ltwguns.com

I noticed some smiths talking about adding material with a tig welder for some installations such as an Ed Brown grip safety when needed. My question is, do you find that the steel fill rod used has a different color after parkerizing? If this is in the wrong place I apologize. I can see that my commander is going to need this done to fill the little triangular gaps on the bottom and I wanted it to be parked.

I been wondering about that one too!

Mmm..

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Alex NossaR
www.nossargunleather.com

I've had problems with it in the past.

The problems are many, and not solvable short of a full metallurgical laboratory. The main problem is matching the filler rod alloy to the frame alloy. However, the heat changes the crystalline structure of both, so even if you start with a matching rod, the resultant melted steel will be different than the un-melted frame nearby.

The differing crystalline structure (from the differing cooling rates) will cause the steel to polish at different rates, be etched by the pickeling solution, and react to the parkerizing at different rates.

Heavy-handed welding can create a "rainbow" effect across the weld, as the whole (too-large) area undergoes varying rates of heating, cooling, and crystal formation.

The best 'smiths have a welder they don't tell anyone about, who knows his/her craft and welds with as little heat as they can get away with.

Turrican.....

as is said in the biz...."paint covers a multitude of sins".....

I would get your welds done and then park the piece...afterword have it painted with KG in a nice park matching color.

My Hi Power is still runnin' sweet after two years and quite a bit of carry and it is parked and painted.

Here it is right after we finished it.... ( KG dark olive )



It still looks awesome...though the muzzle is getting a wee bit of wear on it......but the same would happen with straight park.....

PS...this gun was welded up by the gang at Novak's who did a SPLENDID job installing the MKII sights. I do not recall any difference in the color of the steel in this instance...but even if there was I wouldn't have worried because I knew a coat of KG was in the future.

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I wanted to breathe smoke.....

You guys are spot-on, good answers.

[genuflection in the compass direction of the master of metal.]