Feat of the Week: Custom Cerakote
In this week’s blog, we are featuring four amazing custom Cerakote jobs from the past month. We went light on the word count this week because these pictures are definitely worth more than a thousands words. So let’s get started!
Custom Calavera
Make: Sharps bros
Model: The Jack
Finish: Custom cerakote design by the McCluskey Arms Company
The Story
Customer’s Specific Calavera Design
This project was super special and important to the customer. He brought a specific calavera design to us and wanted it painted onto his Jack lower. It was a project that he had been wanting to do for a long time. Our goal was to get as close to the original drawing as possible—everything from the flowers to the colors and the gums on the teeth.
A calavera is also known as a sugar skull. These are used either as a decoration or edible candy during the celebration of the Day of the Dead or Día de los Muertos. The calaveras are placed on an altar as an offering (ofrenda) to their loved ones who have died so they can come home to enjoy the sweet ofrenda.
Unfinished Calavera with some paint and stencils
This sugar skull took us six hours to design and plan. First, we used a pencil to draw onto the receiver where each stencil would go. Then, we cut the stencils and put them in place. Once we had laid out the stenciling, we began planning the colors. This sugar skull has eleven colors—three of which were custom mixed—and eleven coats of paint. The painting itself took hours and hours. While the stenciling formed the shapes, we airbrushed the shading and freehanded the finer details of this piece.
This is by far the coolest, most complicated, and intricate custom Cerakote job we’ve ever done. The customer was extremely happy with the results and said he would be bringing another custom project soon. We are so grateful that he trusted us to complete a project so important to him. We look forward to doing more of these custom Cerakote jobs for him and hopefully others!
High Quality Photos by @541Outdoors
Breast Cancer Warrior
Make/Model: Glock 43X
Caliber: 9mm
Finish: Custom cerakote Design by the McCluskey Arms Company
ThE story
This is another custom Cerakote project that was personal and special to the customer. He got this Cancer Warrior Cerakote design as a gift for his wife who had survived breast cancer. Though we enjoy all of our Cerakote jobs, it’s extremely rewarding to create something that is so important to our customers.
We love the simplicity of this project—the pink slide and magazine accent the ribbon on the grip beautifully while allowing the wings to be the centerpiece. The wings represent those they knew who had died from breast cancer. While the stencils formed the shape for both the ribbon and the wings, we airbrushed the shading and color accents.
Snow Camo AK
Make/Model: Arsenal SLR-107
Caliber: 7.62x39mm
Finish: Four color snow camo by The McCluskey Arms Company
The Story
During the Second World War, armies began using snow camouflage more widely. For example, the German Waffen-SS used reversible uniforms which included snow camo on one side for winter warfare—too bad it wasn’t enough to help them win the Eastern Front. The Russians took it a step further. They painted their tanks in snow camo—using white paint on two-thirds of the vehicle to blend in with the winter background. Other armies that didn’t have access to production-level snow camo used white linens instead.
Despite living in the deep greenery of the Willamette Valley, this customer (and one of our friends) wanted snow camo on his AK. He had seen it in a video game and absolutely loved the look. While he’s aware that this custom Cerakote job will make him stand out more than blend in, he couldn’t be more pleased with the new look on his AK. He was grinning from ear to ear when we gave his gun back.
Riveted Shockwave
Make/Model: MOssberg 590 Shockwave
Caliber: 12g
Finish: custom cerakote Design by The McCluskey Arms Company
The Story
This custom Cerakote job wasn’t for a customer. While we don’t do much retail at McCluskey Arms, we do carry some guns in stock. In order to showcase what services we offer, we customize these guns in various ways—whether it’s an RMR cut, machining, or Cerakote.
This Shockwave is one of our inventory guns which is for sale and on display in our shop. When we bought this Shockwave, it came to us with a factory black paint job. We wanted to spice it up and make it a McCluskey Arms gun.
In the same week we painted this Shockwave, we were installing a custom painted door in our showroom. We wanted this door to have an industrial aesthetic. Our goal was to turn a wooden door into what looked like a riveted steel door.
First, we painted a grey basecoat and stenciled the lines onto the door with painter’s tape. These lines would later help create the appearance of steel panels. Then, we used black paint to manufacture a weathered look. After laying the groundwork for the project, we began designing the rivet and logo stencils. Once they were cut, we placed the stencils along the panel lines. Finally, using the stencils, we painted on the logo and each individual rivet. Every single rivet on this door was hand-shaded to make them look real.
We absolutely loved the final product and decided to use the remaining stencils to Cerakote the Shockwave. With a design that matches our showroom door, this shotgun is the perfect McCluskey Arms display gun.
Next Up
We hope you enjoyed this week’s blog. Thank you for following along! New feats are posted every Monday at 9am PST. Comment with any gunsmithing or Cerakote content you want to see!
If you loved the services you saw today, check out our online store! You can start shopping by clicking here. Or drop us a message here. We look forward to meeting you and gunsmithing for you.
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Sources:
https://www.military.com/equipment/marine-snow-camouflage-uniform
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_camouflage#Military_usage