As I put points on the board toward finishing what will be my last build for a while and closing the book on a 1911 twenty years in the building, I find myself with a dilemma where I need some advice. The build concept is "mirror polished slide flats bright enough to use as a shaving mirror"... unfortunately I can't get a 7" slide in stainless steel, only carbon.

Manufacturer offered finish choices are (their descriptions not mine):

• Matte bare metal
• Brushed polished sides bare metal
• Black oxide finished
• Black nitro melonited
• Hard chrome as "gunsmith service" for $200+

The overall concept is a two-tone finish, with the top round, bottom around the guiderod and cocking serrations Cerakoted in a darker color--combine the "artistry" of a show-pony with the durability of a war-horse. Any of our pro smiths or DIY refinishers have any suggestions about which option I should have them ship and what to have a refinisher do with it once it arrives? The manufacturer suggested "hard chrome overall then tape off and Cerakote the relevant areas," but unfortunately they don't offer a polished hard-chrome (or any HC on longslides) as anything other than aftermarket service right now; best they'll do for polish is "satin."

I would post this verbatim on www.1911addicts.com

I did one similar. Took a blued slide, had a machine shop polish the flat sides, then had the whole thing finished with clear cerakote. Mine is not mirror shiny, so it's more subtle and harder to photograph, but same concept and a cool look in person.

What you're describing sounds like something Kimber used to do, the "Eclipse" line.

I would guess the easiest thing would be, get the black oxide slide, then polish the flats. You could do it yourself, easily enough.

Only problem I'd have with that is, carbon steel with no kind of protective finish will tend to rust easily, unless you're pretty diligent about keeping it coated...not too big of a problem if it lives in the safe and gets shot a few times a year, but a huge pain if you're carrying it daily.

I *wanted* to start with a stainless slide to make getting a silver tone on the sides easier. Nickel plate is the gold standard for appearance, but doesn't cut the mustard on durability - the overall color palette was inspired by the teal, white and chrome of a '57 Bel Air.

Start with a stainless, polish the flats to a mirror, tape them off, then cerakote the rest of the pistol.

As noted, that would have been the ideal, but at this time there are no available 7" slides in stainless, so I'm stuck working with what I *can* get to draw up plans around and if by some miracle a stainless 7" becomes an option that just makes it faster and less costly.

That IS the plan when I add the companion 5" "carry" slide, though...