got a desert eagle for cheap

[Brockak47]

So, I picked up a used Desert Eagle in .44 mag. It's one of the older ones.

The finish is a little worn looking. I started playing around with the dremel and now well I have a wacky idea.


Do you think it would be ok if I polished the WHOLE thing? to get the black off & expose the steel on it? couldn't hurt the value too much right lol.

Would taking fine sand paper to the outside to get the black off, then polishing it by hand and with dremel turn good? sounds like a fun project so I am wanting to do it

What do you think about that idea?

 

[Bush Pilot]

Leave it alone IMO.

 

[mljdeckard]

I'm a guy who thinks that people attach a little too much sentiment to how things look. Some guys will rent their clothing if they think you have aesthetically damaged a gun in a way they think is inappropriate. I mostly say, it's your gun, do what you want with it. Pepto-pinki Duracoat? Enjoy.

Now, there may be a downside. I am not knowledgeable enough to say what kind of finish it has and how protective it is, but remember that this is the main reason for these kinds of finishes, they are protective. If you strip it off, you may leave the gun more vulnerable to damage than it was.

 

[Lost Sheep]

Go to auto shop, get trashed brake rotor and practice on that.

First of all, I don't think you can expose stainless steel if the gun is not made of stainless steel. If you take the bluing off of carbon steel, it is left "in the white" and LOOKS like stainless, but isn't. Most, if not all steel is pretty much colorless unless you stain it (with bluing) or coat it.

Using a Dremel tool is doable, but being a machine, it can remove more than you intend very easily and quicker than you can imagine. Many a home gunsmith trying to make their guns shine have wound up with a very shiny, randomly wavy surface that, once done, is nearly impossible to flatten out again.

Polishing by hand with Flitz, Mother's Mag or some such is MUCH more likely to produce a gun that is not ugly.

Go to auto shop, get trashed disk brake rotor and practice on that. They will give you one for free, as they are useless as a disk brake any more.

As I see it, your choices are to use a touch-up finish restorer to match the current worn spots to the rest of the gun or to polish it all down and re-blue the whole gun.

Do a Forum Search on "polishing" and you will find stories of others who have done what you are contemplating. Some have fine results. Others have cautionary tales.

Here's one:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=613939

Good luck.

Lost Sheep

 

[Brockak47]

Ya, I thought that too

found this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87QHRqaYnAA


Also this company did this:

http://www.stangsgonewild.com/forum...un-after-custom-metal-polishing-services.html

 

[hogrdr]

i had one of the older guns in .44 blue. first i've ever heard of them being stainless. its possible but i'm really highly doubtful.

 

[mljdeckard]

That brake rotor idea is a good one. I am starting to doodle with Duracoat finishes, those would be good test and learning pieces.

 

[Brockak47]

How much does it cost for an old brake rotor & you just go to an auto garage? A side note, do you have to remove the original finish to use the duracoat or gunkote stuff?

 

[56hawk]

Don't know if your gun is stainless, but I know for a fact that my Mark XIX isn't. By the way you could always send it off to be hard chromed.

 

[FIVETWOSEVEN]

How much did you pay for it?

 

[PO2Hammer]

The Mark XIX DE's are not stainless, I don't imagine your Mark VII is either.

That's a darn good looking gun. It's not going to better looking with some cheap paint or a gaudy polish job.

 

[wildehond]

I prefer the worn, working gun, look.

 

[Brockak47]

I paid 825, I thought it was cheap. I might leave it the way it is since that seems to be the consensus i'm not sure yet, but now I do know one thing do it by hand not a power tool. Also it probably isn't stainless then, I had just read that it was somewhere ( forget where )

It's not a collectible gun is it?


As always thanks for the constructive help.

 

[Liberty1776]

It's your gun, you can screw it up as badly as you'd like. If it will make you happy, go for it. (IMHO, there's no way I'd do it...)

 

[wally]

Honest wear always looks better than a hack job refinish!

I'd suggest leaving it alone or having it professionally refinished. If you want to play around with refinishing starting with scrap metal is a much better way to learn!

 

[mljdeckard]

To do Duracoat you need to prepare the surface. You always need to completely degrease the surface. Some surfaces you will need to stipple with a sandblaster to prepare them.

An auto parts store probably has old brake rotors in their dumpster.

 

[W.E.G.]

I like the finish on that gun just as it is.

Please don't ruin it with some impulsive move with the Dremel.

If you are just dying to lay into a gun with the Dremel, find one that is truly old and rusty, and have at it.

That Desert Eagle deserves better.

 

[Brockak47]

dang, well I guess I won't do it myself even though I love tinkering with stuff. I wasn't really going to dremel since everyone said it's a bad idea i was just use a rag and some polish compound, but meh.


Thanks everyone!

 

[Mot45acp]

Aa magnet will tell you if its stainless.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

I like the used yet cared for look - at least in the single photo you've posted.

As far as polishing with a dremel, I have a feeling you'll get into it farther than you will have hoped for before you realize it's not the right tool for the job and begin to wish that you hadn't started in the first place.

As far as magnets - that's an understandable yet in correct myth relative primarily to content of the "stainless". I can hang magnets all over my Delta Gold Cup, King Cobra, Sig 230 SL, AMT etc... All "stainless".

 

[PO2Hammer]

Aa magnet will tell you if its stainless.

Some stainless alloys respond to magnets, some do not.

 

[Lost Sheep]

How much does it cost for an old brake rotor & you just go to an auto garage?

Post #4. Appears you did not read the whole thing.

A side note, do you have to remove the original finish to use the duracoat or gunkote stuff?

Post #16

Any finish will look better the better prepped the underlying surface is. Colt's famous Royal Blue finish on the Diamondback and Python revolvers depended on the high polish under that bluing more than the bluing itself. Note: Painted or varnished wood, the same principle applies.

 

[Dr.Rob]

I'd leave it alone and make an action movie.

 

[mgmorden]

As always its your gun to do with as you wish, but taking a dremel to is is basically destroying whatever future value it may have. Nobody wants a gun in the white that someone did a kitchen-table polish job on with a dremel. Not to mention that being carbon steel and not stainless its going to start rusting and such very easily with the finish gone (bluing on firearms didn't start out as a decorative finish - it's for corrosion protection).

IMHO, if you really want the stainless look and want to do it right, send it off to be hard-chromed. Otherwise get it reblued and enjoy.

 

[Brockak47]

yep you guys were right, this is what magnum research said to me

"No it is made of 4140 Chromoly. There has never been a fully Stainless
Desert Eagle. Back in the 80's they did test three different metals.
Chromoly, stainless and aluminum alloy. However they were frame only
trials. The stainless and aluminum were indicated with -A and a -S.

I'm probably going to leave it the way it is or see how much it would cost to get it plated or re blued...not sure yet.

The only reason I had originally thought about polishing it was because I heard they were stainless so I figured it would be fine, but now I know better.

Thanks everyone for talking me out of a bad idea it seems & for all the useful info!