Polishing a slide or frame.

[Guest Boogieman]

I just got finished cleaning my Chiappa 1911-22 and noticed that some of the finish was fading and in spots coming off of the base metal. I havent had my Dremel out in a while and was thinking of maybe doing a nice polish job since the finish is crapping out anyway. Is there something I will need to coat it in after I polish it or will it be ok as long as I keep it protected from water/moisture? I would also like to keep some of the parts in original blue. I'd like to go over them again to even out the finish. Is there something I can do for this at home? I dont want to spend half what I paid for the gun to get it refinished professionally and I am confident that I could do something like this at home. Any ideas?

[towerclimber37]

You can buy the durakote to go on it..it's pretty much a question of studying up on it and then painting it and putting it in the oven for a few hours.

you'll also want to buy the stuff to clean the metal with before you paint it.

[Guest Boogieman]

I think I am going to leave the slide alone and perhaps polish some of the other parts (Barrel, hammer, trigger). The spots on the slide and frame I think I will get some of Brownells Oxpho-blue creme to touch them up with. I got a look at some modifications someone did to their 1911-22 and it looks great.

[Guest Boogieman]

Ok so I broke everything down, took all of my small exterior parts (slide stop, safety, plunger tube, etc) and sanded the finish off of them. I tried some turtle wax metal polish but I cant seem to get a nice bright polish on them. The visable parts of the barrel and the sides of the chamber shined up pretty well with what I was using but the smaller parts still look a bit dull. Is there a polish that works better on gun parts? I'll post some pics when I get everything cleaned and polished as well as I can get it.

[strickj]

Metal polish will not work.

You will need to get some jewelers rouge and a buffer.

(You can get a cheap buffer from Advance for 10-15 bucks.)

Below are some crap cell pics

If you don't wish to have a mirrored finish then just pay attention and stop buffing once you reach the desired level of polish

[Guest Boogieman]

Metal polish will not work.

You will need to get some jewelers rouge and a buffer.

(You can get a cheap buffer from Advance for 10-15 bucks.)

Below are some crap cell pics

If you don't wish to have a mirrored finish then just pay attention and stop buffing once you reach the desired level of polish

I can tell that it looks good even if the pics are crappy. Is there an attachment for a Dremel that I could use instead of a buffer? I have a few buffing wheels that might do the trick. I didnt do my barrel bushing because I didnt know what it would look like. I think I'll do the bushing as well since yours looks so good. Thanks for the advice.

[strickj]

Sure, you can use a Dremel with one of the polishing wheels.

It'll just take longer to do.

Found another larger pic of it

(just like rims, the mirror finish fades away when dirty)

Edited June 7, 2010 by strickj

[peejman]

Be careful when polishing large, moving surfaces with a dremel. It's possible to end up with a bright, shiny surface that isn't flat. Using a stone to to the bulk of the work and keep the surface flat. Only use the dremel for the "final polish".

[jtluttrell]

Polished Barrel Bushing = Awesome

[Dolomite_supafly]

The ones I looked at appeared to have the slide made out of something other than steel. If they are not steel then you will not be able to reblue them. If they are aluminum then you could use Aluminum Black but that isn't very durable or leave it polished but then you would need something to keep it from oxidizing.

Duracoat is a decent coating. I have used Brownells Gunkote in the aerosol can with great success. It also wears really well.

Dolomite

[Guest Boogieman]

I got everything cleaned and lubed up. Here's some pics of the work I've done. I am happy with the polish job for now and when I get a chance I'm going to get some of thet Jewelers Rouge and really get it shined up.

The first one is the before pic.

[LA_357SIG]

For polishing and buffing work I would not recommend using a dremel. It is way too fast even on its lowest setting. A better option would be a buffing wheel and a drill (arbor?).

Mibro #6 is the easiest to find and use. Got it @ Lowes.