refinishing a plastic frame.

[PaulD]

I have some arthritis in my upper, right thumb knuckle from an old injury. As a result, the knuckle sticks out a bit and can be bothered by some handgun frames.

On one, I'd like to round off a corner on that area. I'm not worried about being able to smoothly round it off but is there a good way to refinish the plastic to match the factory finish? Heat applied in a certain way?

Thanks.

 

[vellnueve]

Being more specific would help. What's the texture of that particular area? What type of firearm?

 

[PaulD]

Being more specific would help. What's the texture of that particular area? What type of firearm?

Well, it's a Kahr with a slightly shiny and slightly textured finish. The finish really isn't much different than a Glock or M&P.

The problem is, I'd like to "melt" it (round it off by careful sanding) and this will leave a different finish than the way it came from the factory.

 

[PaulD]

For example, the beavertail area (for lack of a better term) that sits in the web of my hand. I'd like to slightly knock off the corner that would contact my thumb knuckle.

 

[vellnueve]

Well, there are gunsmiths that do retexturing work. I'm not sure it's possible to exactly recreate the texture. Greg Derr might be a good bet, or LaRocca. You COULD go over it closely with a rotary tool and try to retexture it yourself, but a Dremel is way too imprecise.

Another option would be to just polish it heavily after sanding so it's smooth.

 

[PaulD]

Well, there are gunsmiths that do retexturing work. I'm not sure it's possible to exactly recreate the texture. Greg Derr might be a good bet, or LaRocca. You COULD go over it closely with a rotary tool and try to retexture it yourself, but a Dremel is way too imprecise.

Another option would be to just polish it heavily after sanding so it's smooth.

Yeah, I'll just polish it. Shaping it by hand is no problem. It's just the final finish I was worried about.

Thanks.

 

[vellnueve]

Yeah.

I have some really nice polishing disks that are used for dental polishing. I'm sure there's a commercial equiavlent, comes out really nice and smooth.

 

[PaulD]

Yeah.

I have some really nice polishing disks that are used for dental polishing. I'm sure there's a commercial equiavlent, comes out really nice and smooth.

Done. I sanded it down a bit with varying grits of sandpaper then paper towel (yes, a paper towel). The paper towel didn't exactly polish it but made the finish close enough.

 

[vellnueve]

Where's that "This Thread is Useless Without Pics" smiley?

 

[drgrant]

Pics or it didn't happen. I'm interested to see the outcome. This might be useful to see how it's done.

-Mike

 

[PaulD]

Where's that "This Thread is Useless Without Pics" smiley?

I put a few minor scratches in the frame around where I intended to sand it down. Therefore, I'm embarrassed and not going to post pics. It's good enough for my purposes though.

 

[PaulD]

Pics or it didn't happen. I'm interested to see the outcome. This might be useful to see how it's done.

-Mike

I'll try to touch it up a bit later and take a pic. Basically, I put the frame in my vise (lightly with padding of course) and then used some emory cloth pulled taught between my hands and just sanded it down to where it was more rounded.

Then I actually used a cheap diamond hone to smooth out the surface a bit, then followed up with a paper towel.

I really only needed to knock that horn down by 1/8" or less to make sure it didn't contact my knuckle.

 

[vellnueve]

I know the feeling. I injured my right index finger two years ago and have calcification there due to the scarring. There's a few handguns that really ride that bump (Glocks), but thankfully it doesn't impede my shooting.