Brush polishing stainless steel

[mwink822]

I have an all matte stainless TRP and was curious as to whether there was any DIY method of polishing the flats on the slide so that they it would have the same type of appearance as the normal stainless Loaded Springfields.

[Hill]

Sure.

Get some wet/dry silicon carbide paper, the black kind, in grits of 220, 400, 600, 1000, and more if you want polished instead of brushed. For brushed 600 grit paper should be enough. Bigger number = finer finish/higher polish

Either lay the paper flat on a piece of glass and work your slide fore and aft on it, or use a hard sanding block to keep your paper flat on the piece to work progressively through the grit levels. Go slow and be careful not to rock the slide side to side or tip it off the glass at either end.

I'd recommend the glass flat down method over the handheld block method to start with. It's too easy to let a sanding block roll over an edge and round it off. Metal taken away can seldom be returned.

It shouldn't take more than 2 hours, but if you get tired or impatient take a break. It's when you start to try to speed it up that you'll make mistakes and mistakes take a LOT longer to fix than they do to make, a whole lot.

You'll make the markings look a lot better too. The practice of the manufacturer's seems to be to drop the last stages of finishing parts, the part that you'll be doing, and that leaves the markings with raised edges all over. It looks terrible, IMO.

[mwink822]

Thanks for the quick reply. Your reply does raise one other question however...How much pressure should I be using while doing this?

[Colt45guy]

I would use just slightly more pressure than the weight of the slide. It's also important to use straight back/forth motion as any change in direction is going to show as scratches in a different direction. Be sure to use water on the paper to keep it from clogging up.

[sfvet]

I agree with everything taht was said before one note that is important is to clean the metal before switching grits because if any of the previous grit is left on the metal, you will have scratches. I also like the glass surface better than the sanding block method, my self, I use a marble gravestone.

sfvet

[toolman]

The last time I read something about using this method, the writer coutioned against using the "back and forth" motion and recommended sanding in one direction only, lifting the slide (or frame), returning back to the beginning position, lowering the slide and making another pass, again using the same direction. This helps avoid little circlular shaped scratches in the finish.

[1911Art]

mwink,

Your title was brush polishing stainless steel.

I've seen the term brush finished stainless steel and I put what I thought that finish was on a stainless slide.

I tried all kinds of things that didn't work - like a wire brush on a wheel - the one I had was clearly to coarse - a sisal wheel didn't work.

After lots of experimenting what I came up with was using the black wet/dry abrasive paper starting with 220 then 320 to 400 up to 600 or 800 I had a very nice polished finish that developed micro scratches just looking at it.

I got the tip, here I think, about the red Scotchbrite pads. Those worked to get a bushed finish that I was after but I found the steel had to be polished to a "high gloss" finish first = the 600 or 800 grit paper. Then I rubbed the Scotchbrite pad one way - longwise down the slide and voila! I got a brushed finish. It holds up very well and takes 2 minutes to touch up if needed.

[mwink822]

I did my slide last night and I like the look, but I did notice that some of the glass bead blasting medium would ot come completely off. It took about three hours to go through 220, 320, 600 and 800 grits. Should I maybe take a couple passes over the slide again starting at 220 and going up to see if the rest of the bead blast medium will come up the rest of the way?

[sevenL4]

I didn't see anyone advise you to use water with your wet/dry sandpaper. I have done what you are doing and also prepped pistols for high gloss blueing using wet/dry on the flats with a piece of glass for a base surface. A couple of drops of Dawn dishwashing liquid in a gallon of water makes the job go much quicker than doing it dry. As well. it creates a slurry that makes for a finer finish. Keep a second container of water on hand to rinse the piece between paper grit changes.

[Hill]

In post #4 Colt45guy makes the point about water water. I left it with wet/dry paper because I like to leave out fluids until I want a real high polish. Saves the cleanup, and the request is for a brushed finish..

[mwink822]

I took a few more passes over my slide last night, and it's taken shape pretty well, actually what I think is the best I'm going to get it without sending it to a professional. I have a nice smooth brushed finish on all the flat surfaces of my slide, and only upon close inspection under the right light conditions can you tell that there some spots that have very faint remnants of the original matte beaded finish. I don't think I'll worry about them as I don't want to go lopping off a ton of material from the slide.

[1911Art]

mwink,
I don't think you can take off too much material by hand if you're using 400 or finer grit.
If you like what you got you're done - if you want to take off more in the future you can.
Three hours sounds about what it took me
From your post it sounds like you got to 800 grit? that should have given a fairly high gloss finish?


What was the final abrasive material you used?

[mwink822]

The highest I went was the 800 Grit. It is a reasonably glossy finish, but not exactly gangsta bling. Just what I think is a nice polished finish with some light 'brush' lines visible. I'll try to get some pics of it up. The polished flats and matted rounds/recessed surfaces on the slide look great. The frame was left completely in matte finish.

[Jolly Rogers]

Try a little maroon Scotchbrite in the low spots. Just make sure to match the pattern established by the sandpaper. Then re "brush" on the paper one more time to blend.
They will truly disappear.
Joe

[DEE DEE DEE]

SA have high and low spots
I found this out the hard way
Looks great but it would have been nice to know before hand

[mwink822]

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