Restoring Bakelite

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So you want to restore some Bakelite mags that you got one the cheap. I wanted to as well and found a couple different methods that seemed to work well.

Preparing the mags

First thing you want to before you start is to clean the mags. Get all the loose dirt and grease off them. If there is just light dirt I recommend using a washcloth and some hand soap. If you have anything more stubborn then that you can use a very soft scrubby pad with soap, but make sure you dont use a lot of force. Your not trying to remove the surface, just get it clean of dirt and debris. If you have oil or cosmoline you might want to use your favorite methods for removing that. If just a light layer I find that hosing the mag down in contact cleaner works really well.

Now is also a good time to clean the insides of the mags out. I purchased a set of these brushed to clean my suppressors and the larger ones worked great getting inside the mag. I didn't use soap or water, just ran the brush through several times till junk stopping coming out. How far you clean it is up to you. Once you have the mag cleaned to your satisfaction make sure you let them completely dry afterwards.

  • Cloth Mop - Can be used to wipe down the insides after scrubbing it with the brushes. If you have something like a 12 Gauge mop and a pistol cleaning rod that would work as well.

Deciding the method you want to use

Wet Sandpaper + Clear coat

The most popular method seems to be the wet sanding + clear coat. This works very well, it removes all but the deepest of the blemishes and in some cases can make them look almost new but seems to have the downside of changing the color of the mag. To get started make sure you prepare the mags as stated above. Get yourself some 800 grit wet sandpaper and start by going over the mag. Make sure you use to keep the sandpaper wet in the process. I like folding it in small 2x2 squares which lets you get into the smaller areas. Using wet sandpaper has two benefits. First it keeps down on dust. You don't want to go breathing in the dust that comes off these mags. Bakelite isn't something that's very good for you. It also acts like a lube for the sandpaper since its such a fine grip it will get clogged up very fast.

After you are happy with the sanding and you get all the blems off the next step is clear coat. Since you got the mag very wet you will want to let it drop before adding any clear. Give it a solid 24 hours to make sure no moisture is present or you will have issues. Ask me how I know....

Once its completely dry I put a stick of wood in the mag so I can hold it and paint it all at once. If you find a better way of doing it then do that. I dislike hanging it as it blows around when you paint it but do whatever works for you. If you have never spray painted something before then make sure you read the directions, but for a TL;DL dont paint when its cold, high humidity, and don't do heavy coats. Following the directions on the can is the best thing I can tell you.

When you are all said and done you should have something that looks like this. You can see its a nice uniform color. Its a might lighter color but an even color. The clear makes it clean and should hold up very well. For a item list see below.

Epoxy + Clear Coat

I decided to give Epoxy a shot and see how well that works. I figured bakelite mags (which aren't really made of bakelite) is made from resin, so why wouldn't more resin be a bad thing? This leaves the mag with a more natural looking finish but still having the clear coat finish. When doing this method you want to make sure you clean the mags as stated above and let it dry before proceeding. With this method instead of sanding that top layer off to make it look clean and crisp you are going to be adding a layer of resin to the mag in the same way you would apply stain to wood. What I did was add a few dabs of resin to the mag and used a lint free cloth or one of the blue shop towels to wipe the resin in. You wont need a lot of resin to do a mag so mix up just a couple of ounces for each mag you do. So start in one spot, add a few dabs of resin, wipe it on till that area as absorbed all the resin it will, then move on to the next spot. Work in little areas at a time and work the mag over. For this, like when I cleared it, I stuck a piece of wood in the mag to hold it while I did this. After you go over the mag, let it sit so the resin can cure. For directions and work time of the resin read the directions carefully, but you will have 15 ish mins before it starts to get too gummy which is plenty of time.

When using the resin make sure you mix it very well. Pour everything in one cup, mix for 1-2 mins, pout in another cup and mix for another 1-2 mins. I used a popsicle stick to mix and dab the resin on the mag. Directions will also tell you how long it takes the resin to fully cure. I let it sit for 24 hours.

After the resin has cured you might think the mag looks worse then it did before, but we are not done yet. We still need to wetsand to get all the little marks and to make the mag smooth as glass. For this I started using 800 grit wet sandpaper and lightly sanded the surface then moved on to some micromesh to really get it smooth. Dont apply a lot pressure as you will burn through the resin. its a very thin layer. Your just trying to dress the resin layer, not remove anything. Like before when you are done, let mag dry before spraying with clear.

Once fully dry hit the mag with some clear as stated above and enjoy. When you are all said and done you should have something that looks like this. You can see how much darker the mag is vs the previous method. While you could just clear coat it I feel the resin layer really seals the surface and loose fibers better then just clear. The color difference is very noticable when you have both methods side by side. For an items list see below.

Epoxy

This method is much like the previous method only your not going to be adding a clear coat. So follow the above directions and skip the clear coat set, only difference with this one is I would skip the wet sandpaper and going straight to the micromesh. Spraying the clear will hide some of the imperfections but with the resin only method when your done your done. You could add more then one layer of resin if you wish to build it up which would look nice. The main idea behind this method is you get to keep the way the mag looks, but the resin seals the surface. When you get all said and done you should have something that looks like this. As you can see you can still see the fibers but this isn't a method to fix, but more of a repair and keep original. For an items list see below.


Whichever method you choose is up to you and it will look better then what it looked before you started the process. You can see the fibers are exposed and the mag is in real need of attention.

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