Surface grinding my 1911 slide to make it 2 tone?

rubberdown

rubberdown

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I have 4 1911's, the cheapest one is a Norinco NP29 9mm, all black. I like the two tone look I see on some 1911's and was thinking why not surface grind both sides of my slide to make the slide have a ground finish on both sides, thus a two tone finish.

Are there any down sides to doing this to this gun? I would only grind a minimal amount off to get full "clean up" and leave the factory engraving intact.

Thanks.
 
But it will also roll over the edges, I wanted the crisp clean line separation like in this pic.....

3151e.jpg
 
find someone with a drum sander, use a fine grit belt, works great, we use it on anodized plates that are engraved and remove the top surface, nicer finish than a surface grinder
 
laurencen said:
find someone with a drum sander, use a fine grit belt, works great, we use it on anodized plates that are engraved and remove the top surface, nicer finish than a surface grinder
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I suppose I could get some really really fine sand paper and lay it out flat and manually slide the slide back and forth until it is polished, and it wont round over the edges.... Maybe I'll try that first, now if Igo that route, oiled or non oiled on the sand paper?
 
misanthropist said:
Glass plate + 600 - 2000 grit sandpaper

Downsides...how are you going to prevent it from rusting? It'll be as protected as a Kimber barrel when it's finished...i.e. rusting in the case.
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That was my concern I guess. Being its not stainless it will be likely to corrode and rust unless its always well oiled right?
 
Hmmm, Stainless steel is not magnetic, well some grades are slightly magnetic, but you can barely feel the pull of a magnet like one would feel on your average steel. That said, I just put a magnet on 2 stainless Ruger revolvers, 2 stainless 1911's and this black Norinco and they all have about the same magnetic pull to them. So why is it my other "shiny" guns haven't started to get some surface rust?
 
Did you not just say they were stainless?

Rust doesn't accrue as a result of magnetism.

Your question is the equivalent of saying "I have 4 diesel vehicles, none of which are all that loud even though diesels are usually louder than gas engines, and I also have a gas car, which also isn't that loud. Can I put diesel in it?"

No. They may be a grade of stainless which is somewhat magnetic. Your Norinco is not.
 
rubberdown said:
Hmmm, Stainless steel is not magnetic, well some grades are slightly magnetic, but you can barely feel the pull of a magnet like one would feel on your average steel. That said, I just put a magnet on 2 stainless Ruger revolvers, 2 stainless 1911's and this black Norinco and they all have about the same magnetic pull to them. So why is it my other "shiny" guns haven't started to get some surface rust?
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Cheaper stainless uses nickle which causes the magnetism, more expensive stainless uses chromium....which doesn't.
Think I read that on the innernet....
 
Yes I said they were stainless, or at least they are sold and advertised as stainless, BUT from my experience in a machine shop for 25 years, stainless steel lacks magnetism for the most part, this is how we identify SS when material isnt clearly marked. These SS guns all have an equal pull on my magnet as the cheap norinco gun. This is why I questioned why they havent started to rust, maybe they arent stainless, and maybe they are stainless with a higher ferrite and/or martensite content in the steel which would then increase its magnetic response (and in theory also increase the risk of rust or corrosion)

As for your diesel comparison, as a young kid we "borrowed" a can of fuel at a house party once and dumped it into my buddies Buick Regal, it turned out to be diesel fuel LOL, we found out the hard way, turned out it would run in the car, but it wouldnt go over 10 km/h LOL
 
rubberdown said:
Hmmm, Stainless steel is not magnetic, well some grades are slightly magnetic, but you can barely feel the pull of a magnet like one would feel on your average steel. That said, I just put a magnet on 2 stainless Ruger revolvers, 2 stainless 1911's and this black Norinco and they all have about the same magnetic pull to them. So why is it my other "shiny" guns haven't started to get some surface rust?
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OK...that is only for norincos: I have some totally stripped,put away in summer with sweaty hands...still no rust. It's not stainless in terms of metallurgy but whatever steel they use is so dense,it won't rust ( and cooks every regular drillbit too,without getting a hole trough)...don't worry about rust,just go for it.
CG
 
A drum sander, at least one that you will be able to get your hands on, read light duty, will destroy your slide, it will dig in at the begginning of the cut, dwell at the end and tou will have a mess. Granite plate and paper.
 
Do the sanding and flat surface first. Since the surface on the slide is already good, you are just removing the bluing. That should only take a few seconds, but use wet and dry, and I would start very very fine or you will make the existing finish worse.
 
Hitzy said:
Cheaper stainless uses nickle which causes the magnetism, more expensive stainless uses chromium....which doesn't.
Think I read that on the innernet....
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that's not how it works... 98% of stainless has both chromium and nickel in it. The reason for the lack of magnetism is due to the nickel causing the grain structure to change to a non magnetic variation.

The only type of stainless that's magnetic is either really crappy stuff that doesn't have enough nickel to be the proper structure, or martensitic stainless... used for things that need to be hard or have high wear resistance and not so much worried about the corrosion properties.


now for the question at hand. I think it would be cool... I would probably just do it by hand slowly, shouldn't take long anyway. Could use any grit you want depending on the look you want... id probably go for wet sanding it personally.

And if youre not totally sure if its stainless than just keep it well oiled like anything and it should be no issue imo.

edit: and to the other person who said something about something being so dense it wont rust.... no. that's also not how it works.
 
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