1911 Finishes - Blue and Cerracote

[Wireman]

Couple of questions for knowledgeable gun finishers. It is popular when bluing a 1911 to do the flats polished and the rounds matte (or bead blasted). Were early military (1920 era) finished like this, or were they uniformly polished? My interests are primarily in getting a nice looking finish, and not really concerned with how many hours of salt spray the finish will withstand.

How do the finishers generally produce a polished and matte contrast? J. Kuhnhausen's book shows a photo of a 1911 being prepped for bead blasting by covering the flats with modelling clay and cutting away unneeded sections with an x-acto knife. seems like using a knife blade like this is asking for trouble.

Would a finisher just bead blast the whole gun, then polish the flats last? I hate to leave this step to an unknown person because I have at least one blueing job where the finisher held the gun up to a soft buffing wheel and buffed off the sharp edges - that looks pretty bad and is an argument for doing the polishing myself by hand.

Finally, do any of the modern finishes produce this same polished/matte contrasting surface? Reading the Cerracote, NP3 and other web sites, it appears that the finish is uniformly matte and must be applied to a bead blasted surface. Comments would be appreciated. Thank you.

Wireman

 

[JRadice45]

You want polished flats you say? Blast the slide first, then get some abrasive paper (600 or 800 grit) and lay the paper on a hard flat surface. This will allow you to polish the flats and keep the edges from rolling over or getting waves in the flat surface. Then it is time for hot blue.

If you use cerakote or any other paint / epoxy type coating it will not allow the polish / luster to shine through like a good blue job would.

 

[Jim Watson]

Colt instituted the polished flats, matte contours after WWII.
Earlier guns were of uniform surface treatment whether high polish, low polish, or Parkerized.

I found pictures, 1912 -1940 and 1946 return to commercial production, polished all over; 1951, polished & matte. So it just depends on what era you want to look like.

Bluing or plating will bring out the texture of the steel. Coating won't.
The metallurgical treatments like Tenifer and Ion Bond will show the texture of the steel but are most often used at a semi-gloss or dull finish. Have to talk to the finisher about what he could do for you.

 

[Wireman]

Thanks, that is very helpful. I haven't had the chance to examine early mint 1911's. Although it is no wonder they decided to go to a matte finish on the top of the slide. I would think reflections along the top would be the reason. Also, it is amazing just how many mistakes can be hidden by a little bead blasting.

Wireman