Anybody make their own manganese parkerizing solution?
I have used the zinc parkering solution from Brownells, but now want the darker charcoal to black color. I have experience doing this and have the necessary equipoment and familar with the techniques and procedures.
A one gallon solution that makes 5 gallons from Brownells\Midwayusa is about $40at the minimum after shipping.
I am looking at the recipe found on various places using Jasco Prep and Prime (phosphoric acid) and manganese dioxide (either alakline batteries or pottery shop).
The recipe is: 1 ounce Jasco, 1 ounce manganese dioxide powder, 1 gallon of distilled water, and the steel wool biscuit.
I have also seen the same recipe varied at 2 ounces of Jasco with 2 ounces of manganese dioxide to the one gallon of water.
Anybody have first hand experience to this recipe or other homemade parkerizing solutions?
A quart of Jasco from Ace runs about $9 and the manganese would be about $5 from cheapo dollar store batteries. So the cost difference would be quite a bit comppared to the $40 variety. I would have enough materials to make many gallons in the future.