Stainless 1911 Finishing

Pgraver · Feb 13, 2017

Good morning,

I am going to engrave my stainless steel 1911 slide and I was talking to a gunsmith about finishing and he said all ss slides have some sort of protective finishing applied from the factory.
Does anyone know if this is true?
What is the finishing norm for stainless after I have completed my Engraving?

Any help on this will be greatly appreciated!

John B. · Feb 13, 2017

I have never found any"protective" finish on any stainless 1911 slide I have engraved or seen.
Maybe one of the clone makers is putting one on ?????
But why would a true stainless gun need any coating other than maybe a coat of wax for "extra shine???"

Pgraver · Feb 13, 2017

That's what I thought but I just wanted to reach out and see if there was some coating that I haven't heard of....

I'll just go ahead and start cutting!

Thanks!

John B. · Feb 13, 2017

Pgraver,
Be aware that some of the new stainless 1911's are tough to cut.
Pull the slide and make a test cut on the inside in a hidden place.
Then design your cutting and your graver selection and shapes accordingly.
You might want to use a black or grey printers ink, Speedball Oil Base to accent the detail of your cuts.

Pgraver · Feb 13, 2017

So you think the slides would be harder to engrave than a spyderco knife?

Dave London · Feb 13, 2017

Yep spyderco,s are very soft

Riflesmith · Feb 13, 2017

It has been my experience that although 1911 slides are hard they can still be cut with any design one would desire with the use of CMAX gravers.

Pgraver · Feb 13, 2017

Hmmm.... okay is there something comparable to a 1911 slide that would mimic the hardness to practice on? (I'm glad I posted this before I started lol)

John B. · Feb 13, 2017

Pgraver said:
Hmmm.... okay is there something comparable to a 1911 slide that would mimic the hardness to practice on? (I'm glad I posted this before I started lol)

Make a cut or two on the inside of the slide and then you will know for sure.
And always expect the slide to be harder on the lower left hand side next to the slide stop notch.
This area is usually induction heat hardened. No big thing but just be aware.

Archie Woodworth · Feb 14, 2017

Dave London said:
Yep spyderco,s are very soft

Plus 1 .... they cut like butter ... almost as easy as SS Buck knives.

tdelewis · Feb 14, 2017

Somewhere there is a firearms engravability index on the net. It rates manufactures of firearms and how difficult they are to engrave. It also gives a brief comment about them. Maybe someone can tell how to connect to it. It would be worth a look.

dclevinger · Feb 14, 2017

Pgraver, unfortunately there is nothing to mimic the hardness because as John said, the hardness can vary greatly from one manufacture to the next. Take some test cuts in a hidden area on the inside of the slide and go from there.
Colts cut very well, some Springfields and Kimbers can be a bit on the hard side. I haven't cut a Ruger or Remington 1911 but would assume they cut like the ones previously mentioned. If you are dealing with a Philippine import, it can be a crap shoot as far as hardness and consistency.

Pgraver · Feb 14, 2017

I'll go ahead and make a few cuts in the interior and see how it goes. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

John B. · Feb 14, 2017

Pgraver and others just getting into modern firearms engraving.
My dear friend David Clevinger is both a fine gunsmith and a wonderful engraver and you can take what he said to the bank.
I would just add that with recent manufacturing methods different guns from the same manufacturer can vary widely.
Even the same models can cut in a different way.
Many of them are now using castings instead of hot forgings. Some post heat treat their casting for uniformity and others don't.
Yes, with modern gravers you can still cut them. But a lot of breakages,sharpening and extra time.
And sometimes the engraving quality suffers. I advise making some hidden test cuts whenever possible.

Southern Custom · Feb 17, 2017

If you tell us who manufactured the gun, one of us may have cut one before. Most decent 1911s I've cut have been no problem. The exception was a slide from a Springfield. Very tough stuff. Most other manufacturers are using 416 SS which is a breeze to cut, albeit a little gummy. As others mentioned, test cut inside and you'll learn all you need.
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