Help me decide (please read before voting)

[Honeybee]

Tenifer, Isonite QPQ, and Melonite are all different names for the same metal treatment process called Ferritic nitrocarburizing.
As all of you who own and carry Glocks know this finish does show wear after time, it is after all only 3 microns thick (0.0003 inches) but until this layer is worn off it is the toughest most corrosive resistant treatment that can be done to a gun.
It can be used on bead blasted metal to make a dull finish like on a glock or on polished metal to make a glossier finish similar to a hot dip blue.
I want to specify that this is a metal treatment and not an applied finish because I read all the time about people wanting to send off their guns to have the finish “applied” to their gun. Most gun owners know that a hot dip blue is a treatment. In fact the treatment is dipping the guns parts into molten salts that are heavy with nitrates and Nitrocarburizing is dipping the guns parts into molten salts that are heavy with nitrogen and carbon. (Cyanide is the primary nitrate salt, so not a process for amateurs.)
The down size to the process is the high cost of equipment and supplies, this would make the average cost of nitrocarburizing a gun $200 to $300 where as a hot dip blue can be cost as little as $130 to $150.
What input I am looking for is whether or not you the shooting community believe that there are enough customers who would pay the extra cost for this finish that I should invest in the equipment and supplies to offer this service.

 

[dieseltech09]

As all of you who own and carry Glocks know this finish does show wear after time,

I thought the black was a top coat over the Tenifer and that most slide wear never gets through the Tenifer coating?

And for $300 you can go with IonBond

 

[redneck1861]

I really don't think you would get enough business to invest a large amount of money into it.


Because if it will cost around $300 to do a single pistol such as a Glock, I think that most people would rather just spend a little more and buy a whole new gun.

Just my $.02

 

[Honeybee]

I thought the black was a top coat over the Tenifer and that most slide wear never gets through the Tenifer coating?

No it is not a top coat, a gun that is nitrated can be parkerized but even that is not a top coat. You can wear through the nitrated surface.

 

[beast1989]

leave this battle up to another warrior partner the reason why.

Because even when businesses seem 100% fail proof and full of future riches they fail 95% of the time. If you are skeptical going into a business venture/hobby due to the demand of such services it just spells trouble.

 

[Glocktogo]

I gotta admit, if I'm spending that much, I'm gonna go with IonBond.

 

[Honeybee]

leave this battle up to another warrior partner the reason why.

Because even when businesses seem 100% fail proof and full of future riches they fail 95% of the time. If you are skeptical going into a business venture/hobby due to the demand of such services it just spells trouble.

This is not a hobby, I do this for a living and have been self employed for more than 20 years now. I posted this poll because I have found that this community is a fair example of the shooting public.

Thank you for your concerns but I do custom finish work for a large geographic area and do not rely on these forums to support me.

 

[Shadowrider]

Honeybee, you are correct in your description on the process. But there are a whole bunch of variables to it. For instance the process across the board will give you a nitrided surface that's .0002" all the way to .0012" in depth. Glock claims that they're process gets them .05mm thickness which equates to almost .002". That's quite a bit more depth than the industry standard. This tells me that they are using their own (or their vendors) proprietary version of this process. The actual physical properties are going to vary from part to part. It all depends on the metallurgy of the base steel, the geometry of the part, the temps, the time at temps, the quench(s) and the the chemical makeup of the salts. What I'm saying is that if you process a plain blue steel Colt 1911 slide and then you process an equivalent Kimber 1911 slide you may get two completely different results. Now the actual surface hardness may very well be very similar in hardness but the thickness likely will be differnt and it has a direct correlation to the ultimate corrosion resistance obtained and obviously how long it takes to wear through it.

After all of this you will have to decide on what you are going to provide for the coating and whether it's part of the nitriding process, or something done after. The three processes you name all do different things in their process.

It's a very good process and I would consider it depending on the application. It's very hard, gives good corrosion resistance and has a good depth most of the time.

If you want to do some more reading go here http://www.finishing.com and search away. You will see that there are about a million variances on this basic process and almost as many places to get it done. Just find a place that can ferritic nitrocarburize per AMS2753. I would suggest from a pure business point of view that you find one of these multitude of processors already doing it, and contract it to them. The capital expense of the equipment and the chemicals, their handling, disposal, etc., etc. would not be worth it to me. It's not new, it's been around for years and years, it's just fairly new to the firearms industry. It's also called Tuftride, Nu-Tride, Kolene and a bunch of other names in addition to the ones you list.

More light reading if you want to:
Snooze material

 

[PFXD 45]

Honeybee I am sorry if this is not what you looking for comment wise...


But When it comes to finishing my weapons I am always willing to shell out the money if it is the better way to do it... Sorry man I dont understand the differences in them, but when it comes to my money and my weapons I want the best only always... So if this helps...Cool... If not sorry...

 

[vvvvvvv]

If I was going to add that service, I would try to figure out a way to bring that price a little lower. After all, ion bond or even a new pistol isn't that much more expensive. Of course, you could sell it on superior service and attention to detail, but even then you're talking about a very small niche.

I don't know what kind of risk you're positioned to be able to take, but I see it as too high of a risk for me personally.