I really prefer a polished stainless revolver. Has anyone tried polishing out a gun that had been a bead blasted/frosted finish (like a Ladysmith series)?? Techniques/Tips and pics would be greatly appreciated. I'm a Mother's polish on a rag by hand man myself.

I really prefer a polished stainless revolver. Has anyone tried polishing out a gun that had been a bead blasted/frosted finish (like a Ladysmith series)?? Techniques/Tips and pics would be greatly appreciated. I'm a Mother's polish on a rag by hand man myself.

I had the same question a while ago, and found out that if the frosted finish is removed, it can lead to rusting...some kind of passivated steel treatment or something....I can't remember exactly. I know someone out there is more informed and will chime in.

I've heard this before, but don't buy into it. Every stainless S&W I own is polished and I've never seen a speck of rust on any.

I wondered about polishing up the CS-1/686 that I aquired from you robotoid but haven't & won't
The gun is fine as is & would actualy reduce it's value down the road..
Have you ever shot that 617 Yet??
No Range time for me in months..
Hoarding Ammo!!
Gary aka Headknocker

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MightShowYouHisSmith&Wesson

I ended up having back surgery just after (about 8 weeks ago) our swap, so I have not had time or ability to shoot it or anything else yet. I have 3 guns in my safe I have acquired and not shot yet, and have my eye on 1 or 2 more this weekend. I would not polish out a CS-1 either, but I'm still looking at the 3" Ladysmith barrel from Brownells to have put on the 65-5 4" I picked up, but would rather have the whole gun (barrel and frame) polished rather than blasted to match the barrel.

I have done it to knife blades before. If there is any etching on a flat surface, it will always be noticable with a polished surface, such as Lady Smith on a sideplate or other etched logos and such. On rounded surfaces such as a barrel, the etching all but disappears. One thing to consider, bead blasting hides minor flaws, so these parts are typically not finished as well. You may encounter this when polishing your barrel. No biggie, just a little more TLC involved.

Good luck,
ot

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NRA - All Day

"Passivation" what is done to machined stainless steel articles. It's a pickling process involving various acid solutions, including of all things, CITRIC ACID!

The purpose of passivation is to remove microcopic points where the tooling has "contaminated" the machined surface, and to a lesser extent, provide a neutral surface on the stainless that makes it much less likely for electrolytic corrosion to start. Whether rust is visible or not, hand polishing, or buffing a previously passivated surface destroys that protection. For most applications that stainless handguns are put to, surface rust is not a problem. For severe environments (in a fishing tackle box in a boat at sea) rust can make for some horrible pitting and corrosion.

You will find that passivated finishes are always MIL-SPEC on long life expectancy or harsh environmental applications, such as aerospace, marine applications, etc.

Her is one that I did:

Sweet....Was that by hand or machine polished?

Done by hand.