touch up matte finish on stainless?

[ccarnel]

Just a quick question before I attempt some touch up work on one of my pistols. It is a 1911 in stainless with "dark grey" rounds that I'm guessing would be called a "matte" finish. It has a texture to it that feels a little more smooth than parkerizing. It looks identical in color and texture to some of my springfield 1911's where the "rounds" do not have a brushed finish but rather a matte finish.

How might I touch up this finish. I have a bead blaster at work but I would imagine that it would produce a much more "satin" finish correct? Is the "dark grey" finish on the springfields some specific type of media? If so, is there anyone here who could point me in the right direction on what type of media or abrasive to use in my blast cabinet?

 

[rcmodel]

To my knowledge, all stainless guns that have flat appearing gray panels are done with some form of bead or sand blasting.

The surface texture will be determined by the Rockwell hardness of the slide, and of course, the size of the beads or grit used.

You can mask off the slide with black electrical tape.
Trim carefully with a straight-edge and sharp Exacto knife to keep the lines sharp.

Start out with whatever fine glass bead media you have and see if you like it. If not, move up a notch in grit size and try that.

I doubt you can perfectly match the original finish to just "touch-up" a few spots. You will have to do the whole area for it to match.

The old matte finish has dried oil, dirt, etc. in it which makes it darker, and a fresh bead-blast will be lighter in color until it picks up oil & dirt from extended use again.


rcmodel

 

[Chawbaccer]

Get some fine sandpaper that matches the coarsness of your finish, place sandpaper on gun, sandy side down and tap with a hammer, experiment on scrap until you get the texture you want.

 

[dfariswheel]

The finish is bead blasted.

The sand cloth and hammer method will work for small areas.

It can be bead blasted, but there are problems.
First, you have to mask off all other areas or they'll get blasted by over--spray and this'll damage the satin finish areas.

Second, you have to REALLY mask off the sights or the finish will be stripped.

Last, make 100% SURE the bead blaster is either cleaned out THOROUGHLY and re-filled with 100% NEW media, OR make sure to use a blaster that's been used for stainless or aluminum ONLY.

If you use a blaster that's been used for carbon steel, the tiny bits of carbon steel in the media will be blasted into the stainless and will embed.
The carbon steel particles will rust later, damaging the stainless.

I once had a customer who was at a loss as to how an aluminum frame could rust.
He'd blasted the frame in a garage bead blaster that was used for automotive parts. The carbon embedded in the aluminum and rusted.

 

[ccarnel]

The sand cloth method worked perfectly. I used the plastic butt end of a screwdriver though instead of a hammer. I layed down a very small patch of sand cloth over the concerned area and gently rapped the plastic end of the screwdriver into the paper. 5-10 minutes later I can't tell where the offending spot used to be!

 

[Chawbaccer]

My heart sings happy tunes when my advice helps somebody

 

[MillCreek]

Wow, that sand cloth and tapping method sounds like a great idea, and I have never heard of that before. Any thoughts on what would be a good grit number to use?