Ford light blue from Eastwood

[ChestnutLouie]

I have red, White and blue powdercoat powder from Eastwood BUT only the Ford light blue color gives an even coating red and white are somewhat splotchy???
I use the same method to apply. Swirl in a #5 plastic container, bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

Blue always looks great, the other colors not so much.

Thanks
Francis

 

[CWLONGSHOT]

White is just not a super opaque color. Same for yellows and orange's. Somewhat similar with Red. Some work fine others not so much.

I have Ruby Red and that coats well.

 

[JWFilips]

I have used Ford blue! It works great! ( If you like colored cast bullets)

 

[Jeff H]

Exactly the powder @CWLONGSHOT recommended to me, when I asked directly "which powder would you recommend to a neophyte PCer to mitigate the most exasperation."

First batch came out amazingly well. Haven't had a bad, or even mediocre batch since that first run.

 

[Spindrift]

Ford, light blue is perhaps the best powder paint I have. Ford, blue is also good. Kawasaki green has worked well. Signal red (I think it’s called) is a bit more difficult to get to stick, but acceptable.

I never had any luck with gloss, white- or Chrysler orange on their own. I add some to the more easy-going powders, and the mix works very well.

 

[shuz]

Smoke's John Deere Green works very well for me with the shake and bake method.

 

[Josh]

I've had zero issues with burnt orange and john deere green using the shake and bake method

 

[Ian]

I started with powderbythepound sky blue (same color) and it was great. Tried a bunch of brands and colors and ended up settling on Kawasaki Green, more of the blue, and Eastwood super-gloss clear for all my needs.

 

[fiver]

i use pretty much grey... and mix in harbor freight red from time to time.

i just today got a pound of dark grey, i'll throw a quarter spoon full in a cup tomorrow and give it a run to see if it's dark grey or black.
now i got 2 lifetimes worth instead of just one.

 

[JWFilips]

I'm clear all the way! Doesn't hide the cast look and really coats well....without the god awful colors!

 

[Reloader762]

I've tried Eastwood, Smokes, Powder By the Pound and Columbia Coating powders. Some have worked great, some not so much and sometimes you just never know how certain powders / colors are going to coat until you try them. I don't like splotchy bullets, I know they are still coated even though the pigment doesn't flow with the base well, I'm too picky I guess.

Some of my favorites are Eastwood Popping Silver Vein, Metal Gray and Smokes Translucent Copper which is sadly no longer available due to mfg. composition changes that make it not work with the shake and bake process, but I have a couple of lbs. to burn through.



Smokes Carolina Blue



Smokes Yellow Green



Smokes Super Durable Clear or Eastwoods Super Gloss Clear just always works.

 

[RBHarter]

Y'all may talk me into this yet . Keith with the .003 over cal RB moulds and the potential for steel shot motivates me . We could sure check the speed limits of the PC with some PC BB cap types in "how much Unique does it take to get clean burn under a 00000B in a 358 Win" type loads .

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

If you have a color that doesn't cover the best. Try mixing a second color. I find it tends to coat better.

 

[JWFilips]

I love Crystal clear PC...Really dislike any colors...Yes just me!
I do PC my wife's 38 S&W's in her favorite purple!

 

[Jeff H]

Just a few notes:

• I've said that I've been using "Ford MEDIUM Blue," from Eastwood. I just went back and looked and I've actually been using LIGHT blue, and I also noticed that Eastwood calls it "Henry's," not "Ford." I swear it said "Ford" when I ordered it, but that was almost two years ago. So, I'm using Eastwood's Henry's Light Blue. Pretty much can't screw it up.
• WOW! It was $18/# when I got it the last time and it's $25/# now. That's almost 30% in just under two years. I'm sure inflation isn't bad right now.
• I think the 1# I bought will last me the rest of my life, but after reading this thread, I think I'm going to buy some of the Eastwood Super Gloss, Clear. If it works as well as the Henry's Light Blue, I'll be set. I'm not put off by the colors, especially the light blue, but I really do like the look of plain ol' cast bullets.

EDIT: Oh, and I just CANNOT do RED. Looks too much like a speed strip full of lipsticks to me.

 

[Ian]

Eastwood's Super Gloss Clear is a foolproof as it gets. A pound of that and a pound of blue are good for 20,000 bullets using the shake/pick/stand/bake method. Only problem I've had is the stuff DOES lose its mojo over time, probably moisture absorption from the jar being opened so many times. Gets to where it doesn't want to stick and leaves warts on the bullets. A fresh pack of dessicant might take care of it.

 

[Jeff H]

Eastwood's Super Gloss Clear is a foolproof as it gets. A pound of that and a pound of blue are good for 20,000 bullets using the shake/pick/stand/bake method. Only problem I've had is the stuff DOES lose its mojo over time, probably moisture absorption from the jar being opened so many times. Gets to where it doesn't want to stick and leaves warts on the bullets. A fresh pack of dessicant might take care of it.

I'm glad you shared that, Ian.

What I have now has been stored in an emptied/cleaned Accurate Arms, 1#, plastic smokeless powder "can." Further, I have been careful to not leave the can open any longer than necessary, and that's usually only when it's too cold to be humid. That can is stored in a defunct freezer which gets opened VERY infrequently to boot. I need to find little my desiccant packs and dry them. I have a little ziplock bag of them somewhere - saved from packaging for some future use. Now, I know what that use is.

I don't PC enough to use it up very fast and I HATE wasting stuff.

 

[Mitty38]

You all should know my favorite color by now. East Wood maroon, semi gloss.

 

[fiver]

the one i got yesterday is black powder and fairly fine, coats good though.[no idea who makes it, it just got here]

it cooks off to a mottled darker grey, i mixed it and the silver grey i have 50-50 and it makes a super nice semi shiny dark grey that mimics old lead bullets to a tee.
might just mix the two together completely and store a bunch of it in some 1lb. powder containers i have then wrap them in a zip lock plastic bag.
doesn't take much to keep the powder good, the one i been using for 5-6 years now is in a plastic coffee can with a thin piece of plastic under the lid.
it's shoved in a box and sits on the floor right next to the garage wall.

 

[Reloader762]

Just a few notes:

• I've said that I've been using "Ford MEDIUM Blue," from Eastwood. I just went back and looked and I've actually been using LIGHT blue, and I also noticed that Eastwood calls it "Henry's," not "Ford." I swear it said "Ford" when I ordered it, but that was almost two years ago. So, I'm using Eastwood's Henry's Light Blue. Pretty much can't screw it up.
• WOW! It was $18/# when I got it the last time and it's $25/# now. That's almost 30% in just under two years. I'm sure inflation isn't bad right now.
• I think the 1# I bought will last me the rest of my life, but after reading this thread, I think I'm going to buy some of the Eastwood Super Gloss, Clear. If it works as well as the Henry's Light Blue, I'll be set. I'm not put off by the colors, especially the light blue, but I really do like the look of plain ol' cast bullets.

EDIT: Oh, and I just CANNOT do RED. Looks too much like a speed strip full of lipsticks to me.

Eastwood Ford light blue $12 for 8 oz. or $17 lb. plus shipping https://www.eastwood.com/hotcoat-powder-ford-light-blue.html I always grab a couple extra storage bottles for powders that come in plastic bags, seem to keep the powder fresher longer https://www.eastwood.com/bottle-and-lid-replacement-set-3-pak.html

I think these bottles also are the same thread as the 1 lb. plastic powder container. I don't have one of the Lee bottle adapters to check but I know the lid on a powder bottle will fit the semi transparent containers from Eastwood. If so, you could use one of the Eastwood bottles as a powder hopper and be able to keep track of the amount of powder left in the hopper, you could also cut a hole in the top with a round hole cutter to fit one of the plastic plugs you find on the shot and powder bottles on the MEC shot shell reloading presses, that way you could dump powder into the hopper as needed or when setting up the measurer.