bluing for stainless?

[ConcernedCitizen]

I haven't seen Brownell's nitride yet, but I was very happy with JagerWerks nitride after machining my slide. I think it was an additional $50, which I consider money well spent.

It might be worth seeing if some of these custom shops will nitride it for you.

 

[cigars]

Ok so this is how I currently have it finished. The frame is painted.

View attachment 532046 View attachment 532047

Looks good. If it were mine I would just use a sharpie to fill in scratches and nicks.

 

[tac]

As most of you know by now, I'm a simple soul, so I have to ask the 'elephant in the room' question.

Why, if you wanted a blued pistol, did you opt for building a stainless steel version?

It's like buying a blue car, and then asking how best to paint it red. Or am I being too simplistic?

 

[DirectDrive]

As most of you know by now, I'm a simple soul, so I have to ask the 'elephant in the room' question.

Why, if you wanted a blued pistol, did you opt for building a stainless steel version?

It's like buying a blue car, and then asking how best to paint it red. Or am I being too simplistic?

Here's my "Internet Guess"....

1) The OP "acquired" a stainless 1911 for a good price even though he didn't like the look of stainless steel.

2) Then as the story goes, he tried various home-brew bluing/blackening concoctions but is not happy with the results.

3) He said he doesn't want to send it out, but I think that he should send it out to get his desired result.
My advice is to prep it and send it out.
If the finish is made to equal the Brownells slide that I described earlier in this thread, he will be happy.

ETA:
In comparing the black nitride type finishes in the stable, I think that the Brownells slide was polished to a finer degree before the surface treatment.

 

[Knebel]

I originally wanted a carbon steel frame and polish it but they were all sold out forever when a sale was going on, so I opted for stainless thinking "since i polish it anyway..." turns out I didnt like the bare metal/polish look as much as I thought I would and am now trying finishes.

Okay so the stainless steel blackener... that gave me a perperf color, but was simply not durable at all. I even emailed caswell and asked what I am doing wrong and they said "its a decorative finish..." but advertise it to use on countertops and such???? My question about "what if i seal it with oil?" was unanswered.

I don't want to send it off to get it finished because of cost involved. It isn't super high end build and I feel like if I were to send it off to get it finished it would be ionbond.

Looks awesome, rubs off by just touching it. Put it in the holster 3times and it comes off.