[charlie-6]

O K i know some one has taken scratchs off s s slides, i used 2000 paper and got hair lines on the slide, any help on this?

[rcmodel]

Most factory polish jobs are very fine scratches, all running in the same direction.

It works best if you lay the paper on a very flat surface like a sheet of glass, or a saw work table.

Slide the slide on the paper in long strokes, all running the same direction front to back.

Be sure and use oil on the paper or you will get scratches when the paper loads up.

If you are after a very high polish, follow up with Simicrome motorcycle polish on a soft cloth.
http://www.oneidasuzuki.com/store/parts-accessories/simichrome-polish.html

rc

[charlie-6]

This bad spot is a very small idiot scratch, got that out but now have shiney spot, that does not match rest of slide. best way i guess would be to do the rest of slide, or just live with it. needs to be just a little darker.

[rcmodel]

just a little darker.
Darker?

Are you saying it is a blued slide?

I thought you said it was stainless steel slide in your first post?

If you used 2000 grit paper on a blued slide, you have ruined the finish and there is not a "fix", short of having it professionally refinished again.

rc

[charlie-6]

No,NO, S S slide, bright spot after removeing the scratch.

[rcmodel]

O.K.

Back to post #2.

Doing the whole flat with probably 440 or 600 grit paper & oil on a sheet of glass will probably very nearly match the factory finish.

2000 grit is way too fine.

Look at the other side with a magnifying glass and you will see what I mean about the factory finish just being scratches, all running the same direction.

rc

[Rex B]

Yep, match the sandpaper grit to what the factory used

[krs]

If you have the ability/equipment to sand or beadblast the part I find the best results by bead blasting a whole slide or stripped down frame and then polishing the flats using progressively finer grits in the manner described by rcmodel.

This gives a nice matte finish to the rounded surfaces and then I go for the high polished flats as preferred.

I have two Colts that I kept in an all over bead blasted finish that looks very nice for those guns - and one of them is a CCO that has an alloy Officer's frame that just would not look right with a polished steel slide. I didn't want to risk putting the sanding to the aluminum and possibly going through the anodized surface, so the gun got blasted all over and looks right. So that my Gold Cup Trophy and the CCO might look to be a set of pistols I blasted the GC all over too. Came out nice, IMO.

[RogersPrecision]

I will suggest using ScotchBrite pads by hand. They are available in several different grits/colors. MSCdirect.com.
Lapping on a flat plate works very poorly in my experience. Most slides are out of flat by .005" or more. By the time the entire flat cleans, you will have compromised a portion of the rollmarks.

[log man]

Also I've found that to get a really uniform finish after getting it flat is to stroke the last few strokes with the paper on top of cardboard with the corrugations at right angle to the stroke and hold the paper down with a thin straight edge, a wood paint stir stick or other, and slide against that to keep it straight. The corrugations will help to wipe the low spots and bring the finish to a uniform sheen.

LOG

[charlie-6]

Thanks folks for all of your info. think i will leave well along around the slide stop was the problem but it looks o k for me, the flats was untouch still stock.