The 1911 Plan
Mark stripped the Springfield Armory 1911 of its parkerized finish and then polished out all machine/tool marks and buffed it out. He then blasted with 80-120 grit glass beads, preparing it for the hard-chrome finish. After polishing, the 1911’s lines stayed straight, while the edges maintained original sharpness.
Once chromed, Romae, Mark’s wife, laser engraved it with nice scroll accents. Then, the gun was given a final buff. Hard chrome has a Rockwell hardness of 70Rc, compared to nickel, which has only 40Rc.
Besides adding protection and fluid movement to the 1911, the brushed hard chrome gave the old, parkerized 1911 the looks and feel of a truly custom gun. The finish is fantastically flawless and the tastefully applied laser engraving gives it just enough pizazz to make it even more eye appealing.
The factory stocks were swapped with some of the most beautiful, crosscut mastodon molar in the prettiest blue you ever saw. Scott Kolar, of SK Grips, has a wonderful selection of mastodon ivory and molar to choose from. The ivory and molar are stabilized, and Scott adds a black fiber backing to the molar, to prevent cracking from recoil.
You’ll never notice the backing once the stocks are bolted onto your gun. Scott states the different color ivory and molar are caused by the absorption of different minerals in the soil. Scott sends the slabs mounted on a piece of plexiglass, keeping them from warping and offering more protection during transit. As you can see, they’re gorgeous, adding beauty to the whole gun.