Sand blast stainless?

S

slim whitman

Inactive
Hello everyone -

I just scrubbed some rust off of a stainless Ruger Mark III - and of course now I have a very shiny scratched spot -

I have acsess to a sand blaster - is this an acceptable alternative to glass bedding?

The pistol has a slab side barrel, and the rust was on one of the flats - I don't want to refinish the whole pistol, just the flats of the slab barrel -

Any thoughts would be welcome - thanks in advance -

sw
 
Well depending on the sand grade, I would think that sand would leave a pretty coarse rough texture in most cases. That is why glass beads are preferable. They are more like almost a powder in the grades I have experience with. Leaves a dull but smooth finish. I think what you should do is blast a piece of smooth scrap steel or stainless if you can, and see if the texture is what you want. Hard to unblast it if it looks too rough for you!
 
I've seen a sandblasted stainless revolver, and it was terrible. A local cop bought a stainless revolver, his department allowed only blue steel revolvers, he had it black Teflon coated, his department didn't allow it, he had the Teflon blasted off, and sold it back to our shop. It was ugly and impossible to clean up. The rough finish trapped powder burns, dirt, fingerprints, etc, and couldn't be cleaned up properly.
 
get yourself a set of polishing pads like these in descending "courseness" and use the most course first over the entire flat areas of the barrel.
rw1001.jpg


When you have eliminated all traces of the scrubbing marks you made, move on to the next grade and do the same, eliminating all traces of the previous grade. Finish with the polish pad and you could even take it a step further if you so chose and take the piece to a buffing wheel.

Stainless is a very tough metal. I've worked with it a lot. I doubt you put any significant scratches in it that cannot be removed. The first media you use may need to be a fine automotive grade sand paper depending on what you used to remove the rust.

Work all steps in one direction parallel to the length of the piece.
 
I had two Colt 1911s either glass bead or sand blasted now both were done by professional gun smiths and I love thrm. Looks sort of similar to a satin nickel finish.
 
Just a heads up; If you blast stainless in a blaster that has done other steel, it will lay steel into the surface and though only cosmetic, it will get little rust spots. The same thing happens if you clean SS with a carbon steel brush. Even welds will separate out some iron to rust, so welds will get a little surface rust.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top