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Gunsmithing question: Mirrored finishes?

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Diamondback

Operator
Now that we've seeny 7" Longslide approah firing trials, it's time to start planning the "permanent" finish. The "artistic" spec is something bright an mirror-shine enough that I could shave or my gal do her makeup by the reflection in it, but it still needs to be durable - AND it needs to be something that'll work with having other surfaces of the same component (for illustration, slide sides chrome, round-top above and radius below colored) in Cerakote or Gunkote.

Unfortunately, right now the only places I can find that do anything like hard-chrome will only do matte, and I doubt nickel-plating will hold up even if it *can* be done as a "partial component" application. And there's nothing in the Gunkote, Cerakote or Duracoat catalogs that meets the "mirror-shine" requirement.

Any thoughts out there in Armory Land about how y'all would do this and who you'd call?
 
REAL big help there... I'm not saying use AS a mirror is a design goal, the point is just to have that level of gleaming reflective polish. Hey, the Better Half insists that this thing has to be as much artistic as craftsmanship...
 
In all my years all the hard chrome I've seen has been a matte finish. If you can get shiny chrome, how would you only get it on sides and not the other surfaces? Since you dip the part in a liquid bath, is there a coating application on the other surfaces to resist the plating process?
Heck around my area all the plating businesses have closed decades ago. I had to ship some aluminum to the other end of the state just to get them anodized. When it came back I was severely disappointed, it looked horrible. It still cost me $175 dollars for 6 pieces that were about a half inch larger on all sides than a deck of cards.
 
You will have to compromise a little .

Old School bright nickel on whole slide , then partially " paint " on desired parts with Gunkote / Dura Coat , etc .

Or to compromise in the other direction , get Electroless Nickel polished " as shiny as practical " for base .

( E - Nickel is not quite as hard / wear resistant as hard chrome , but is More corrosion resistant .)
 
Only thing I could think of would be to put a "resistive" coating as you mention on the "other finish" sections like a mask. As far as I know there's never been any kind of chromer in the PNW...

Electroless might be better for the humid SeattHell climate... on the other hand, I'm probably going to only be here another 7-10 years anyway. Once my mother's laid to rest and her estate's settled, I'm outta here for a Free State as soon as I can afford to relocate.
 
Diamondback said:
Now that we've seeny 7" Longslide approah firing trials, it's time to start planning the "permanent" finish. The "artistic" spec is something bright an mirror-shine enough that I could shave or my gal do her makeup by the reflection in it, but it still needs to be durable - AND it needs to be something that'll work with having other surfaces of the same component (for illustration, slide sides chrome, round-top above and radius below colored) in Cerakote or Gunkote.

Unfortunately, right now the only places I can find that do anything like hard-chrome will only do matte, and I doubt nickel-plating will hold up even if it *can* be done as a "partial component" application. And there's nothing in the Gunkote, Cerakote or Duracoat catalogs that meets the "mirror-shine" requirement.

Any thoughts out there in Armory Land about how y'all would do this and who you'd call?
Click to expand...
then that gun would have to be a "safe queen", if it were mine.

i'd be afraid to have it get scratched by say a ricocheting shell casing, which happens quite a few times with nearly all my semi-automatics..

or i'd be afraid of general scratches happening.

for me, it would have to be a show piece only.

that "sounds like" an expensive deal, and for me, i just wanna have fun at the range, with no worries.
 
I bought a S&W 6906 on a forum a few years ago and when it arrived I was surprised to ses someone had buffed the slide out to a bright mirror finish. I have thought of having it bead blasted back to matte.
 
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