Polishing Question

[cm9]

Hey everyone, my first post here. Woohoo. Anyway, I acquired a CM9 in trade. Shoots like a dream. The guy I traded with had sent the barrel in for polishing, Kahr did a sweet job. I wanted to have the slide polished too, but Kahr wanted to charge me $130 for the barrel and slide job since there is no "slide only" price. No thanks. Anyway, here's my question: send it out (and who do you all recommend?) OR do it it myself with Mothers? Not planning on using a dremel, just a lot of Mothers applications by hand. BTW, not my first Kahr here. Previously had a PM9 that I traded for an M&P340 and my son has a CW9. All were / are great guns. Thanks to all who respond.

[FLBri]

almost anyone you send it to is going to charge you that, or near that, from inquiries I have made. Especially if that is a full mirror polish. I actually think that is a fair price.

I've done most of my own polishing, though, simply because I like leaving the finish a little less than 'mirror' for maintenance reasons

[Bawanna]

I concur with FLBri. I did my own but didn't get to mirror polish but very shiney. You'll not get far with Mothers alone as the matte finish is tough. I used progressive grits of sandpaper starting at like 600 and went up to 1200, took me awhile to find the paper that fine in the automotive refinishing section. I then used polishing compound by hand and dremel, eventually getting to Flitz.

It's holding up very well and I know if I get a minor ding I can polish it back out without a huge process.

If mirror polish is what you seek, you might be better off sending it. I don't recall where Jfootins CM9 was done but they did a beautiful job and it's perfect.

[CJB]

The bead blast finish is going to be VERY tough to polish out. It may in fact be hiding some minor machine marks - which is one reason a matte finish is used.

+1 on the fine sandpaper. I'd start with 400wet - I'd also do that on a very thick and flat sheet of glass to maintain flatness. Dont do that with your fingers or you'll ruin the edges and corners, introduce wavyness etc.... gotta be done on glass or granite plate. Work up to 1200-1500 grit wet, but dont be surprised if you find some tool marks and spend a lot of time on the 400 grit.

[JFootin]

I concur with FLBri. I did my own but didn't get to mirror polish but very shiney. You'll not get far with Mothers alone as the matte finish is tough. I used progressive grits of sandpaper starting at like 600 and went up to 1200, took me awhile to find the paper that fine in the automotive refinishing section. I then used polishing compound by hand and dremel, eventually getting to Flitz.

It's holding up very well and I know if I get a minor ding I can polish it back out without a huge process.

If mirror polish is what you seek, you might be better off sending it. I don't recall where Jfootins CM9 was done but they did a beautiful job and it's perfect.

The original owner said that my CM9 was "professionally polished" but I never asked where. But he said it was done just like Bawanna said, with increasingly fine grades of sand paper followed by polishing compound. Sounds like a lot of work. $100 sounds good for all that work.

Here's my thread when I bought it. There is a link there to a Photobucket slide show: http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=7334

It is like a mirror and it is getting a little scratched. I have some Flitz to slick it up. Haven't gotten around to it.

Welcome to the forum!

[OldLincoln]

Do the scratches show up more because it is polished so well?

[JFootin]

Yes. Its like a mirror and just wiping with a hand towel or a T-shirt will put fine scratches on it. I now use only flannel on it. Also, a silicone impregnated gun cloth does wonders. It doesn't look bad. You have to look real, real close to see the scratches.

[Bawanna]

The original owner used to be a member here. I thought he had posted about it when he had it done and everyone was singing the praises of how nice a job the guy did.
I'm sure a search would reveal who and where the place was.
He did a beautiful job for sure.
I feel bad when I can't remember names but I never was very good at names.

[JFootin]

He is qwiktim. I searched, but only found 4 sale threads.

[Rainman48314]

Hey everyone, my first post here. Woohoo. Anyway, I acquired a CM9 in trade. Shoots like a dream. The guy I traded with had sent the barrel in for polishing, Kahr did a sweet job. I wanted to have the slide polished too, but Kahr wanted to charge me $130 for the barrel and slide job since there is no "slide only" price. No thanks. Anyway, here's my question: send it out (and who do you all recommend?) OR do it it myself with Mothers? Not planning on using a dremel, just a lot of Mothers applications by hand. BTW, not my first Kahr here. Previously had a PM9 that I traded for an M&P340 and my son has a CW9. All were / are great guns. Thanks to all who respond.

His work is 100x better than his website, but try Todd at Customized Creationz. There is a price list if you can find it. Lots of sample pictures buried there too.

http://www.customizedcreationz.com/s...finishing.html

[jocko]

ur gonna work ur ass off with Mothers i tryig to do a good polishing job on ur slide. A dremel is probalby not the best thing either, Ur slide really needs one of those big polishing wheels so it doesn't leave marks. More than likely ur sights should be removed also which is something you should not try . Let a pro do it. U might feel better about the price kahr qote u, if u gave if u tried it yourself and found out how much work is really was and how not so good a job u might have done on it....

Todd at customized creations also charges $150 to poliish a slide. Good work is not cheap. Let the pros do it..

[bonjorno2]

^^^ agreed, i recently polished my magazines for my cm9 and they took a little bit of time... To do a complete slide will take a long time by hand and a lot of sore fingers! http://kahrtalk.com/showthread.php?t=8382

[getsome]

If you want to do it yourself contact Summit Racing Equipment which is a huge high performance auto parts company and has a great web site...

They sell a kit with two professional grade buffing wheels that mount to a standard bench grinder and progressive grades of polishing compound in bar form that you apply to the turning wheels not the piece you are pollishing...

Last week on the Muscle Car TV show on Speed Channel they were polishing stainless wheel trim and center caps from a 70 Camaro they were building and that polishing wheel/compound really did a great job and the parts looked like new...

No idea on the price but it couldn't be all that much and you would have a tool for life...