Dan Wesson CBOB Rough Laser Etching...

oasis618 · Nov 9, 2011

For all you DIY'ers out there I have a question. I have a Dan Wesson CBOB and they have laser etched serial numbers on the frame which on mine at least is very rough feeling to the point where if you rub a rag over it you end up with a bunch of fibers from the rag snagged on the edges of the etching. I had to remove a small scratch once before and used a very fine sandpaper (I don't remember the actual grit) and slowly sanded with the grain and only in one direction and it came out great. I was thinking of using this same method to knocked down the surface of the serial number but I thought I'd see if anyone had any better ideas.

Thanks!

oasis618 · Nov 13, 2011

Alright then, sandpaper it is!!!

ricsha · Nov 19, 2011

Sorry I didn't see your post earlier. I have, or have had, several Dan Wesson 1911s and never noticed a rough serial number, so yours in unique. CBOBs are stainless with bead blasted rounds and brushed flats, so you should be able to easily smooth out the roughness of the serial number with sandpaper. As you say, just go in one direction with the brushed finish. I done it for minor scratches. Too fine a paper (1000 or 1500) will probably polish too much not matching the original brushed finish, so you might have to drop back to 600grit or 400grit or even 320grit to match the factory finish. If you polish a shiny spot it's easy to fix with a slightly rougher grit of paper.

I recently got an older Sig P228 with newly etched laser engraving of the importer on the slide, and it was rough like you describe. I quickly polished it out with progressively finer aluminum oxide paper; but in my case I was having it duracoated, so wasn't so worried about matching the factory finish. Best of luck, should be easy.

oasis618 · Nov 19, 2011

I haven't quite gotten (is gotten even a real word?) around to this yet but I think tomorrow I'll give it a shot. I'm pretty sure this method should take care of it and I thank you for taking the time to reply!