Homebrew finishing?

[03RN]

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Anyway to polish the gun just enough for a satin finish? Ive seen pics online of some guns polished to a nickled looking finish which id like to avoid. The factory matte finish has never been that nice.

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Anyway to polish the gun just enough for a satin finish? Ive seen pics online of some guns polished to a nickled looking finish which id like to avoid. The factory matte finish has never been that nice.

You need to bead blast the surface to get a satin finish. It isn't super difficult. Find someone with a blasting cabinet and select the right glass beads to make it happen.

[OlongJohnson]

There is a lot more discussion of things like that on the blue forum.

I've read that grey Scotch-Brite is good for matching the factory semi-brushed stainless finish.

I would recommend starting with some scrap stainless, or even buy a sheet of it from a metal supply house, to test your materials and technique before trying anything on the gun.

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ETA:

If you go the glass bead route, these are the only ones to use: https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/pre-finish-surface-prep/glass-beads-prod1209.aspx

Anything else will leave a horribly rough finish. I've looked all over the internet trying to find a better priced source for beads that fine, and I don't think I can beat the $/lb without buying at least a few pallets worth. I'm sure Browell's just buys a truckload of the 5-gal buckets every few years and marks it up about 300-500%, but they're the one putting up the cash for the truckload.

The cabinet and all the equipment used must be either dedicated to stainless steel only or completely cleaned before starting work. If you do this with beads or in a cabinet that have been used for carbon steel, you will embed little chunks of carbon steel in the surface of your stainless gun, and they will rust.

You also need to completely strip the gun and do a lot of masking of surfaces you don't want blasted. It's not quick and easy, and for a one-off job, is probably worth paying to have done right.

Also, once you have the Scotch-Brite worked out, you can always touch up a spot if you want. The glass beads get everywhere, so it's basically an all or nothing process.

[TCinVA]

I used 200 grit extra-fine glass beads I got from a jewler's supply to bead blast some old abused Sistema pistols a while back. The end results were pretty nice:


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That was in preparation for duracoat. The duracoat was a terrible call, BTW. Shit finish.

Anyhoo, the sandblasting itself left a nice frosted finish on the parts. They use the media I used to frost gold, so it's very, very mild.

[SD]

TCinVA; that bead blast job looks phenomenal.

Flitz; over polished my 617 using this with my Dremel, ended up with a mirror like finish.

Marc @ Gemini bead blasted my 640 to a very nice flat finish, it was dull from the factory somewhat milky looking the blasting he performed is way better.

Scotch brite; have used different color pads with mixed results, believe it was a grey pad, ended up with almost a brushed like chrome look on my GP-100.

[OlongJohnson]

I used 200 grit extra-fine glass beads I got from a jewler's supply to bead blast some old abused Sistema pistols a while back. The end results were pretty nice:

Anyhoo, the sandblasting itself left a nice frosted finish on the parts. They use the media I used to frost gold, so it's very, very mild.

This got me to go looking again. Found this:

https://www.amazon.com/Glass-Bead-Blasting-Abrasive-micron/dp/B00NUHA5XW/

Seems to be a good option. The first couple reviews are people using it for firearms.

Tech info on grit vs mesh size:

https://www.raptorblaster.com/sandblasting-grit-conversion-chart/

[peterb]

The cabinet and all the equipment used must be either dedicated to stainless steel only or completely cleaned before starting work. If you do this with beads or in a cabinet that have been used for carbon steel, you will embed little chunks of carbon steel in the surface of your stainless gun, and they will rust.

Excellent point. This applies to all abrasives or finishing materials. I had a artist friend who put in a lot of work welding a stainless steel sculpture and then used a grinding wheel that had been used for mild steel. The resulting rust was ugly and not at all what he wanted.

[OlongJohnson]

Yeah, the principle goes double for weld prep. Embedding different materials into the surfaces you're going to be welding can be very bad juju on anything structural.

A gifted fabricator friend of mine, as we were prepping part of my motorcycle to weld (fixing sketchy Italian workmanship), said, "Use a new piece of Scotch-Brite, a.k.a., a piece of Scotch-Brite that you know the history of..."

[358156hp]

I've had Duracoat finishes last well for years, but I've never painted over a bead-blasted finish. Bead blasting lightly peens the surface and leaves it slick and smooth, a condition many paints don't work well with.

Back to the OP, if you do bead blast your stainless gun, disassemble it and clean all of the oil off it before blasting. For the soft looking finish, blast with the lowest air pressure you can to get the results you want. I've seen a number of guns come out dark gray from being blasted at too high of pressures.

They are purty, aren't they?