I picked up this M36 at OGCA yesterday. Clearly the nickel has seen better days, but the gun appears to be intact with no deep scratches or breaks in the nickel. The grips are almost perfect. A prime candidate for restoration.

It looked like a good project gun. I am a big fan of Simi-Chrome and similar products (Mothers Mag Polish or Flitz Polish Paste). As with any rehabilitation/restoration process, it is hard to know at this point how well it will turn out, but based on prior experiences I am confident in success.

I intend to document this process in this thread. This will all be done by hand. No buffing wheels, no Dremel tools, just Simi-Chrome, old T-Shirts and elbow grease.

The before pictures:

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Dave

The first step was to remove the grips, along with all of the guns internal parts. Once all the parts were removed, I reassembled the side plate, leaving the cylinder out of the gun in order to be worked on separately.

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Dave

Nice ol' gun .

I'll be interested in your results .

With Simi-chrome being somewhat abrasive , you won't be using a less abrasive product to finish ?


Regards ,
George

Do you mean Simichrome? I did a search of Semi-Chrome and all I could find is truck related info.

I never heard of this stuff. Are you just trying to polish the old nickel plating or remove it entirely?

Dave Sinko

Looking forward to the "After" pics! I love bringing old classics back to life.

Thanks Dave, you are correct, simichrome. I fixed the original post.

It is a metal polish. I have used it for years for chrome parts on Harley-Davidsons. It cleans and polishes.

I have never had an issue with using it on nickel guns. I guess we will all see how this turns out.

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Dave

I have never noticed much difference between simichrome, Flitz and Mother's mag. Other than waxing with Renaissance Wax, I had not planned on following up with any other product. What would you recommend?

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Dave

Mid process. I have made progress, but not complete yet. I didn't even wipe it off that well before taking the pictures, but you can see the progress.

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Dave

Your gun has cleaned up pretty nicely .

You may find this to be an additional aid .

http://www.autogeek.net/motbilmetpol.html

It is less abrasive than their mag polish .


Regards ,
George

Flat latch, diamond stocks, and bright polished nickel? That is going to be a sharp looking gun when you are done!

Back in the day, there used to be a really good product for cleaning up & polishing out this sort of thing-- Neverdull. Came in a metal can-- cotton wadding, impregnated with some sort of chemical solution. Worked really great. A few years back I bought some & that batch doesn't work near as good as the old stuff used to.

looking good so far...!!

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

Ah, George have you actually ever used this stuff on nickel? I would assume not.

I purchased some based on your advice. It immediately frosted the nickel. My own fault, as I did not read the clearly stated warning not to use it on "plating, chrome, anodized, painted or coated materials". It appear to be made to polish billet, forged or cast aluminum.

Fortunately for me Simichrome was able to fix most of the damage.

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Dave

Well, while far from perfect, it looks a lot better than when I brought it home. I am happy with the results. I am going to have to get Smith357 to take better pictures, my cell phone just doesn't do it justice.

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Dave

Well done. That's a heck of an improvement.

Looks to me like you added about $200 to the value of the gun.

Wow, pretty nice. Thanks for sharing, if you don't mind, how many hours do you have in it? It looks very good.
Frank

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US RIDE FOR THE BRAND OR LEAVE

Most of the work was done watching the original "Back to the Future" movie. Maybe 3 hours in front of the tube. Just patience and time.

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Dave

"While far from perfect"-- BS! It looks pretty damn good to me. So much so that now I gotta put a nickel 36 on my wish list! Hope Santa's reading this....

Nice job Dave, I never would have guessed that gun would clean up like that. Ya learn something new every day. Larry

Just your hands, simichrome, and old t shirts?
Did you use sticks to get in the cracks?

pretty outstanding from here.

Not sure what you mean by "sticks", but yes, just hands, simichrome and old t-shirts. You don't even rub hard. It does turn your hands black and the t-shirt is ruined.

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Dave

Dave,
Great job! you have to love these little nickel projects. They take patience and time but no real gun smithing / restoration skill. Just my cup of tea! I have done a couple of these and they came out great. I am always looking for thee little gems at pawn shops and shows.
Thanks for showing the steps and progression...

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John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

That's why I use my underwear. The stains don't show unless I have to go to the ER.

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

C'mon, Iggy - you know there's at least one or two here that think he "ruined" it ! He removed all that "honest living" doncha know . . .

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Qui plantavit curabit

that is beautiful! i have never been brave enough to try simichrome on nickel, but now i will have to try it!

I would be afraid your stains would react with the nickel in unpredictable ways.

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Dave

Thanks, I think it looks great myself.

The most important part of this process is picking the correct candidate. Simichrome (or Flitz or Mothers Mag) can't fix flaking chrome or any scratches that go through to metal. Deep scratches can be remediated, but will not go away completely.

You can't see it in the pictures, and I couldn't see them before I started but there are a couple of spots the size of pin pricks above the cylinder release that became apparent when the rest of the crud was cleaned off. They are not going away. They are also barely noticeable.

It is fun when you find the ideal candidate. Smith357 and I just grinned at each other when we found it. No doubt what I was going to do with it when I bought it. Having said that, you never know until you dig into it just how good it will turn out.

If anything it turned out too nice. I was going to use it as a glovebox gun, but I think she looks to good for that now.

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Dave