forty5cal1911 Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 15 hours ago, cbrussell said: I am liking the looks of the LSI grip. What are people coating their grips with? Anodizing, hard chrome, DLC? Any thoughts on the color? Or just leave it as stainless steel? I've seen a lot of DLC/PVD and cerakote it seems. Also looks like some just leaving it raw. Anodizing is only for aluminum or titanium and wouldn't apply to a steel grip. I've been evaluating what I'm going to do with mine and it occurred to me that I had a product I had used on some wheels for one of my vehicles. This product is called 22PLE and is a "glass coating" that bonds to the wheels surface and protects from corrosion and make brake dust cleanup a breeze. My experience with that was that it worked VERY well as advertised, though not particularly cheap. These "glass coatings / nano coatings / ceramic coatings" got me wanting to do some research on how they work. So I read several scholarly studies on SiO2 treatment on steel for corrosion resistance and wow the studies do show that these coating can significantly reduce the amount of corrosion on steel surfaces. All of that to say I went to the garage and rummaged through my detailing stuff and found my bottle of 22PLE VM1. Opened it up.... and lo and behold the cap was broken and it was hard as a rock in the container. So I'm opting to stay with the steel finish but will be coating with Gtechniq C5. I'll be interested to see how durable it will be with the constant friction but it should offer quite an increase in corrosion resistance. I may start a separate thread on this. Here's a link to a paper on SiO2 treatment on mild steel SiO2 nanocomposite coatings for corrosion resistance Here's a link to a general about SiO2 coatings http://www.cori-coatings.be/ceramic-coating/ Keep in mind these products are primarily used in the automotive market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cbrussell Posted April 9, 2020 Share Posted April 9, 2020 That is extremely interesting information. I would like to follow your progress. Thanks for the information regarding anodizing. I was thinking along the lines of DLC as well. I need to research what DLC colors are available. May just leave it stainless as is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike21STI Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 Black nitride is a solid finish that isn't a "coating" but a chemical process to the steel. If you are looking for a durable black color finish this would work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
echotango Posted April 10, 2020 Share Posted April 10, 2020 I have 3 steel grips (and guns) with black nitride. Happy with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossOut Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 (edited) I just ordered a LSI grip from Glenn, said his current lead times are about 2 weeks. I opted to send my gun in for fitting, install, and blending. +$125 extra. He's letting me send it in a few days before he starts my order to shorten out of hand time. After i get it back I'll be sending it to SAS customs for DLC coating on all parts. ($180 w/ 2-3 week turn around). Glen said that he air brushes cerakote to cover any blems made from blending if any. He said you generally can't tell that he did it but if i can tell, I'll might send the frame in for refinishing as well. I'm told he does amazing work so I'm not too worried about it. My gun currently has the extreme innovations plastic grip. It feels alright. No weight to it. Biggest down side is that after a couple thousand rounds the grip has lost a lot of grippyness. When my hands are slightly damp the grip definitely slips so this will be a well welcomed upgrade. i did a little homework and felt a few grips before ordering, PT evo, cheely, svi, and limcat. Of all of them i liked the contours of the pt and limcat the most. Limcat texture fell short, i hate the cheely look. SVI was nice but not as nice as the evo in terms of feel. I'm honestly going into the LSI blind but from word of mouth it sounds like an improvement from the pt evo. I got high hopes. Edited May 21, 2020 by CrossOut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeBurgess Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 On 4/9/2020 at 5:09 AM, forty5cal1911 said: I've seen a lot of DLC/PVD and cerakote it seems. Also looks like some just leaving it raw. Anodizing is only for aluminum or titanium and wouldn't apply to a steel grip. I've been evaluating what I'm going to do with mine and it occurred to me that I had a product I had used on some wheels for one of my vehicles. This product is called 22PLE and is a "glass coating" that bonds to the wheels surface and protects from corrosion and make brake dust cleanup a breeze. My experience with that was that it worked VERY well as advertised, though not particularly cheap. These "glass coatings / nano coatings / ceramic coatings" got me wanting to do some research on how they work. So I read several scholarly studies on SiO2 treatment on steel for corrosion resistance and wow the studies do show that these coating can significantly reduce the amount of corrosion on steel surfaces. All of that to say I went to the garage and rummaged through my detailing stuff and found my bottle of 22PLE VM1. Opened it up.... and lo and behold the cap was broken and it was hard as a rock in the container. So I'm opting to stay with the steel finish but will be coating with Gtechniq C5. I'll be interested to see how durable it will be with the constant friction but it should offer quite an increase in corrosion resistance. I may start a separate thread on this. Here's a link to a paper on SiO2 treatment on mild steel SiO2 nanocomposite coatings for corrosion resistance Here's a link to a general about SiO2 coatings http://www.cori-coatings.be/ceramic-coating/ Keep in mind these products are primarily used in the automotive market. I would be concerned that these products would be removed by cleaning solvents used on guns, most finishing products that are not catalyzed or baked have that problem. Also the grip is stainless,so how much corrosion are you expecting to prevent? I understand that stainless is not rust proof but short of abuse and neglect it seems to work pretty well for guns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrossOut Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 (edited) 1st, Those ceramic coatings are technically a polymerization reaction so *some* may hold up to mild solvents. But most will be susceptible to solvents. Acetone or mineral spirits can easily strip most them... 2nd sio2 is a hydro phobic and oileophobic coating. Meaning it will try to repel water and oil making it slippery. It may be easier to keep clean using soap and water but might not have many benefits beyond that. 3rd application for most of these user a wipe on/ wipe off method. Not something easily done with most preferred grip textures. And trust me, if you don't do a good job, the finish it will look like ass. 4th, these automotive coatings offer nothing for abrasion resistance and probably won't do a whole lot for corrosion resistance on your grip. These coatings are generally applied to a car once a year or two to keep it looking good. They advertise once every 6 years but that's horse s#!t. And that's on a vehicle that you are taking good care of using mild soap to clean and keeping it the garage. If you are interested in keeping your grips natural finish i suggest cerakote clear coat. They have both gloss and matte finishes and will work on any material. Otherwise you can look into a wide range of PVD coatings which you may find one that matches the color your are looking for. Additionally, they offer far more protection and resistance than si02 ever will... Check out SAS tactical as they offer a wide range of PVD coatings in different finishes.. PVD America also offers a large selection of pvd flavors and they have a gun finishing price list. Edited May 21, 2020 by CrossOut Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forty5cal1911 Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 (edited) The thought entered my mind on those coatings because I had some laying around or so I thought. I have not ended up doing this because on further consideration I decided I didn't want the shine that would bring to the grip finish. Really the big thing for me was the ease of cleaning but I've had to clean this grip a couple of times after matches and it's not bad at all. As you stated the Si02 coating will not be very durable in this application due to friction/abrasion and various solvents. I'm opting to keep it in the bead blast finish for the time being and I re-blasted my thumb safety to match the grip. Edited May 22, 2020 by forty5cal1911 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forty5cal1911 Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 21 hours ago, CrossOut said: I'm honestly going into the LSI blind but from word of mouth it sounds like an improvement from the pt evo. I got high hopes. You won't be disappointed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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