Making matte black anodized look like satin?

[grimmah]

Hello. I just got my Guarder Detonics .45 slide and frame replacement kit, and the finish is VERY matte. I saw a french guy who used a Turtle Was product called Colour Magic to polish up his guarder kit, but it made the slide very glossy as a result. I dont know if thats because he worked it long enough, or if the polishing product works that quickly on it. Here is the video, in case he talks about that, but its all in french with no subtitle option so i cant understand him.

Im wondering if there is anyone on here, who has done something similar but ended up with a more satin look to the product. I think the matte original anodizing make it look very, "unreal", whilst the glossy finish was never a finish the Detonics came in, it was either blued, different type of polised or bead blasted finishes of raw stainless steel, or a satin black finish. I would like to avoid using paint, as that will just end up chipping..Im wondering if maybe Birchwood Super Black pen for aluminium might work?

I know this is being a bit anal about it, but hopefully someone out there has shared my concern and come up with a way to polish it without making it entirely glossy in the process.

 

Thanks and regards,

grimm

[renegadecow]

If the product used was wax based, it is a temporary finish but easy to reapply. The material fills in small pores making the surface more even and thus more reflective. There's really no way to alter this as the stuff is either on or off the surface. Polishing on the other hand uses micro abrasives which physically wears down the surface to make it even. It will remain even unless something scratches it and the amount of eveness/lustre can be adjusted depending on how much it's worked on. But there is of course a limit depending on the thickness of the anodization. These run in the microns so polishing it too much to reveal bare metal is a real risk.

What I do is apply plain and simple silicone oil buffed with a rag. It gives a nice semi gloss finish that protects parts from oxidation and stays on (for display) until you start using it often, but is easy and cheap to reapply.

[grimmah]

Yeah, your pistol does look less dull without being very glossy. Something to try i think.

[abbadon101]

If you were to buy some 800-1000 grit sand paper and then sand the slide only one way it will give its a satin type finish.

[grimmah]

I think the anodizing is way too thin to risk sanding it.

[Murdoc]

Sandblowing is the best!!!

Rust removing progress:

Finished steel:

And ABS:

Be careful with any kind of anodizing and eloxating! Even with companys who work with large parts!!! The layer (~0,1 mm) can result fitting problems!!! I anodised my full steel DBoys AKSU and run into problems with screws and pins... :/

If the material is spiater you can "fake cold blue" it by cooking it in NaOH. Anodised (steel)/NaOH-cooked (spiater)/eloxated (alu). All sand blowed before:

[grimmah]

Sand/glass blasting is not an option as it does indeed remove material off of anodized parts, which will create more rattle and wobble.

[Murdoc]

It do not creates any wobble...

 

Because you don't remove anything where not needed... simply do not direct the air/sand stream where not needed (reflecting particles do not count, they have much less energy). And even if you remove  0,0001 mm it doesn't matter.

Size problems after anidising/eloxating vs. sand blowing is like an elefant vs. mouse.

 

To be more precise I used my home compressor, and a sand blowing pistol, which can hold about one litre of sand. Industrial ones are more powerful but they can use nutshell particles, or natron, or small glass particles too... later ones make less rough surface, because they ar round, or softer. But ify ou ask somebody he maybe do not invest so much time in and there will be maybe functional problems on sliding parts, but not because of thickness and wobble, but because of raught surface.

 

I did it on my KWC Makarov grip to be able to paint it more massive faux bakelite. So I covered the lug of the pistol layard by whipping around with a strig. Duck tape can be used same way. No harm at all, on the lug even the black paint remain intact.

 

Satin metall color is the best after sand blowing. Black satin color after sand blowing and anodising (after polishing and anodising would be shiny)... but I won't let my GBB anodised, because it won't be able to reassembly (really hard to calculate anodising/eloxating thickness)...

 

Maybe if you cook your spiater parts in NAOH, it will make similar like cold blueing, but the surface is much less durable compared to eloxating, it becames shiny at the edges easily. It also removes the original paint by itself, but the color will be less homogenous. These are facts about NaOH, but maybe if you sandblowes the parts, and after put it into NaOH, the color will be nice satin and fake cold blued, and also not so durable.

 

THE MOST IMPORTANT!!! DO NOT PUT ALUMINIUM INTO NAOH!!! IT SOLVES QUICKLY!!!

 

Using sandpaper, or metal brush, or even steel wool will make edges shiny and the firearm "battle worn" look.

[daloonie]

Steel wool. Simple yet effective. But again it does remove material. Not as fine as actual polishing, but a good medium. I've used it on a Guarder 1911(grey) slide and found it doesn't eat the anodizing away with the first brush.

also works a treat on Marui plastic slides for similar glossy effects.

 

Remember remove all the innards of the slide. Steel wool is messy and small strings will get everywhere. No reason to get that inside your gun.

 

Sandpaper in grit 800 is way too coarse for the semi gloss you're looking for.

 

Also Birchwood Casey bluing doesn't affect anodized parts. I've tried on the guarder slide even after sanding it down, it doesn't affect it. No reason the pen would I suppose.

[grimmah]

I appreciate your input guys, but im too anxious of getting an uneven finish using abrasives on the kit. i will not take steel wool or sandblasting to the parts. If i fail, it will look worse than the very matte finish it already has.

[thatguy404]

Silicon Spray.

[grimmah]

Yeah i tried the silicon spray, it works alright. sadly it only works for display really. If only Guarder had made the effort to anodize it in a more realistic hue. It almost looks like an undercoat as is. Even Army has a better finish on their Detonics.