Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black pointers?

[Luckyoldguy]

I'm going to help a friend work on used .22 Henry she was given by her sister. It looks to me like the gun was exposed to salt water because it has some pretty significant corrosion on the receiver and some of the other aluminum parts. The blued barrel is in surprisingly good shape and I think will clean up pretty well using normal rust removal techniques. She was told to use Birchwood Casey Aluminum Black on the receiver and other aluminum parts by Henry. I have never used Aluminum Black and wonder if anyone has any pointers for the white corrosion removal, surface prep and then application. I thought I'd break my normal pattern and try to figure out how to do it right the first time instead of screwing it up first and then figuring it out. I don't have any pictures yet but if anyone thinks it will help I'll post them when I get a chance to take some.
Thanks,

This is my first time using the forum since the software updates so please let me know if I screwed something up.

 

[4651feeder]

That's interesting, I refinished one with a big scratch and was unaware of a commercial product which would produce an even coat on that zinc based receiver. I took scotch pad to my receiver only, then degreased and applied a black spray painted coating. Actually looked pretty good and I kinda figured any more effort was just lipstick on a pig.

 

[Old Bear]

I can tell you that it works pretty good IF the bare aluminum is free of corrosion. The corrosion acts like a protective barrier that will not allow the blacking formula to do its thing...which is corrode and stain the base metal.

If you think about it, bluing is a form of corrosion (black oxide) that protects the steel from a different form of corrosion (red oxide...ie RUST)

Also, it works better on 7000 series aluminum than 6000 series.

 

[4651feeder]

Aren't the Henry receivers mentioned here cast from Zamak which is less than 10% aluminum?

 

[Luckyoldguy]

Appreciate all the info so far. I’ve never heard of Zamak or that the receiver was zinc based so that’s great info. Most of my experience is with milsurps and other old guns and I had no idea.

Also good to know the importance of all corrosion off. Is there any kind of etching or something to use or just get it down to completely clean metal (if it is aluminum)?

I’ll have to check and find out who at Henry told told her to use the aluminum black. Whoever it is is sending her some other free replacement parts and she said they have been extremely helpful. However it goes will make sure to find a hidden area to test it on.

I don’t know if it makes a difference in what the receiver is made out of but it is a .22 pump that she said was made around 2002. I’ve only seen it for a few minutes and will know more when we dig into it.

Thanks again for the help. I hope it keeps coming. Off to look up Zamak.

 

[JHB]

Ceracoat should work. I stripped the paint on my Henry with break-clean it wrinkled up and came fell off.

 

[IndyIN]

It also needs to be oil/grease free.

I've touched up small parts and I poured a small amount into one of those plastic measuring cups like are used for medicine or epoxy mixing. I then used a clean applicator (a q-tip for me) each time... no double dipping.

In my opinion, prep and no oil/grease contamination are what you want to focus on.

 

[TJ Kackowski]

Unless you just want to mess around with the Birchwood Casey Aluma Black to gain experience, I'd be taking that rifle to Allen Moore at Diamond Collision and have him clean it up and put a nice new Cerakote finish on it.

 

[Luckyoldguy]

Been doing a little research and learning a lot. Haven’t personally confirmed with Henry yet but at least the side plates and probably the receiver indeed seem to be made made from Zamak. This is a interesting zinc based alloy and I had no clue how widely used it is. Dealing with the corrosion looks like it ranges from no big deal to practically impossible so now I am really looking forward to digging in and finding out how bad it is and what we can do.

As 4651feeder said this alloy has less than 10% aluminum so I was very surprised to find comments on other sites saying how well Aluminum Black worked on Zamak which makes no sense to me. At this stage I am now really interested in trying to get some experience with it and see what happens.

My gut feel is we’ll end up painting it or Cerakoating if she wants to put the time and money into it.

I definitely think we are in a ”putting lipstick on a pig project” but since it’s a gift from her sister she is pretty intent on getting it in as good shape as possible so I’ll give it everything I’ve got trying to help her out.

Again, really appreciate the input. Keep it coming.

 

[Methane Herder]

My only experience is that the finish you get the first time you apply it is as good as it gets.
If you try putting more over the first application it seems to break up the first layer some and you wind up with a mottled finish.

MH

 

[JHB]

Use bluing solution and dab it on heavy and light in spots with a Q tip you can put a faux color case pattern on it. Then a clear coat I did one years ago it came out nice.
Rimfirecentral has instructions in there Henry section.

 

[Luckyoldguy]

Sorry to take so long getting back to this. Been a long summer. First I would like to say how great Henry was about this. They sent us new parts for almost every single item we talked to them about with no hesitation and sometimes even added a few we didn't ask for just because they thought we might need them too. The only thing they couldn't send us was the receiver of course because that is officially "the gun". Made me want to go out and buy a Henry just because they were so great. Sending us all these parts almost made using the Aluminum Black pointless but we went ahead and experimented with it to see how it would turn out. There are some before and after pictures below but in a nutshell, it turned out just like all of you suggested it would. First I was surprised it worked on the Zamak at all but it sort of did. We tried it on different areas but no matter what we cleaned with, how much we cleaned or polished or tried multiple coats it came out mottled on a large surface. I think it would probably work fine for touching up small scratches or imperfections but not so great for a large area. It might work much better on real aluminum. If we had to repair the corrosion on everything, Cerakote or paint would be the way to go. Henry sent us enough new parts that the only corroded part we had to deal with was the receiver. After trying the Aluminum Black on other areas and deciding it wouldn't give us what we were looking for we decided to try polishing it which turned out pretty well all things considered. After polishing we gave it a coat of wax and so far it is holding up really well. The rest of the parts cleaned up well with lots of elbow grease and she is really pleased with the gun. Thanks for all of your input.


Before

Before


One of many Aluminum Black attempts. Maybe the best.


After (Polished receiver picked up some shadows but looks better than this.)


After. Made both my friend and her sister happy. Sorry. I forgot to take a before shot of the whole gun but it was pretty rough.

Thanks again.

 

[Mongo59]

Send it back to Henry and they will fix it or send you another, Their customer service is that good...