Can I modify a slide that has been hard chromed

[Jimbo76]

I have a hard chromed trubor that I would like to lighten the slide and put a kickstand on. Can this be done with that finish?

[drewbeck]

You can but the HC is going to ruin the tooling so a gunsmith will likely want to blast the HC off first or have you pay for the tooling that gets trashed in the process.

You will also have raw steel where cut so that will want to be finished but there aren't many options to patch the new cuts.

Sooo... If you want to do this you'll likely just end up blasting the whole slide to remove the HC, have it lightened and the refinish with whatever you want.

I had the same thing and ended up blasting and refinishing with ceracoate

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: You are not going to blast off the hard chrome, it has to be removed by an acid process or ground off. You can machine through the hard chrome with carbide cutters easily. Thanks, Eric

[JoeyMac]

Most plating shops can EASILY remove the chrome plating via chemical processes without damaging the base metal.

It's basically the exact reverse of the chroming process and not all that expensive.

Be careful about refinishing with hard chrome again. Hard Chrome processes can lead to micro-cracking due to hydrogen embrittlement. This can limit the fatigue strength of the part leading to things like cracked slides and dustcovers. There are processes to minimize hydrogen embrittlement in the part but I think it's a bit like rolling the dice doing it more than once. Personally, I'd just refinish in something beside hard chrome, especially after having the gun hard chromed once already.

[PrimaryBruce]

Lol, hard chrome is no match for carbide end mills. We wouldn't charge anyone extra to mill a hard chromed slide.

Edited October 5, 2015 by bruceg

[JoeyMac]

True, no reason to worry about stripping chrome before machining. And if you're going to just spray & bake over the cuts, there's no reason to worry about stripping the chrome either.

If you're planning to refinish with chrome or black nitride or some other similar treatment, you'd probably want to strip the chrome.

[drewbeck]

Is cutting the dovetail an issue with HC? I thought it was based on what I had been told?

So one other question for the people that commented above. Can you really not blast off HC? What does blasting do, does it just texture it but leave the HC on? And lastly don't you want/need to blast before you put on ceracoate?

I had apparently been wrong in the above post so if like to get a better understanding

[PrimaryBruce]

You can blast hard chrome...it just isn't very fun. I find it's about the same as blasting type III anodizing like you would find on AR receivers. (Not fun to blast.) It will come off, you just have to be patient.

Edit: Upping pressure could get it off quicker, but then you could end up pitting the material you're blasting. Better off blasting at normal pressures you typically blast at (depending on your media) and being patient.

Edited October 5, 2015 by bruceg