You're right about the sanding belt look. The factorys made great use of flat belt/slack belt polishing techniques along with contoured hard polishing wheels formed for specific parts of the guns.
Those marks behind the front sight (and those to the side) are often called 'feather' by the polishers and were the first cuts to be done to remove any braze from the front sight blade installation. Lengthwise polishing cuts are taken at the breech end radius also to begin.
Then the Colt barrels were spin polished,, being carefully held by hand and started and stopped against a belt or hard wheel especially around that front sight to avoid hitting it. Starting with a rough grit to remove the machining marks and going up to whatever grit/polish the bosses say.
Each grit required a different polishing machine setup with it's own balanced wheel/belt. Once set up, they usually stayed set up if it was for a common product.
The polishing rooms were one of the largest areas in production finishing.
The 'feather' polish lines remain around the front sight when the polishing is done. The better the polisher (and the more time he is allowed), the better the blend in that area. Something collectors look for to spot a redone gun,,especially on SAAs where the same polishing techniques (same polishers!)were used.
The commercial/ peace time finish was taken to a very high degree/grit. The wartime polish was not in order to save time and labor.
The wire wheel technique on War time production was used after the less than brilliant final polish to simply blend the polish a bit and deburr the parts.
It gave a little of a matted look to the parts but nothing like a particle blast will do. The polish and grit lines of the belts and grit wheels still show through.
Usually done with oil on the parts,, a wire wheel polish does a nice job of finishing off a less than bright shine. Factorys often refered to it as burnishing.
The Parkerized guns often got a sand blast and/or a heavy, dry wire wheel on some of the parts to make a better surface prep for that finish.
A dry wire wheel will give a different look to polished metal than one gone over with oil on it. Speed of the wheel, wire size, wheel dia. and pressure applied all have a say in the final look.
Wartime production being what it was, quick and dirty for lack of a better term,,the guns will show differences in finish from one lot to the next.
Those marks behind the front sight (and those to the side) are often called 'feather' by the polishers and were the first cuts to be done to remove any braze from the front sight blade installation. Lengthwise polishing cuts are taken at the breech end radius also to begin.
Then the Colt barrels were spin polished,, being carefully held by hand and started and stopped against a belt or hard wheel especially around that front sight to avoid hitting it. Starting with a rough grit to remove the machining marks and going up to whatever grit/polish the bosses say.
Each grit required a different polishing machine setup with it's own balanced wheel/belt. Once set up, they usually stayed set up if it was for a common product.
The polishing rooms were one of the largest areas in production finishing.
The 'feather' polish lines remain around the front sight when the polishing is done. The better the polisher (and the more time he is allowed), the better the blend in that area. Something collectors look for to spot a redone gun,,especially on SAAs where the same polishing techniques (same polishers!)were used.
The commercial/ peace time finish was taken to a very high degree/grit. The wartime polish was not in order to save time and labor.
The wire wheel technique on War time production was used after the less than brilliant final polish to simply blend the polish a bit and deburr the parts.
It gave a little of a matted look to the parts but nothing like a particle blast will do. The polish and grit lines of the belts and grit wheels still show through.
Usually done with oil on the parts,, a wire wheel polish does a nice job of finishing off a less than bright shine. Factorys often refered to it as burnishing.
The Parkerized guns often got a sand blast and/or a heavy, dry wire wheel on some of the parts to make a better surface prep for that finish.
A dry wire wheel will give a different look to polished metal than one gone over with oil on it. Speed of the wheel, wire size, wheel dia. and pressure applied all have a say in the final look.
Wartime production being what it was, quick and dirty for lack of a better term,,the guns will show differences in finish from one lot to the next.
