Penn coatings

[JRD]

I searched but couldn't find an answer does anybody know what the older steel gears in Penns are coated With?  It almost looks like a form of parkerization more than oxidation.  In the early days I tried to smooth out gear surfaces finding bright shiny steel under the grey coating. 

[Tightlines667]

Good question?


Very well could be Parkerization

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkerizing

Maybe...

Pearlitic?  (My best guess)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearlite

Or

Nickle-coated (EN), I think this is what we see in the guts of the Silver Beach Reels?  Not likely to be used on gear sets?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroless_nickel_plating

Not likely MoS2 (Moly) since its first use as a lubricant/coating dates to WWII timeframe.

Metallurgy is not my strong suite.  Maybe Sid (our resident Chemist) can shed some electrons (light) ?

[mo65]

   If you're referring to what I think you're referring to...Sal told me a while back that is a moly coating. You mentioned trying to smooth out the gear surface and finding shiny steel underneath...I did that too. For some reason...those moly coated gears have lots of "bumps" on the surface. Trying to smooth that out is what led me to sanding off the moly coating.

[JRD]

I would take those jigmaster gears and stone the flat edges smooth and shiny then go after the teeth with polishing compound, ruined my fair share of gears I suppose.  Never achieved any measurable improvement in smoothness of gears or drag, only ruined the corrosion resistance.  That's what happens when you have too much time and too little practical experience.  But always wondered what the coating was.

[Maxed Out]

I've seen similar coatings on some older penn spool flanges. It seems almost like Teflon.....of course it may be different than what they coated the gears with.

[otghoyt]

Yup.  Just keeps them from rusting.  There is some super cool dry lubricants called Gearcoat and they also make a product called Guncoat.  They make it in colors too.  I am going to try to coat some end plates and bake it on.  We shall see........

Hoyt