Can frame checkering be "dulled"?

[Wee Hooker]

I have a otherwise great stainless Colt Gold Cup that a previous owner went a little nuts on with checkering. In particular the front of the grip and trigger guard received some very sharp (20lpi?) checkering treatment that is borderline irritating to the hand. I'd like to tone it down some. Just enough to take the bite out of it. I was thinking a little buffing with backed 400 grit or fine stone might work but am unsure. It's a beautiful gun, I don't want to mess it up! Thoughts on how to proceed?



Thanks in advance!

 

[gwpercle]

Backed 400 grit wet-or-dry and a little oil is how I do it. Sometimes the checkering is so sharp it takes the hide off . like shooting a kitchen grater . I've even had some wood grips that needed it.

Stone would work also , use a bit of oil like you would do when sharpening a knife.

The 41 magnum in my avatar had sharp checkered grips, first shot "grated" my skin. Being factory original I didn't want to sand them . Smooth wood Ahrends solved that problem.

Nice gold cup , I always liked them in stainless.

Gary

 

[2152hq]

Go over the surface with a wire wheel w/a little oil on the metal and it'll smooth & burnish the metal nicely. The extreme sharpness will be gone and the finish will be nice and even.
Simply tape around any areas you think you may over run.
But the results aren't so drastic anyway that a quick touch up polish with scotchbrite and/or paper to the surrounding metal brings that right back up.

 

[Big Cholla]

Field strip your handgun; mount the frame in a padded vise with the checkered surface level; take a 12" strip of 400 grit sandpaper that is about 1" to 1 1/2" wide and wet it. Now, with an easy shoe-shine motion work over the checkering. When it feels and looks good to you move to a very fine rotary wire brush. Gently brush the surface of the checkering. Clean the formerly too sharp checkering. It will now be much more easy on the hands and will still look good. ......

 

[Wee Hooker]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot this weekend.