Kahr Slide Polishing

[Diocoles]

How would one go about polishing the slide on a CW9?
It's in good shape, but has a few scratches and getting a bit dull in places.
Don't think I should use steel wool 0000.
Glass bead blasting?
Something that a home DIY could do?

Suggestions would be welcome....

[JFootin]

You can use graduating grades of sand paper and get results like this: My Custom Polished CM9. I didn't do it myself, but bought it from a guy who had it done professionally. Here is a business who does custom work like this. On this page, they give tips for care of polished guns:
http://www.customizedcreationz.com/s...polishing.html

[OldLincoln]

I've never had luck polishing a large flat surface with a little Dremmel tool. I can't seem to get it even so it turns out blotchy. For advice should you try it, invest in a bench buffer and move the slide to even it out.

There are some videos on UTube for polishing and they use a stick abrasive compound and the wheel. I think they said to not put a lot of pressure on the slide but let the compound do the work.

[Diocoles]

ah, thank you berry much.

[cw45fan]

On the subject... Check this long thread out:

http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=3290

[Bawanna]

I did my PM45, not nearly to the mirror finish Jfootin has on his but fairly shiney. I did the progressive sandpaper routine starting at about 600 grit and worked up to like 1200. A large polishing wheel which I don't have would be right handy. I'd stick with some sort of padded block to keep flats flat.
The dremel tool with polishing wheels is nearly useless but I used it too.
Flitz on a cloth towards the end helped a little. It's hard stuff.

The nice thing is you can pick up where you left off if you get tired or out of time. Also if you get a few scratches just polish em out again.

I also left the top pretty much intact to keep the glare down but even more importantly I didn't have to knock the sights off to do a proper polish. I put XS Big Dots on and like where they are, didn't want to mess with em.

Jfootins is a beauty but I doubt I'd ever come close to that with the stuff I got. You can search for CopperandBlack, he was real good at polishing stuff, Jfootin quality too. Nice.

[Diocoles]

Very pretty and all but I'm looking to keep the "matte" (?) finish.
Just need to clean it up a bit.
Wonder if a tumbler would remove the little scratches and dull spots?

[Bawanna]

I doubt if a tumbler would even faze the finish and you'd have no control over where it got hit the most.

If your looking for matt finish I'd smooth up the scratches just a bit with fine sandpaper and then bead blast it. If theres a gunsmith nearby or maybe even an automotive refinisher, plater or something like that around they could blast that for ya in minutes and probably not cost much either.

A thorough cleaning afterwards goes without saying.

[gb6491]

Very pretty and all but I'm looking to keep the "matte" (?) finish.
Just need to clean it up a bit.
Wonder if a tumbler would remove the little scratches and dull spots?

...If your looking for matt finish I'd smooth up the scratches just a bit with fine sandpaper and then bead blast it....

Yep, if you want to restore the factory finish, glass bead gives satisfactory results. I cleaned up some tooling marks on the rear of my CW45's slide and blasted the entire slide with glass bead as the final finish process. Here's a photo of it and my CW9 (factory finish):

Another shot (CW45 top):

Regards,
Greg

[OldLincoln]

I was reminded of bead blast by Gary's post. I had the rear sight on a 380 Colt Mustang adjusted at my local gun store and they blasted out a ding where I tried to adjust it myself. They didn't even charge me for the blasting. If you have a local shop they might just do it for a nominal charge. Probably free if you had them install some night sights too. It's not the shiny, but it is very nice.

[Diocoles]

Greg, exactly what I was looking for.
Just wasn't sure if glass bead blasting would do it.
Thanks for the pics, gives me more confidence in it.
I think I know a guy with a blaster in his garage.
See if he'll let me use it.
The hardware store has blasting media.

Thanks again.

[fjughead]

Brasso and some soft cleaning cloths will clean it up. No tools needed. Scotch tape around the sights will protect them.

[Bug Splat]

I did the flat areas of my old K40 which I stupidly sold years ago. On the hunt for another now.

Anywho, I used 5-6 different sandpaper grits taped to a glass pane. A 2x4 block was used as a guide to keep the slide level as I ran it back and forth over the sandpaper. Mask off what you don't want polished. Never rub in circles but front to back. Circles swirls look awful. Go slow and take you time. last step was a washcloth with a little abrasive car wax to bring out the shine. Took a few nights while watching TV to complete. I thought it was fun.

Before....


After....


EDIT: Forgot the add that I used wet sandpaper and used water liberally to wash out the gunk as I polished the slide. Clean and oil VERY well after you are done.

[Kahrnonymous]

subscribed, looking at doing my barrel! Thanks!

[Bill K]

I did the flat areas of my old K40 which I stupidly sold years ago. On the hunt for another now.

Anywho, I used 5-6 different sandpaper grits taped to a glass pane. A 2x4 block was used as a guide to keep the slide level as I ran it back and forth over the sandpaper. Mask off what you don't want polished. Never rub in circles but front to back. Circles swirls look awful. Go slow and take you time. last step was a washcloth with a little abrasive car wax to bring out the shine. Took a few nights while watching TV to complete. I thought it was fun.


EDIT: Forgot the add that I used wet sandpaper and used water liberally to wash out the gunk as I polished the slide. Clean and oil VERY well after you are done.

Bug Splat, welcome to KahrTalk!

I really like that look where you've just done the slide flats. How about the extractor side, did you remove the extractor before doing the polishing?

Thanks...