Thanks but Cerakote isn't an option.
When I had my LW Wiley Clapp Commander built I went with hard chrome for the frame. The frame had to be nickeled first to give the HC a surface to adhere to but it looks and holds up great. Of course, it only comes in silver so if your slide is blued your gun will be two tone.
Thanks, but hard chrome on Alloy means two finishes, because you can't hard chrome straight on alloy. I love HD
The having both nickel and chrome isn't an issue, they're both so thin you can't tell that the frame is coated, for example the checkering is still sharp and there's no build up anywhere, the rollmarks on the frame are still clean and perfectly legible. I've been carrying the gun since it was done, almost a year and a half, and there is no wear on the frame finish, which is the best part of hard chrome - the way it holds up. I've had guns that were HC'd in the '80s that still looked great.
Yes, aluminum can be coated with DLC. That's great stuff, too, I have two steel guns that were done by Ionbond.
Can you hard chrome aluminum?
As stated in the post above, yes. Nickel plate first, then the chrome plating.
OK, can you post a contact please?The having both nickel and chrome isn't an issue, they're both so thin you can't tell that the frame is coated, for example the checkering is still sharp and there's no build up anywhere, the rollmarks on the frame are still clean and perfectly legible. I've been carrying the gun since it was done, almost a year and a half, and there is no wear on the frame finish, which is the best part of hard chrome - the way it holds up. I've had guns that were HC'd in the '80s that still looked great.
Here is my WC before it was built-
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Here it is afterwards, you an see that the printing on the slide and the checkering are still clean and sharp, not muddled or filled in, no build up. Mahovsky's did the plating on it.
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Nice, where is ionbond please?
We used Mahovsky's for that gun, they've been around for decades, prices and turn around times are reasonable, and they had done work for me before - www.mahovskysmetalife.com/
Ionbond has facilities in NC and NH. They were the first big company doing DLC on guns so the company name is kind of synonymous with DLC, like Kleenex and tissues, even though there are other companies that do DLC on guns. For actual Ionbond you have to go through on of their agents, like Evolution Armory. Both of these guns were done by Ionbond. It's important to understand that with DLC, like bluing, how it looks in the end depends on how the metal is prepped. The polish work on the first one was done by the gunsmith that built it.
Some folks swear by Cerakote but the finishes showed holster wear on high spots and corners pretty quickly on guns I've had that were Cerakoted.
Yes on all of my builds that utilize the aluminum frame this this the most durable finish. It is a specialized finish and is much more robust that the commercial much thinner and not certified types. Aluminum Frame/Hard Anodized-MIL-A-8625F is the best finish imho for an aluminum frame. Due the due diligence and understand the differences, In the long run it is much more durable that a "mil spec type" if you will.
Damn... I’m first in line, if you ever want to sell those Giraffe bone grips!We used Mahovsky's for that gun, they've been around for decades, prices and turn around times are reasonable, and they had done work for me before - www.mahovskysmetalife.com/
Ford's will also hard chrome aluminum. I've never used them but they have an excellent reputation - https://fordsguns.com/
Ionbond has facilities in NC and NH. They were the first big company doing DLC on guns so the company name is kind of synonymous with DLC, like Kleenex and tissues, even though there are other companies that do DLC on guns. For actual Ionbond you have to go through on of their agents, like Evolution Armory. Both of these guns were done by Ionbond. It's important to understand that with DLC, like bluing, how it looks in the end depends on how the metal is prepped. The polish work on the first one was done by the gunsmith that built it.
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