[fred cook]

Art,

Look at it this way. You didn't fail, you just found one way to NOT parkerize metal! When Thomas Edison was trying to build a working lightbulb, he tried over 2000 different materials for the filament. When asked if he was discouraged over his failures, he said "I haven't failed, I just have found 2,000 things that won't work as a filament". So, why not try this...... take one part and go thru the process again, this time use a swimming pool test strip to check the Ph of the water. If the process still doesn't work properly, then you have eliminated one possible error. Work thru the process in this manner and at some point you will find the thing that went wrong and will then know how to parkerize metal parts for the future. Remember, perserverance is more important than just about anything else you can name! Good luck!