Patterns using Ceracoat

[Blackwater]

Postalpal's post on Ceracoat reminded me to post here an interesting thing a local gunsmith friend does, that might be interesting to many here. He's trained as an artist, originally, so ... naturally thinks like one, and this can be pretty neat in many ways. One of the things he's done, originally on a 10/22 Ruger HB, was to lay down a base coat of one color of ceracoat, and then takes one of those mesh sleeves that barrels often come in, lay it over the base coat, and overspray with a 2nd coat of Ceracoat. This gives kind'a a "diamondback" pattern that really looks neat, and with the right coloring, can produce a fairly decent camo pattern and color.

I thought it was neat, and it was certainly distinctive looking. What have you guys seen in a similar vein, with Ceracoat or any other type finish in creating distinctive and camo patterns?

[weaselfire]

Pictures required, or it didn't happen. :)

Duracoat does patterns far better than CeraKote, and has a lot more choices available, but either, as well as GunKote, are fine. Google will find you about a billion examples.

Jeff

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[LynC2]

The mesh barrel sleeve makes a nice pattern on polished stainless steel barrels also when bead blasted. I imagine it would work on chrome-molly barrels that were hot blued after that treatment, but I never tried that.
Lyn

[lefty o]

yes, the shaft protectors work well for a pattern. spray a base, then bomb on other colors as you see fit.

[scarry scarney]

Q: So, you put a base coat down, then spray the second/third coat as a pattern over the base, then cook? Just trying to learn the process, before I try it.

[Blackwater]

That's about it Scarry. I haven't done it myself, but a local smith has. He was trained as an artist, but learned machining and does blueprinted long range type rifles as his specialty. Neat guy and his art training has enabled him to produce some really neat camo patterns. In stuff like this, you really make your own rules as you go along, and not all work out quite like you anticipated, but each one teaches you something, and are almost always serviceable at the very least, so ... just give it a try. Wish I could give you more personal testimonials, because all these processes usually have very narrow temp. ranges to make them work just right. I found that out with Gun Kote years ago. Too hot and it flakes off. To cool and it rubs off. Just right and it's a darn good finish. The trick is getting it just right. My 'smith doesn't hang out here - way too busy for it - but I wish he was here to share his "secrets" with everyone. I'm sure others have done stuff like this too, though, which is why I posted the OP - to see who was doing it and how they were doing it. I try not to take up any more of his valuable (and scarce) time when I'm there, so just hit the tips of the ice bergs with him. Great guy and we've come to be friends, and anyone who takes up too much of a gunsmith's time quickly becomes a nuisance rather than a friend. When I catch him in a mood to talk though, we found we're very much "birds of a feather." Great guy, and does some really great work. This keeps him very busy these days. Wish I could tell you more. All I know is that all sorts of things can be used to mask off the spots you want to create your own special camo pattern. Just make sure you lay down the background first, and then spray over that with what you want to stand out. The rest is mainly up to your imagination and creativity, mostly, and the directions on the can/bottle. Wish I could post a pic, but I haven't bought any of these yet. I like blued steel more than anything, but I have a SS barrel on my .35 Whelen Ackley, and have thought about having it done in ceracoat, and if so, I'll definitely go for one of his camo patterns, and likely let him spray paint my Brown Precision stock as well. I really love that BP stock! From the first, it fit me just like I like a rifle to fit me. VERY unusual!

And as you note, a little practice on some conduit or whatever seems handy and similar to what you want to put it on, should help you greatly. And it's always advisable to do a "dry run" before working on an expensive rifle, especially if there's sentimental value in it. Good luck, and I'd love to see your work when it's done.

[lefty o]

if just a stock, tape off the bedding good, bomb on the base color, then put on shaft protector, then bomb on your additional colors. simple to do. on something like an AR i paint the basecoat on a 100% dissasembled rifle, taping off interior and other places you dont want build up. then assemble the gun add the shafting protector (rubber chinese fingers LOL) and bomb on additional colors as you see fit. dont overthink it, and it'll look OK

[Moonie]

I've done some research on how to do this, you put down a base coat then bake at a much lower temp for a short time, then the next coat, bake at lower temp, next coat, etc until the final coat, then bake at full temp for full amount of time.

This allows the use of stencils in between coats.

[Blackwater]

Thanks, Moonie. I haven't had the opportunity to ask how he does the multi-color patterns, and suspected that the low temp bake between coats were probably necessary. He sure loves doing these things. Being a pretty darn good artist, I think he mostly just likes to "express himself" in his artwork, and camo IS artwork, really. And it can be as simple or complex as someone is willing to pay for getting. The multi-coat patterns have to be more expensive because of the extra steps and longer time involved. But they sure can be impressive!