How to repair dings in parkerized finish

[lental]

I'm not a very talented gunsmith.

Inevitably when I start a project, I'll wind up with a few dings in the finish of the gun I've been working on. I've only worked on blued guns but found little dings fairly easy to fix with a little steel wool and instant blue. My new RIA .38 Super with a parkerized finish is gonna have to have a new rear sight so I've got to bang the blade sight out of the dovetail. Before I start, and expecting that I may wind with a small ding or two, I'd like to know before I start, how some of you experts repair little dings and blemishes in a parkerized finish. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Len

[MtGun44]

Brownells has parkerinzing solution. It may work like cold blue, touch up with a dab on a Q-tip,
but I have NOT tried it, just an idea. Unfortunately, I think you have to buy a bunch.

Bill

[akajun]

Parkerizing solution does not work like a cold blue if fact if you wipe it on cold it will remove parkerizing and blueing as it is Phosporic acid. this is a situation that requires a lot of set up to do properly. First place masking tape of the sides of the slide, two layers. Two, a good bench vice with aluminum jaw faces. Set the slide in the vise with the base of the rear sight sticking up from the jaws. Next use a heat gun to warm up the rear sight to break any adhesive that was used at the factory. then use a lead hammer or plastic punch to drive the sight out. You can even use a lead ingot from your stash with a large hammer. Lead will not scratch the finish, but a brass hammer will work harden and do so.
If this does not work, bring it to a gunsmith.

[lental]

Today, after talking to Armscor, I'm sending the pistol to them for sighting in so I won't be repairing any dings in the parkerized finish this time. Still, I'd like to know what to do about them because eventually, even if Armscor gets this thing shooting where it's supposed to, I'll probably want to put the adjustable sight on it any way. Even then, I may ask a gunsmith to get the blade out for me. Once it's out, I likely can put the new one in without any dings.

akajun -- I've got some fairly long and narrow SKS boolits that probably would work as a punch under a 4-lb sledge. Also, could you explain how parkerizing works and if it can even be rapaired.

Thanks everybody for your comments and suggestions.

[akajun]

Its a phosphatizing process. I bead blast the item to be parkerizied to remove old finish, rust, etc, then drop the part ina 160 deg bath of parkerizing solution for 10-15 minutes, then removed and spray with oil to stop the process. I have spilled cold solution on metal before, it just removes whatever finish is on it and rusts it since it is just a phosphoric acid solution and thats what acid does to steel. If you want to touch up parkerizing, some cold blue is your best bet, but will darken the whole area and will not match.

[historicfirearms]

I've used Birchwood Casey alumablack for small touch ups on parked parts. It's close in color but it doesn't 100% eliminate the blemish, still better than nothing.

[KCSO]

Use the brownell's spray on parker finish to fix the small dings you are not going to want to re do the whole slide.