground up into irregual shapes. Grit blasting material maybe anything from walnut to steel but is designed to be as aggressive cutting as possible for that particular material.

The term "bead blasting" is use for any material, except for steel, that has a round shape which is designed to peen or hammer the surface and NOT remove material.

The term "shot peening" or "shot blasting" is used for steel with a round shpae, like shotgun shot, which is designed to hammer or peen the surface and not remove material.

SO while the term "media blasting" does apply to all of the above it does not make all the processes the same. Reading incorrect postings in Wikipedia does not make anyone a expert in the field.

In fact the ONLY thing that is the same in all processes is that a gas ( air or other gasses mixed or single gas) is used to propel the media being used.

Hell Low2000 did not even read my post just quote it and post wiki jibberish.

Gunsmith Dan said:

Thats like saying using 120 grit sand paper or polishing wax on your car's paint job will get the same result, because they both are surface finishing materials?????????????????????

LOW2000 said:

And yes, polish on a car IS the same, it is just a finer grit than sandpaper sometimes

Anyone who thinks 120 grit sand paper will get you the same result as using a polishing wax definately knows nothing about the subject at all, just what they copy and paste from Wikipedia.


anyways besides what the wiki gibberish expert posted:

The manufacturer of Cerakote specificallys states not to bead blast the surface and to specifically use 100 to 120 Aluminum Oxide or Garnet and not any other type.

That is because a certain surface profile is needed for maximum adhesion of Cerakote.

[KrisDSA]

So I had a few parts Cerakote (pronounced Sara-Coat) and am very pleased.

First used Justintyme (http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s...d.php?t=493915) and he was very friendly and willing to talk and meet up locally (Orange County).
He also does Duracoat but after a few discussions, we agreed the Cerakote would provide the most durable finish.

I had my Glock 23, Ruger MKIII 22/45 and my American Defense mount all Cerakote'd. I chose the cerakote because of the durability and process.

Apparently, the parts were all Degreased, Bead Blasted, Sprayed (activator and multiple coats in higher used areas and taped) and finally baked (oven cured).

I am not an expert in the process but can tell you the coating looks amazing.

It is hard to tell you the parts were even painted.

Here are some of the pictures...
Parts being prep'd


Finished parts...



Apparently, Cerakote made a special color in conjunction with Magpul to match the FDE (Tan) color... it was spot on, very close.
Here is the color match next to my FDE Magpul Stock



I was affraid the parts would look "painted" but they look like they were anodized or a ejected into the polymer.

Magazines still drop freely from the mag wells and there were no problems assembeling the gun (tolerances were fine)

The price was very reasonable for the amount of parts I had done and the turn around time was one week.

(see next Post)

wback from the dead... So how are the guns holding up ?

[kcstott]

Wow that looks really good. I've been thinking about getting one of my pistols Cerakoted but I'm not sure where was the best place to take it to. One thing I had reservations about was that I didn't want the surface to have an orange peel-like texture like in this vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqF43SwwuvA

I want a smooth OEM quality finish. Your Glock frame looks like it came that way from the factory.

That's all on how the coating is applied, a good painter knows how to manipulate the spray and produce varying textures