scratches on a S.S. 1911

[vetter3006]

I have a S.S. 1911 that I bought new and it had some rough edges and it bothered me when I was shooting, so I was looking to have a gunsmith dehorn the pistol but it was only the two small edges at the outside corners at the bottom of the back of the grip next to the butt plate. So I read up on dehorning and decided to play gunsmith myself and smooth out the edges, which with a set of files and some lite dremel work it came out good but now the scratches or grooves were left from file marks, so I found at home depot when picking up metal sandpaper to smooth out the scratches a product called Rejuvenate stainless steel scratch eraser kit and decide what the hell and try it, kit has an applicator some sand paper and two different pads for heavy and moderate scratches and a liquid to go with it for final scratch removal process.Got to say it really worked great to finish the pistol and I may not be a certified gunsmith am very happy with the work.
The edges are smooth and contoured to match the factory shape and it is very comfortable and smooth to grip. will need to take it to the range and shoot some rounds and feel it out then.

[R L Suehr]

Sorry had to be done.

[Bang]

If file marks are left behind, it may be because the wrong file pattern was used, and/or the file was used incorrectly. Look up "draw filing".

Glad it worked out. I know how the heart can sink when something goes wrong.

[Hodgie]

Need to see pics and there's no such thing as a certified gun smith there's thise that know and do and then there's everyone else.

[vetter3006]

Here is my progress photos.

[Bang]

Is there supposed to be some imperfection discernible in the photos? All looks great to me...

[vetter3006]

when filing it leaves small grooves in the metal, found out later you can coat the file with chalk and that stops metal shavings from getting in the file grooves and causing the scratches on the metal your filing. I did not try that but found after I was done.
I did use 1800 and 2000 wet metal sandpaper to finish the work

[Bang]

Looks very good. I think you have resolved it.

[Urban_Redneck]

Looks great!

[tjironhorse]

Looks very good to me. I had to do the same on my stainless Kimber. It was digging in to my palm. A little file work and all good. Many times a problem can be resolved without taking it to a gunsmith.