Kahr Slide Polishing

[Diocoles]

How would one go about polishing the slide on a CW9?
It's in good shape, but has a few scratches and getting a bit dull in places.
Don't think I should use steel wool 0000.
Glass bead blasting?
Something that a home DIY could do?

Suggestions would be welcome....

[JFootin]

You can use graduating grades of sand paper and get results like this: My Custom Polished CM9 (http://s1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee486/John_England/My%20Custom%20CM9/?albumview=slideshow). I didn't do it myself, but bought it from a guy who had it done professionally. Here is a business who does custom work like this. On this page, they give tips for care of polished guns:
http://www.customizedcreationz.com/services/polishing.html

[OldLincoln]

I've never had luck polishing a large flat surface with a little Dremmel tool. I can't seem to get it even so it turns out blotchy. For advice should you try it, invest in a bench buffer and move the slide to even it out.

There are some videos on UTube for polishing and they use a stick abrasive compound and the wheel. I think they said to not put a lot of pressure on the slide but let the compound do the work.

[Diocoles]

ah, thank you berry much. :D

[cw45fan]

On the subject... Check this long thread out:

http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=3290

[Bawanna]

I did my PM45, not nearly to the mirror finish Jfootin has on his but fairly shiney. I did the progressive sandpaper routine starting at about 600 grit and worked up to like 1200. A large polishing wheel which I don't have would be right handy. I'd stick with some sort of padded block to keep flats flat.
The dremel tool with polishing wheels is nearly useless but I used it too.
Flitz on a cloth towards the end helped a little. It's hard stuff.

The nice thing is you can pick up where you left off if you get tired or out of time. Also if you get a few scratches just polish em out again.

I also left the top pretty much intact to keep the glare down but even more importantly I didn't have to knock the sights off to do a proper polish. I put XS Big Dots on and like where they are, didn't want to mess with em.

Jfootins is a beauty but I doubt I'd ever come close to that with the stuff I got. You can search for CopperandBlack, he was real good at polishing stuff, Jfootin quality too. Nice.

[Diocoles]

Very pretty and all but I'm looking to keep the "matte" (?) finish.
Just need to clean it up a bit.
Wonder if a tumbler would remove the little scratches and dull spots?

[Bawanna]

I doubt if a tumbler would even faze the finish and you'd have no control over where it got hit the most.

If your looking for matt finish I'd smooth up the scratches just a bit with fine sandpaper and then bead blast it. If theres a gunsmith nearby or maybe even an automotive refinisher, plater or something like that around they could blast that for ya in minutes and probably not cost much either.

A thorough cleaning afterwards goes without saying.

[gb6491]

Very pretty and all but I'm looking to keep the "matte" (?) finish.
Just need to clean it up a bit.
Wonder if a tumbler would remove the little scratches and dull spots?


...If your looking for matt finish I'd smooth up the scratches just a bit with fine sandpaper and then bead blast it....
Yep, if you want to restore the factory finish, glass bead gives satisfactory results. I cleaned up some tooling marks on the rear of my CW45's slide and blasted the entire slide with glass bead as the final finish process. Here's a photo of it and my CW9 (factory finish):
http://i51.tinypic.com/xbwas.jpg
Another shot (CW45 top):
http://i56.tinypic.com/spxm2p.jpg
Regards,
Greg

[OldLincoln]

I was reminded of bead blast by Gary's post. I had the rear sight on a 380 Colt Mustang adjusted at my local gun store and they blasted out a ding where I tried to adjust it myself. They didn't even charge me for the blasting. If you have a local shop they might just do it for a nominal charge. Probably free if you had them install some night sights too. It's not the shiny, but it is very nice.

[Diocoles]

Greg, exactly what I was looking for.
Just wasn't sure if glass bead blasting would do it.
Thanks for the pics, gives me more confidence in it.
I think I know a guy with a blaster in his garage.
See if he'll let me use it.
The hardware store has blasting media.

Thanks again.

[fjughead]

Brasso and some soft cleaning cloths will clean it up. No tools needed. Scotch tape around the sights will protect them.

[Bug Splat]

I did the flat areas of my old K40 which I stupidly sold years ago. On the hunt for another now.

Anywho, I used 5-6 different sandpaper grits taped to a glass pane. A 2x4 block was used as a guide to keep the slide level as I ran it back and forth over the sandpaper. Mask off what you don't want polished. Never rub in circles but front to back. Circles swirls look awful. Go slow and take you time. last step was a washcloth with a little abrasive car wax to bring out the shine. Took a few nights while watching TV to complete. I thought it was fun.

Before....
http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss171/bugsplat/Kahr/kahr2.jpg

After....
http://i573.photobucket.com/albums/ss171/bugsplat/Kahr/Kahrafter.jpg

EDIT: Forgot the add that I used wet sandpaper and used water liberally to wash out the gunk as I polished the slide. Clean and oil VERY well after you are done.

[Kahrnonymous]

subscribed, looking at doing my barrel! Thanks!

[Bill K]

I did the flat areas of my old K40 which I stupidly sold years ago. On the hunt for another now.

Anywho, I used 5-6 different sandpaper grits taped to a glass pane. A 2x4 block was used as a guide to keep the slide level as I ran it back and forth over the sandpaper. Mask off what you don't want polished. Never rub in circles but front to back. Circles swirls look awful. Go slow and take you time. last step was a washcloth with a little abrasive car wax to bring out the shine. Took a few nights while watching TV to complete. I thought it was fun.


EDIT: Forgot the add that I used wet sandpaper and used water liberally to wash out the gunk as I polished the slide. Clean and oil VERY well after you are done.

Bug Splat, welcome to KahrTalk!

I really like that look where you've just done the slide flats. How about the extractor side, did you remove the extractor before doing the polishing?

Thanks...

[MW surveyor]

OOO Shiney! Looks good and welcome to the forum.

[FLBri]

Personally, I have had good results on polished surfaces with scotch brite pads. I have a Black Rose PM9 that had several surface scratches on the top and sides. I used 600 and 1000 wet or dry paper, and than a fine scotch brite pad to finish it up. The last pass was done with gun oil on the pad and it brought back close to the mirror polish it was.

I prefer to leave it slightly less than mirror so it is easier to touch up and keep looking new. Truth be told, you can't tell the difference from the mirror finish unless you look at it up close in bright light AND magnification. Now I'm not self conscious about carrying and regretting a scratch.

On my MK9 Elite, the polished side of the slide is more of a brush finish. The Scotch Brite abrasive, used dry, is the perfect touch up. I've done the same thing on a couple Ruger revolvers that I own, and a Smith 640 (that I no longer have). It keeps them looking perfect!

By the way ... don't be tempted to use steel wool. It makes a great abrasive but it gets very fine particles literally everywhere and its very difficult to get them all out of the small parts.

[CJB]

Polishing metal is something I know a little something about.... from my years working with mold makers who knew nothing about guns, but who could cut and finish metal like gangbusters. We were a match made in heaven.

You can blast - sand, glass bead (round), ground glass, garnet, silicon oxide, etc etc. The thing that sets in my mind about blasting is the fine finishes, like bead blasting or ground glass blasting will be easily marred with casual contact, while heavy finish like garnet or sand blasting will leave a coarse more mar resistant finish. All blasted finishes hold dirt. They all show scratches like crazy. They're good to "dull" the shine, and to cover minor imperfections in a machined finish. Those imperfections would need to be removed in order to get a bright or fully shiny finish that looked even.

You can buff - to a luster or to a full shine. Full shine - mirror shine - is brutal for any scratches or fingerprints. Everything shows - like having a black car paint job.

Then there's the brushed finish - showing some marks. Also called the Pittsburgh finish. This can be achieved by sanding, grinding, or carding (a form of sanding). It hides imperfections, and tends to minimize the effect of scratches that occur later on.

On the Pittsburgh finish - if I were to do a Kahr slide, I'd use 400 paper wrapped on an art (big pink) eraser. That would remove the blast finish from the flats. Its important to use a sanding block (the eraser). Then... I'd go find a carding wheel from a place like Brownells, and get a rather coarse one. Carding is used to remove rust, but a coarse wheel will impart a nice Pittsburgh finish. You can mount that in a drill press, and run the slides flats along the edge of the wheel (flapper wheel with sanding stuff on it). You'll get a nice even finish that way. Do both sides, mask the flats and then blast the top for reduction of glare.

Anyway... hope ya all found that interesting an'useful

[Bug Splat]

Bug Splat, welcome to KahrTalk!

I really like that look where you've just done the slide flats. How about the extractor side, did you remove the extractor before doing the polishing?

Thanks...

Thanks for the warm welcome. I wish I had more pictures to show. I did remove the extractor and every part of the slide and frame before polishing. I polished the extractor, slide release and every part of the barrel using a dremal with cotton wheel and the same car wax.

[BrewerGeorge]

...
By the way ... don't be tempted to use steel wool. It makes a great abrasive but it gets very fine particles literally everywhere and its very difficult to get them all out of the small parts.
Lots of stainless is used in breweries, so I know a little bit about the care and feeding of it...

+1 on the steel wool. That's made from mild steel and will imbed particles of mild steel in the surface of the stainless. The mild steel will prevent the stainless from re-passivating, that is forming the protective layer of chromium oxide that keeps stainless from rusting. Then the mild steel itself will rust and make the unprotected stainless underneath rust very quickly! Once rust gets a foothold in stainless, it's not more "stainless" than regular steel.

And on the subject of re-passivating, I would not personally oil a polished stainless slide immediately after sanding or polishing. You need to give the newly-exposed surface a day or two in the air to form that protective layer. It will not rust (unless mild steel is present, of course). You can force the re-passivating by soaking in oxalic acid for a few minutes. The easiest way to get oxalic acid is to use a cleaning product called Bar Keeper's Friend. You wouldn't want to scour a polished surface with it, but a slurry or solution without rubbing would still contain the acid. After that, rinse really, really well and then oil.

[FLBri]

Now THAT is great useful information re: the oil. Thanks BG.