how do you polish an XD?

[ThePainkiller]

I've been seeing people on here "polishing" their black XDs to make the trigger a chrome color or the grip safety chrome, barrell, guide rod, etc. I too would like to do this, but how do you to it? What do you use?

[dasanii19]

Get "Heavy Metal polish" from les swcuab tires.Get the "Green" that comes with the cotton already in it. Not the liquid. Polish your parts with that, the more you rub/polish your parts with that heavy metal the shinnyier they will get, no joke... after your done tearing all the finish off your parts and they are down to the metal , you can then use the "blue" heavy metal to get more of a mirror finish. You will love it!!

I have got many compliments on how good my polished parts have turned out, I even have a buddy of mine that liked how it turned out do the same to his glock barrel..

A bottle of that stuff is only like 10 bucks.

After your done polishing your parts be sure to keep them oiled, a lot of people will say its a bad idea to polish your parts because of rust factors but its not a big deal, just keep them oiled.

If you have any other questions, drop me a PM..

I have found a quicker way to polish some parts, like the pins and rod, Use a drill, secure those pins in the drill and drill away while applying preassure with the heavy metal cotton..

[dasanii19]

Here is a link to what it is, this stuff is some serious **** man..

Dont get me wrong you can use the Liquid kind , it just seems like the cotton is more convient.. Here are the steps again... Green "cotton" then "blue" cotton, keep those parts oiled....

http://www.heavymetalpolish.com/Products/Polishes/

One more thing.. If you havnt taken your XD aprt yet and you choose to do so to polish those parts. Take them apart slowley and PAY ATTENTION!! even take picture or better yet record yourself If you do decide to take them apart and cant figure out how to put them back together, hit me up and ill help you out with some links that helped me..

[ThePainkiller]

Thanks a lot man, thats a big help. Ill let you know how it goes...

[mojust]

I use miltec. The gun looks great.

[DrewBaye]

Originally Posted by ThePainkiller

I've been seeing people on here "polishing" their black XDs to make the trigger a chrome color or the grip safety chrome, barrell, guide rod, etc. I too would like to do this, but how do you to it? What do you use?

It would probably be better to have the metal parts chromed, rather than polish off the melonite. It would be a nicer, more uniform finish, as well as more wear and corrosion resistant. If you just polish the finish off your black slide, you're going to have problems with rust if you don't keep it clean and oiled.

[DJDan]

I thought the melonite was part of the metal...not a finish applied after the gun was built???

[DrewBaye]

Originally Posted by DJDan

I thought the melonite was part of the metal...not a finish applied after the gun was built???

From http://burlingtoneng.com/melonite.html

"MELONITE is a thermochemical treatment for improving surface properties of metal parts. It exhibits predictable and repeatable results in the treating of low and medium carbon steels, alloy steels, stainless and austenitic steels, tool and die steels, cast and sintered iron."

"...nitrogen, carbon, and small amounts of oxygen are diffused into the surface of the steel, creating an epsilon iron nitride layer (e - FexN)."


If you use an abrasive to polish the slide, barrel, or other parts, you are removing the melonite finish, and reducing the wear and corrosion resistance.

If you want the appearance of stainless steel or chrome, buy a bi-tone pistol or send yours in to have the slide or other parts chromed. Otherwise, unless you are very careful about keeping it clean and oiled, it's going to rust on you if you remove the melonite surface.

[dasanii19]

Yea I wouldnt reccomend it for everyone, I live in a very very dry place (Nevada) I keep my gun oiled well, even if I already cleaned and oiled it and havent shot it in a week I still spray a wipe down with some rem oil and wipe everything.

I polished parts on my bi-tone, and polished just the rod on my black xd45, that rod was wearing like a son of a gun, the looks of it started to bug me so I polished it,other then the rod its still all black, I like the melonite finish on the new xd45 so why screw it all up.. I like how the bi-tone looks now with all the parts polished, I just gotta keep it clean and oiled as mentioned more then once on here..

Cool link By the way DrewBaye

Edit:: I notice Drewbaye is from Florida where alot of humidy is in the air ,hes probably a little more cautious with rust problems and what not which I dont blame him to be, Im in Nevada so we are less prone to that sort of thing here..

[Odin]

Originally Posted by DrewBaye

From http://burlingtoneng.com/melonite.html

"MELONITE is a thermochemical treatment for improving surface properties of metal parts. It exhibits predictable and repeatable results in the treating of low and medium carbon steels, alloy steels, stainless and austenitic steels, tool and die steels, cast and sintered iron."

"...nitrogen, carbon, and small amounts of oxygen are diffused into the surface of the steel, creating an epsilon iron nitride layer (e - FexN)."


If you use an abrasive to polish the slide, barrel, or other parts, you are removing the melonite finish, and reducing the wear and corrosion resistance.

If you want the appearance of stainless steel or chrome, buy a bi-tone pistol or send yours in to have the slide or other parts chromed. Otherwise, unless you are very careful about keeping it clean and oiled, it's going to rust on you if you remove the melonite surface.[/i]

I have stripped mine down to bare metal and no rust. It is very humid in Houston and I handle my gun all the time. I don't think I have heard of a single XD 45 having rusting problems.