Back to Basics

Metal Finishing:
Polishing with Abrasive Stones
While cloth- and paper-backed abrasives are on—all in a great range of grits, sizes,
and shapes. I stuck with what the
most commonly used in finishing metal prior instructor recommended, and bought
mostly soft and medium-hard silicon
to bluing or color case hardening, abrasive carbide, 1/4 by 6 inches long, in grits
stones offer some distinct advantages. from 100 up to 400. I also purchased
a few round stones and a few in hard

O
aluminum oxide and India just to try.
by K.C. Erickson chore—very time consuming and la- These have all worked well for me for
ver the years, I’ve attended a bor intensive—especially if you want many years now, and I’ve found no
number of the NRA’s one-week to get the results seen on the best need to change.
gunsmithing classes, both at custom rifles. I’ve found that, due to As an aside, though, some years
Pine Technical College in Minnesota fatigue, I’m not able to do this for long ago I took a short class in single-shot
and the gunsmithing school in Trin- periods of time; an hour or two at a riflesmithing from a highly regarded
idad, Colorado. My interest has been time seems to be my limit. The main gunsmith who mentioned that he did
in work related to rifles exclusively, reason for this is, in order to exert the not use stones. Instead he uses strips
and these classes have been reward- pressure needed to make the stone of wood about 15 inches long or so, in
ing and useful to me as a hobby gun- cut, they’re held in the hand and different shapes and sizes, with abra-
smith. One of the classes I took was fingers much like you would hold a sive cloth glued to them. I tried this
taught by a member of the Guild of pen or pencil. Later, I ordered a stone and they do indeed work very well,
Custom Gunsmiths, whose work was holder, and found that this accessory
restricted to metalsmithing. Besides makes using the stones a lot easier on
guiding us through the making of jigs the fingers. By using the holder, you Below: For fine metal finishing,
and fixtures for detailing metalwork, will also get more use out of the stone abrasive stones such as this 14- by
we spent significant time learning to before it has worn down too much to 1/4-inch stone from Congress Tools
do metal finishing. This is where we be useful. are an excellent alternative to cloth-
learned to appreciate and use stones When I got home from the class, I and paper-backed abrasive sheets.
to preserve corners and edges while sent for the catalog from Congress The handle, also available from
bringing the surfaces to the required Tools (800/243-2653), the company Congress, makes the stones
polish for bluing or color case harden- from which the stones for the class considerably easier to handle.
ing. The stones we used are widely were obtained. I
used in the tool-and-die industry for ordered a good-
polishing injection molds for plastic sized assortment
parts, among other things. of stones that
As beginners, the instructor fur- will last me a
nished us with stones that were 1/4- long time, and
inch square by 6 inches long and didn’t even cost
made of soft silicon carbide in grits as much as a 100-
from 100 up to 320. The stoning was sheet pack of
done with a thin oil, which quickly abrasive cloth or
worked up into a slurry that must be paper. Congress
wiped off periodically in order to see offers a huge va-
our progress. It didn’t take us very riety of stones—
long to appreciate how efficient and silicon carbide,
effective these stone are in metal fin- aluminum ox-
ishing. I’ve always considered pol- ide, India, ruby,
ishing metal by hand to be an onerous ceramic, and so

16 AMERICAN GUNSMITH ★ June 2009

but I found these strips to be time dropper to drip the oil onto the metal. instructor in the NRA course told us
consuming to make up and the abra- By cross polishing when changing that, if we planned to cold-rust blue,
sive cloth wears out quickly, whereas to the next finer grit, you will be able there was no need to polish finer than
the stones last for a long time. to see the scratches and stoning marks 320 grit. For my purposes, I’ve found
It’s imperative, of course, to keep to remove them, but on some convex this to be true and have done both
the work flooded with a thin cutting surfaces this will be difficult to ac- cold-rust and hot-dip bluing and can
oil or else the stones will quickly load complish. The soft silicon-carbide see little or no difference when the
up and become unusable. I’ve found stones quickly wear to fit the contour metal is polished to 320 grit.
that kerosene mixed with a little brown you are stoning and the adjustment Over the years, I have accumulat-
cutting oil works very well. l apply attained makes it easier to stone con- ed some nice buffing equipment
the oil to the metal and start the ston- vex or concave surfaces. This is a nice which is very effective, but I no longer
ing, constantly wiping the metal off feature. When the surface is stoned to use it very often except on non-gun-
when a thick slurry starts to accumu- the degree of polish desired, a few related projects. Once you’ve seen the
late so that I can see my progress. I minutes with 320-grit abrasive cloth results from hand polishing, you’ll be
don’t dip the stone in the oil, because or paper will blend the stoning, and spoiled, and you’ll come to appreci-
the abrasive dust will quickly con- the metal should then be ready for ate the fine finishes found only on the
taminate the oil. Instead, I use an eye bluing or color case hardening. The highest quality custom guns. ■

‘FAUX PARKERIZED’ FINISH than with a blued gun. To make a When Grandpa came in to pick up
(continued from page 15) repair, you simply mix up another his grandson’s newly refinished bar-
would happen if the kid drops his batch, degrease the damaged area with rel, I placed it on the counter next to
newly transformed Model B on a gran- alcohol, lightly sand it with 1200-grit a military M1911-A1. He liked how
ite boulder. How about touch-up? paper, blow off the dust, and respray close I’d come to duplicating the fin-
Solving that particular problem isn’t the wounded area. (The shelf life of ish of the old war horse. And while it
as serious or as difficult as it might DuraCoat is 18 months and 6 months wasn’t actually Parkerized, it will sure
seem—and is certainly easier to solve for the hardener.) look and wear like it is. ■

DISASSEMBLY OF THE WALTHER P22 pin safety and spring in the block. The trolled to its full forward position.
(continued from page 7) slide should be inverted in prepara- Doing this is easier if you cock the
finger. Continue pushing both plates tion for rejoining it to the housing. hammer before starting the final reas-
down until the housing can take over Place the mainspring and guide rod in sembly.
for your finger, and then quickly seat the housing. Start the slide on, and By the time you’ve got the Walther
both plates. Reinstall their two dowel compress both guide and spring with P22 all back together, you’ll be asking
pins. the mounting pin (#70) until the slide yourself the same question I did: Why
In case you didn’t tape in the stop can be moved far enough rearward to can’t these little rimfire pistols be
and spring as suggested earlier, there’s be lowered into engagement and con- simplified? ■
a way they can be installed prior to
joining up the plates with the hous-
ing. The slide-stop spring should be
back in the plate where it came from.
(You didn’t forget to take a close look
at this arrangement before disassem-
bling the left plate, did you?) The
spring’s bent end attaches to the hole
in the slide stop located under the
center tab, and the stop seats some- Binder Ad
(p/u from page 18, AGM-March 08)
what in the groove for it on the plate.
Then you can tape them down so you
can proceed as directed above. I found
that trying to hold everything togeth-
er without using the tape was impos-
sible. At least I couldn’t have done it
without having several more hands.
When reinstalling the breech block,
a dab of Vaseline will retain the firing-

June 2009 ★ AMERICAN GUNSMITH 17