I used Liquid Fire see link below.

Acid etched the slide.

I was shooting for a camo. type pattern.

Cox Hardware and Lumber - Liquid Fire Drain Opener (Sizes)

I totally stripped slide and highly polished it with automotive sandpaper 400 and ended with 1500.

Then used mother's mag polish and then degreased slide.

Applied the liquid fire with q-utips in the pattern I wanted.

It's kind of runny so watch it, don't soak the qtip.

The longer you leave it on the deeper the etching is and darker it is.

Then I put the slide in a bowl of neutralizer till it stopped bubbling.

Make sure it covers the whole slide.

I guess you can use baking soda and water mix to stop the reaction.

Only left it on the first time for 30 seconds or so and it wore off
in about a week where it rubbed my holster.

Ended up polishing it off with mothers polish and did it again leaving it on for 3 mins.

After I take it out of the bowl I use WD-40 and drench it till
it stops soaking it up like wood soaks up a finish.

Then wipe it down degrease in acetone, oil and assemble .

Holding up well now, but not many people like it and some love it.

They say that's definitely different or what the H*** did you do to it.

I like it, so I'm keeping it this way till I get sick of it.

It has different sights now that are a lot better then the original and the modified front sight I had on it.

Thanks, 3