CZ50 polishing?

[rush-2112]

I have a CZ50 that I am going to turn into a 2-tone pistol. I was wondering the best way to go about polishing the sides of the slide, and a few other pieces like the take down button, the mag. release, and the trigger. I think that a silver-blue look to the pistol will look sweet.

I know, I know I am altering an old auto but, I need to learn how to do finishing, and I would rather do it to a pistol I own then to a "customers" gun. So please no bashing me about this project LOL.:D

[Harry Bonar]

Sir:
I had to do several for Novaks when I and my late son worked there. In my shop I put a really fine belt on my 6X48 sander, was very careful and it turned out great!
For the lower I used Brownells Teflon bake on black spray finish - this stuf f is TOUGH! It really works well.
I usually bead blast with ultra-fine beads on the lover before doing it.
Only problem is getting rid of the wife for a short time while you bake it in her oven!:D
Harry B.

[Bill DeShivs]

You will need a finish on the slide. Bare metal rusts quickly. If you do a proper polish job, a plater should not charge you much.
To polish the slide flats without power equipment, use wet/dry paper ( 300 to at least 600 grit ) taped to a piece of glass, steel, or granite. Move the slide on the paper. Polish the flats last.

[Tom2]

Harry worked at Novaks? I sent a SA down there once, from Vance's and had them work it from a rattle trap that shot groups as small as a paper plate on a good day, to a tack driver. But nowadays they are in demand, have a backlog and higher prices, etc. As for the CZ, if you got time and do good hand polishing, it will look alot better than wheel buffed or the usual factory polish job. Just keep the flats flat. Do like the previous posters said. Brownells sells everything you need for home finishing, if you have the resources to do it at home. Is messy and dangerous, sometimes, or everyone would be doing it. I suspect that the CZ will be alot of work to disassemble so that you can do a proper job on it. If you have a digital camera, take closeups of the thing at different stages so you can put it back together right, an exploded view is nice but is just that, not an assembly manual. Or do good drawings of how stuff fits together. Frankly for a two tone, with hard chrome or nickel, nearly everyone contracts that out to a specialty finisher. But having it stripped and prepped will save you money with them.

[rush-2112]

Well the disassembly of the CZ50 was not to bad, did a trigger job on it, So doing a tear down is no biggie. So, I was thinking about using a spray polyurethane on the non-blued part. Is that a go or no go?

Semi-related, I want to drop the pull weight down a bit in DA (on the CZ), would shortening the hammer strut spring be a good idea? Or just stick to polishing all contact points (which is done)? I am also unaware of anyone making after market coil springs for this pistol, so that is not going to be an option.

Ted