Question: How should I sand a flat pistol slide?

[RedfordTrails]

I need to remove light scratches that riddle my work surface and de-burr all the little shading nicks I couldn't flick out. I'd like to end up with a like factory finish or a satin finish that is as close to it as possible. So far I'm thinking a 15 micron sanding stick? That will give me a satin finish but it's not as close as I'd like to get to the factory finish. What would be best? Perhaps those little stone sanding sticks? But I forget what they are called..

 

[atexascowboy2011]

My suggestion is to cut a border , then relieve and background, as inside your scrolls. The next go around , prep your canvas prior to layout. The border also conveys a finished piece of art vs. an unframed canvas sitting on an easel , waiting to be framed.

 

[RedfordTrails]

I just don't have time for more relief on this project and what I need to sand out is just minor scratches and raised spots where chips broke off. I would have ended up needing to do this even if I had started with a custom finish. I mostly work on jewelry and I just sand out the scratches and bumps with a stick. I'm just out of my element on something this big and made of steel.. I may just need to experiment sanding some practice plates. But any experienced advice would get the ball rolling faster!

 

[scott99]

HI, I have smoothed out many old Colt slides mostly for bluing. Get a very flat piece of brass or steel 1 inch by 3/4 a 1/2 inch thick or so and I do mean flat, I use an old gage block. Wrap a piece of carbide paper around it to make a little sanding pad. There you go, just lap through the grits until you get the finish you want. Take your time, go thru each grit until the surface is the same all over. What won't come out with 400 grit won't come out with 600. So don't jump to lower grit too fast you will just have to start over anyway.

Now for the hard bit, be very careful not to round the edges, do that and you are done sure and certain. avoid repeating motions too much, be sort of random. Random is FLAT. Only go one direction to check the finish then back to random movements again. Done this way you can go from even matte to mirror finish,wick away at it and you will be surprised at the finish when you get done.

By you photo I would say you might start at 400 grit and go to 2000 if you want that mirror. As you go you will get the drift of grits size pretty fast.

scott99

 

[Southern Custom]

Paper on glass is my suggestion. I use several different types. You'll need to figure out what stage it's in now and then work down from there. Unfortunately you run the risk of going into some of your fine shading and it will have to be gone over.
Rio Grande sells some abrasive paper from 3m that is on a hard plastic type substrate that is micro graded. You could work up to a polish with this. If you don't have time, standard metal sandpaper is what we use in the gunshop working from say, 400 up to the finish you want.
One good way is to find a piece of cast off granite or other countertop material and lay your paper on that. Anything less like sanding sticks and you risk rounding the hard edges of the slide.
Good luck with it and nice work.

 

[monk]

with care, you can lessen this burden. keyword with care, you may be able to chisel some of the burrs using a very sharp flat graver. if you screw up,though, you'll likely end up in worse shape. in any event, when i get burrs, if it's not advisable to simply extend the cut a nanometer, i just chisel them off. get a piece of clean steel. practice "popping the graver" up and out. with practice the procedure becomes automatic. at least that's my experience. hang in there. good lubk

 

[fegarex]

Many of the above suggestions are very good to prep a surface for engraving but in this case it would all be overkill and ruin most of your shading. Just use a pink pearl eraser with some 400 automotive paper to knock off the burrs and remove the light scratches. From what I can see the finish is actually rougher than 400 but I think it will work with 400. Or experiment with 220 on scrap metal. You'll find that the surface of the factory slide isn't that "flat" and using as really hard backing will just produce high and low spots. The eraser will bridge those spots but still keep things crisp.

 

[Sam]

Dittos on what Rex said. Polishing should be done before the engraving, not after. If you have to debur, then very lightly touch it with some fine paper or your shading is toast. If you feel any burs now, try to trim them off with a graver before you use sandpaper. Sanding after engraving is your worst enemy. I normally debur any heavy stuff after the design is cut and the background is done, then I shade and don't touch it. If I do have to debur after shading (which is rare) it's done with extreme care using fine paper.

Nice looking slide by the way

 

[RedfordTrails]

Thanks for all the great advice! I am going to get supplies this evening. It's really just the small shade nicks at the end of the leaves that need attention. The cuts are so short and small they didn't cast up a curl long enough for me to flick out. They resemble the blade and chute of a cheese grader. I tried on my first couple leaves to cut them from the back but they are so small I was messing up their look. But I liked they way they looked so I just went for it deciding to sand it later because it has worked out for me before on jewelry..

 

[JJ Roberts]

Red,I carefully hand polish with wood block and wet & dry automotive paper soaked in kerosene the kerosene wiil keep the wet & dry from clogging and you'll get more mileage out of it.Rig Universal grease is good coating for guns left in the white for long periods of time.J.J.

 

[Christian DeCamillis]

I wouldn't use sandpaper now until the burs are gone. Even if you use block or anything else you will still be sanding other areas . I never try to sand any burs away. Instead I use a piece of copper or brass . Something that wont scratch the steel .Use it to scrape off the burs .Then you can do a very light sanding to remove any color left from the softer metal. The copper will most likely want to go into some of the cuts but it will come out when you clean it.

I agree that all the prep work needs to be done before you engrave it. This is what I do and why.

Chriis

 

[Tim Wells]

http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/product_info.php?products_id=658

This is available elsewhere, just google it but there are other papers in the 3M line with the Tri-M-Ite name that are not color coded cloth. So look for photos.

That's a link to the stuff I use and for your purpose stated here I think it would be ideal. It is a cloth 400 grit that I use dry wrapped once over a 1X3X1/2" block of aluminum with a piece of 1/8" thick hard cork glued to it as a pad. It's hard enough not to dish out anything and soft enough to make the paper work optimally. You don't need the cork though.

The grit will remove burrs and scratches but isn't aggressive enough to change the original grit marks from the factory as you are not going to take it down that far, they are far deeper than 400. It will impart a smooth matte texture to the surface though and you can necessitate the need to re-shade if you're not careful. Just need to hit it a few licks and you're done.