Hi,
I have a couple of older S&W's, a 10 and a 64 in SS. They were bought used and show wear. Is there a way to bring the finish back to life? There are no dings except for a small spot on one of the cylinders. How would or could that be taken out or made to look batter? Is there anyone that does this kind of work? I have a dremel with lots of attachments so I may be able to do some stuff. I'd be willing to purchase whatever within reason, to do more work myself.
Thanks in advance!!
Chuck

...first thing is not to go for the Dremel Tool immediately.

Go to a good auto parts store, and purchase some Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish.

Then get some soft cloths and go to work with small amounts of Mothers and carefully clean each revolver. Work an area, let dry, and use a clean cloth to polish out.

Don't get real frisky on the Model 10. You can damage the blueing on the revolver.

You might be seeing some oxidization on the stainless steel. You can work a bit harder on it, since there's no additonal finish to worry about.

You can then use Johnson's paste wax to put on the finish of either revolver.

There are additional waxes out there which will do great work.

Well, I imagine the 10 is Nickled. The 64 is SS.

On the SS I just take a well used piece of scotchbrite and a small block of wood. Personally I use the wood to allow better control and getting in smaller places. You have to go in the direction of the "grain" or the natural way Smith polished them. I then GENTLY go back and forth in only one direction, slowly & meticiously. Personally for best results I have taken all the internals out and then placed the sideplate back on, with flatheaded screws so they do not sit up. This allows you to get in and around the hammer and trigger areas. Once that is done then I gently go back over it with some Mothers Mag Wheel polish on a clean microfiber towel. Touch up any spots that you feel you missed with the pad and polish again. Minimal polishing is suggested unless you want a mirror finish.

Oh, dremel - bad idea - rapid deep screwups aren't good. My method should keep you safe.

First I should mention that I hate home bright polished stainless revolvers while other members love them. IMO a home bright polish job removes collector value from older collectable stainless revolvers and other wise just looks wrong.

Repairing your stainless revolver's surface to its original condition is best done by hand with Scotch Brite or other brand abrasive pads that are common in auto body repair businesses. Some local hardware stores have them. The Scotch Brite dish washing pads in grocery stores are too coarse. If you search for Scotch Brite pads in the gunsmithing forum you'll find lots of posts on the topic.

So far as I know, most dings are not readily repaired if they are too deep to remove with abrasives.

Last, you're best off asking a neighbor to store your Dremel tool until the job is done so your not tempted to use it.

I agree. I don't like shiny guns either, but I'm not wild about the mat finish on most S/S guns. So I use Mothers in small doses with a lite pressure when I buff. I have found this gives a nice clean look to any stainless finish, w/o getting to much "bling." I also use a led-away cloth on the cylinder face to clean up carbon build up.

DO NOT use Mothers on any blued or nickle finish, it can remove the finish.

__________________
Always Stay Strong!

OK...thanks for the help! Both guns are SS so I am safe from removing any blue finish Glad you guys told me about the dremel. I was thinking it would be a help, but better to not use it as I can see how it would ( or me) be easy to mess things up. But I only had in mind the buffing attachment. After reading where everyone does the buffing by hand, I'll heed the good advice. I have seen some Smiths with a refinish job and both were done in matte....sort of ugly unless one just keeps it as a car gun. I don't use car guns as it's one more item missing should the car get stolen. Thanks again!

Chuck,
If that is indeed a model 10, it should NOT be stainless. It should be either nickel or blue. If indeed it is stainless, you shouldn't touch it, because it would be an exceedingly rare bird, and worth a factory letter. Some old model 10's have been refinished in a hard chrome plate that to my old eyes looks exactly like stainless. I think that you should verify exactly what you have before proceeding. JM2C

True the Model 10 is probably a nickel and using Flitz or Mothers Mag Cleaner will clean it right up. You rub lightly in one direction like down the length of the barrel. The nickel gun you can either use the scotch brite pad as suggested for a dull finish or you can polish them with Mothers Mag Cleaner to almost be as bright as a nickel finish. After you complete the cleanup you should wax them with either Johnson’s floor wax or Renaissance Wax.

Some like them dull and some like them bright. I like them bright as they seem to be easier to clean and touch up. I don’t polish collector grade revolvers but shooters are just that shooters and they have no collector value.

Chuck, I am with fyimo, and Flitz. I never did anything to a nickel gun, but I used it on my Model 67. Did it by hand, no dremel. Was happy with the results. Take it slow and easy until you get the results that you want. (on the 64) Bob

Just go easy as there is no hurry. You can get very similiar results to factory.

Here are some of mine. If you look at these, from the top 6" I cleaned up, next one down is a 4" 66-1 with only maybe 350 rounds through it in it's life, third I cleaned up an old 66 no dash and then a 63 that I have not cleaned up yet.