Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing Cerakote removal?

A fellow has a Husky 1600 in the classifieds...is it a big job to remove the cerakote?

Bead blast and reblue is the easiest way I’ve found.

Holy schidt...I was hoping for some magic solvent salsa...brush on,,,scrub off.

Pretty sure it's a blast job. If it was put on correctly it's pretty durable.

It's not clear that the coating on the rifle in that ad was professionally applied. So this might not be true. But based on discussions I had with Ahlman's about a different rifle, blasting is the only way.

I've tried to sand it off before. It wore my sandpaper.

If the toughest grade of Cerakote is "installed" incorrectly, without baking, as it apparently often is by people who assume it just needs to be sprayed on, then it comes off as easily as, well, average spray paint.

If the toughest grade is installed correctly it's extremely hard to remove.

About anything in a blast cabinet will make short work of Cerakote and most any other layed on surface finish.

We use alum oxide as the media and properly applied Ceracoat is very easy to remove.

More durable treatments like TiAlN or DLC take much more effort as it penetrates the substrate and you have to remove below the orignial substrate.

Cerakote is just a built up layer on the the surface and anything in a blast cabinet will remove it quicky.

Thanks guys, I think I will look for a Husky with blue and a wooden handle.

The problem you'll have is that it's blasted with 100-120 grit aluminum oxide. Bluing needs to be finished with much finer media. No chemical will remove Cerakote once cured. I've been using it for over 15 years.

I have found Ceracote more of a joke than anything else. A rifle with Ceracote applied by a highly regarded smith had spots worn through it on a short Kodiak bear hunt... just from rubbing on the raft tubes.

Do you also use GunKote products John? If so, thoughts? TIA.

I've found Brownell's "Aluma-Hyde" to be about the same. The crown and bolt handle of one of my hunting rifles are worn to the steel, and that's just from the time it's spent riding in a case.

Art,

If I received $100 for every time I've heard something like: "A rifle with Ceracote applied by a highly regarded smith had spots worn through it on a short Kodiak bear hunt... just from rubbing on the raft tubes" I'd be able to buy a very nice custom rifle.

Since 2006 Eileen and I have owned five rifles finished in Cerakote. Three were built by what was then Serengeti Rifles in Kalispell, and is now Kilimanjaro Rifles. which out-sourced the application. We still have two of them, my 9.3x62 and Eileen's .308, and there almost no wear on the coating, even though both rifles have been hunted quite a bit in various parts of North America and Africa.

I also had a custom .338 Winchester Magnum Cerakoted by a Cerakote-trained and certified company around that time, and its finish was in similar shape when I sold it a couple years ago.

Sold one of the Serengeti rifles to Reverend Mike a few years ago, a 7x57, and he reports the Cerakote is still in good shape. I have some photos the rifle taken from the first animal I got with it, an Alberta moose in 2006, to a number African animals taken during seven weeks of cull hunting in South Africa in 2007 and 2008--along with a studio shot of the rifle I took for an article in 2014. May post them here later--or in "Ask the Gunwriters"--along with a photo of the ONLY wear on the Cerakote of my 9.3x62, a few tiny dings on the trigger guard.

The most recent rifle is a Weatherby Vanguard First Lite 6.5 Creedmoor I acquired early last year in a package deal. It was Cerakoted by Weatherby, and so far the only difference I can tell in the coating is on the bolt handle--which is slightly less "matte" than when the rifle was new, after firing over 100 rounds for various projects.

Weatherby is NOT the only American firearms company that uses Cerakoting on their products, either as a standard or custom finish. Among the others are Barrett, Colt, Mossberg, Savage and Winchester, and I sincerely doubt that if the finish wore as easily many people have described that they'd still be using Cerakote.

The fact of the matter is that many "gunsmiths," highly regarded or otherwise, don't understand how to install Cerakote, and apparently don't bother to learn. As a result it doesn't stick, in the worst instances not working even as well as Krylon.

Am also going to do a detailed article on the subject soon, simply because there is is so much misinformation about Cerakote, mostly due to incorrect application.

John, I understand what you are saying, but my experience has been much worse. The main rifle I am mentioning was done by a smith very frequently touted here as one that knows what he is doing and does many. The owner posts here and there were three of us on a Kodiak trip. Everyone saw the damage.

In my personal experience I have three done by supposedly qualified applicators. One is good, one horrible and the other shows some wear with not much use. I have seen quite a few with very mixed outcomes.

Art,

Thanks for you response--but out experience has been 5-for-5 since 2006 to 2022.

Which is partly why I'm doing an article on the subject. Thanks for you info--would you mind if I quote some of your post?

John

MD,


Shaking & Shelf life can also be an issue…. (Beyond someone short cutting blasting, soaking, and gassing the metal first that is)

I moved to a lab stirrer before I started doing it for real because shaking the stuff my hand is a real PIA…
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01F34Y7VK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I put the magnetic pills in the bottles and let them stir for way longer than they need to be agitated… (generally 30 minutes to an hour) it’s not problem to do that with this system.



NIC (owns cerakote) did came up with a air powered shaker in the last year or so…
They show it and the “shaking issue’” on this link

https://www.cerakote.com/resources/...tating-cerakote-fully-before-application

The metal based coating separate the fastest, and if they get near the end of there shelf life they don’t mix as readily, the settled stuff can clump a bit so it takes longer to smooth out, and it separate faster as well. I learned that before I started doing it for real, because I bought some training stuff, and experimented for over a year before doing it for anyone. That first batch started acting up with time.. so I decided fresh coatings are part of the game.

So - as stated, I always work with fresh coating fluid because of that
- I just buy small bottles so I don’t have it sitting around… and I get them DIRECTLY from NIC.. vs a supplier that may have had them laying around for months… and then I date the jars… I just throw the stirrer pills in the bottle before I use the solution, and out with it when I’m done.

I’ve also noticed that the hardener changes color over time if you happen to keep it - but Like I said… it’s always best to order just what you need unless you are a mass volume guy.

Spotshooter,

Thanks very much for the information!

That sounds very much why some major firearms companies seem to pretty successful with Cerakote: They probably go through a lot and are using "fresher" mix.

Would you mind if I contacted you again later?

John

John,

Sure.. If you want me to do any application variant experimentation let me know, i haven’t skipped steps or altered from the path they give.
NIC customer service is great, they will answer any question you give them. Or at least so far they do.

I do prefer the GunKote products to Cerakote.

I am not saying Cerakote is bad it's just that in side by side testing the GunKote is better.

This included suppressor coating but I have moved on to PVD treatments for Titainium and Stainless and hard coat anodize for Al as they are much more durable than any spray on coating.