Bead blasting

[eddieb]

Anyone know of a gunsmith in the Portland area that does bead blasting of revolvers?

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[UncalledForGabe]

Call some auto body shops. They usually have the right media that wont pit the steel on your gun. Make sure you clean your gun THOROUGHLY before you finish and reassemble. That stuff gets stuck in the worst places

 

[cyclesurvival]

I have done alot of sand blasting on fire arms befor bluing. PM me and I will send my number.
Earl

 

[SJS46]

I do bead blasting, i would be happy to help you out i bead blast all the guns i duracoat.
I blasted this HK before i duracoated it, are you going to re-blue it or paint it?

 

[eddieb]

I do bead blasting, i would be happy to help you out i bead blast all the guns i duracoat.
I blasted this HK before i duracoated it, are you going to re-blue it or paint it?

Neither. It's a stainless Ruger SP101. Can't stand the so called brushed finish. Looks more like scratched finish.

 

[eddieb]

I have done alot of sand blasting on fire arms befor bluing. PM me and I will send my number.
Earl

Isn't sand blasting a little too aggressive for firearms?

 

[cyclesurvival]

I use very fine sand and you dont use beads when bluing, the little glass beads leave dimples that over lap leaving little areas for the bluing salts to hide. then they bleed out for a long time. I see yours is stainless so would not mater.

 

[SJS46]

There are a lot of different types of bead blasting, there is Glass Bead that CYCLESURVIVAL is talking about, that is for delicate applications probably wouldn't take the finish off very well. There is Aluminum Oxide bead blasting that i use that is designed to take finish off and not harm the metal (aluminum is softer than metal). And then there is regular sand but they all have different grits that do differant things. On firearms i use 70 to 120 grit, usually 70, seems to work best.
There also is soda blast that is suppose to be good but i don't know much about it.

 

[jeffg5485]

For several years I've been vaporblasting aluminum motor parts using the vapor blasting method, because its the best, most non-aggressive method I've ever seen. In the USA it is usually called liquid-honing.

Vaporblasting might also work well on guns. If you're interested in seeing the results, bring in one or two disassembled handguns . I'll vaporblast those for you at no charge, just to see if you like the results.

You can go to my website Home to see if it looks good to you and I'll leave this free offer open til further notice on this forum.
I'm Jeff Gibson at 503-876-8740 in "Bikesalot"

 

[jeffg5485]

I forgot to mention. I also have Ultrasonic cleaning , the best follow-up cleaning method.
And, If you go to my website, look for the picture of the BSA motorcycle gear cluster vaporblasted and cleaned ultrasonically.
Jeff G.

 

[morroad8]

Sorry to hi-jack your thread eddie, but would beadblasting work to take off an old nickel finish too?

 

[TXgunslinger]

Probably need to use aluminum oxide for nickel removal. No big deal to use aluminum oxide, it actually leaves a better surface for parkerizing or gunkote or both.
I have used 70 grit for rough surface or 120 for fine. Just depends on what your goal is.

 

[Ironbar]

Sorry to revive this very old thread after so long, but does anyone on here still do bead blasting? I was interested in blasting the slide of my M&P to turn it into a two-tone. Let me know.

 

[Ironbar]

Still looking.......

 

[308]

You can buy an inexpensive blast tank from Harbor Freight, then use aluminum oxide as the blast media. I use this on all my builds.

 

[Ironbar]

Are you talking about this one perchance?

Portable Abrasive Blaster Kit

 

[Swedish K]

Are you talking about this one perchance?

Portable Abrasive Blaster Kit

That is a sand blaster - while it can be used it will result in a huge mess of blast media (sand, etc) going everywhere.

I believe they were referring to something more like this: Abrasive Blast Cabinet

That way you don't have sand bouncing back at you and your hands are protected while holding the item being blasted

 

[Ironbar]

Looks like I'll just stay with the melonite coating then!

 

[308]

Are you talking about this one perchance? Portable Abrasive Blaster Kit

Sorry for the delay.
This one using 40grit aluminum oxide
Abrasive Blast Cabinet