Posted: 9/17/2005 2:52:41 PM EDT
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Here are some pics of my latest build. I posted pics before while it was a work in progress. It's my neighbor's gun, and he did all the pimpalicious polishing. It is a simple gun, but it turned out very nice. I literally blinded myself momentraily looking at his thing outdoors. It has the following work done to it: -mill slide for and install Novak front and rear -install Ed Brown beavertail -install S&A beavertail -install Ed Brown mainspring housing -install Knighthawk Custom trigger -trigger job set at 3 lbs. -tune extractor and ejector -polish feedramp, throat and polish barrel -crown barrel muzzle -beadblast pistol -pimpalicious grade polish on slide and frame flats -Ed Brown grip screws -Wilson Combat tactical mag release -Pachmayr extended slide release -exhibition grade spalted maple grips from www.gripsandknives.com/     |
We have always refered to a BBQ gun as a gun for light duty social occasions such as a BBQ. In other words, a purty gun that ain't gonna get beat up at the BBQ. BBQ guns are cool 
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| Thanks for all the kind words. I blasted it at my friend's shop. It's a combination of Brownells #60 - 100 and #270+ glass beads. It's a 50/50 mix. I agree Ivory would look good. I have another Commander almost done with ivory on it, though it's probably going to be chromed. |
Let me warn you, a finish like this shows scratches. Most stainless guns have a brushed finish on the flats, bead blasted on the rounds. Whenever your pistol goes into a holster or is handled with gloves or dirty hands, you're probably putting extremely small scratches in the finish. However, the brushed finish is actually more coarse than the small scratches guns get everyday, even if you can see your reflection in the slide. Due to the "coarseness" of factory finishes, you don't see the small scratches. With a polish at this level, you will be constantly having to polish out small scratches. Here's what was done. You need a sanding block, which you can get at any hardware or home improvement store. You will also need a small supply of sanding paper. You need to start with 400 or 600 grit, depending on how rough the machining is underneath. You will need to go progressively finer, so you'll need 1000, 1200, 1500, and 2000 grit sandpaper, which you can get at automotive paint shops. Finally, you'll need the proper polish, and the ability to remove the grip screw bushings from the frame. The grip screw bushings are staked in on Springfields. To remove them, you can use a screwdriver if you're careful enough to keep the balde perfectly square to the bushing, but that's very hard to do. Even so, it's highly possible that you will ruin the bushings. You might as well just order new ones. There are dedicated bushing bits, but you will still probably ruin the bushings. Also, after you reinstall the bushings, you should at the very least loctite them, though I re-stake them. As for polish, here's the secret on this gun. My neighbor used to have show bikes, with lots of polished billet, chrome, etc. He used a product called Wenol. I had used Simichrome, Flitz, and about a half dozen less known products, and until Wenol, Simichrome was the best for this type of finish. Wenol is even better. It comes in two grades in the U.S., red and blue. Once you get the block sanding done, take some red Wenol and put it on the 2000 grit sandpaper. This will bring out a high polish. After that, use a soft non synthetic cloth with red Wenol, then blue. Be careful not to hit the rounds. That's it. It takes around 40 hours of sanding/polishing to get to this level, if I had to take a guess. |
(with an Austin Powers....) YEAH, BABY!!  Cant wait to see pics of the work in progress, even the ones you don't post here. I'm going to be getting some tri wing grips screws from brownells today which I'll get over to you when they come in along with the Hammer Strut and Pimp Grips. Still waiting on my project gun from Impact.......still on backorder
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+1 i like it |
Gonna get a set for the springer as well, just doing it a little by little. The colt is going to be my off-duty carry which will be shot at the range every so often to keep it limber. The springer is going to be my learning curve gun that I hack up trying to learn how to smith a 1911. It will also get the shit shot our of it. So the colt will be more like a princess than a safe queen. but, the little tramp will still get used! 
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