WHAT COMPANY CAN POLISH STANLESS

[LIGHTNING-FAST]

Who best can polish stainless and make it shiny need a pro, to do it thanks

 

[dlbx2]

Buy a tube of MAAS fine metal polish. Each coat will look better, resulting in a finish that appears to be nickel.
DLB

 

[LIGHTNING-FAST]

THANKS I MAY TRY THAT

Thanks,,I may try that Just a little afraid i may mess up.

 

[dfariswheel]

Polishing with metal polishes and a rag can make a stainless gun shiny, but it can't give a true mirror finish.
When standard stainless guns are polished at the factory, some machine marks and imperfections are left which can't be removed with metal polishes.

When a professional mirror polish job is done, these imperfections are polished out giving a true mirror perfect finish. A good example of this is a Bright Polish Colt Python which looks like a bright nickel finish.

If you want a true mirror polish, the S&W Performance Center can do it, or you can send it to APW/Cogan or Ford's who can do it.

Welcome to Accurate Plating & Weaponry, The Cogan Custom Shop. | APWCOGAN

Ford's Custom Gun Refinishing - Ford's Desert Eagle Sights

 

[LIGHTNING-FAST]

Thanks for your help gratefully recieved

Polishing with metal polishes and a rag can make a stainless gun shiny, but it can't give a true mirror finish.
When standard stainless guns are polished at the factory, some machine marks and imperfections are left which can't be removed with metal polishes.

When a professional mirror polish job is done, these imperfections are polished out giving a true mirror perfect finish. A good example of this is a Bright Polish Colt Python which looks like a bright nickel finish.

If you want a true mirror polish, the S&W Performance Center can do it, or you can send it to APW/Cogan or Ford's who can do it.

Welcome to Accurate Plating & Weaponry, The Cogan Custom Shop. | APWCOGAN

Ford's Custom Gun Refinishing - Ford's Desert Eagle Sights

Would I need to just send the gun intact or would i need to strip it down to send to smith & wesson. thanks again Tom

 

[Tyrod]

I did this at home with one piece of toilet paper & some clear shoe polish.

Not really, it took many hours of machine polishing with a dremel and specialized stainless polish. The cylinder could use some more work.

 

[OldBlood]

If you have basic tool skills, you can polish your own guns using a buffing wheel mounted on a standard 6" bench grinder and stainless coumpound. Here are a couple of mine. Still working on the 60.

 

[OldBlood]

Here are some more. If anyone is interested I can give more info. Sorry about the Rugers.

 

[dfariswheel]

Would I need to just send the gun intact or would i need to strip it down to send to smith & wesson. thanks again Tom

S&W would probably want the entire gun.
For the other non-factory companies like Cogan or Ford's you could probably send the frame and barrel, cylinder, side plate, and cylinder yoke.
In other words, just the parts you want polished.
However, it's usually best to send the entire gun.

No offense to any one, but please don't buff guns with soft muslin buffs.
That's how guns get ruined. The soft muslin "digs in" and causes holes to get dished out, sharp corners and edges to get rounded off, and ripples in the flats.

Professional gun polishers use very large diameter, thick, HARD felt wheels and specially shaped polishing tips for specific areas like inside the trigger guard and around frame features.
When you see a gun that's been refinished and the holes are dished and edges are blurred, it's been polished with soft muslin wheels.

 

[OldBlood]

Hey Tyrod, Is that a 64? Sure does looks Sweeeeeeeet, as my son would say. I bought a few old police trade-ins and buffed them up too. Don't know why I enjoy polishing these guys so much. But it is mighty satisfying!

 

[Tyrod]

Hey Tyrod, Is that a 64? Sure does looks Sweeeeeeeet, as my son would say. I bought a few old police trade-ins and buffed them up too. Don't know why I enjoy polishing these guys so much. But it is mighty satisfying!

Yes it is. In fact , it is a police trade-in I got a few months ago.

 

[southernpride]

Lighting-fast I used Mothers Mag polish and two old undershirts to polish this 629.

 

[OldBlood]

dfariswheel, I would like to make a few commrnts and ask a question regarding your warnings about using soft muslin buffs. The wheel I use is a hard spiral sewn cloth wheel, available at places like Ace hdwr., along with stainless compound. Muslin is much softer than stainless steel, which is hard even as steel goes. To do the kind of damage you describe, a person would have to use an improper compound and way too much pressure applied to the stock being polished. the trick is to work slow, costantly evaluating your work, getting it to the desired shine and then stopping. How is a piece of muslin going to "dig in" to stainless steel? I'm not trying to be cute, I just don't see how it is possible.

 

[chief38]

I am not a big fan of highly polished stainless guns, but I had a M60 (no dash) that I carried for 30 years and the finish it had gotten pretty beat up. I disassembled the revolver and hand worked it with Flitz and a bunch of cotton tweed shotgun patches. After an hour or so (only by hand, no Dremel) I was happy with the finish which wasn't ultra bright, but a "soft" bright. This brought the gun back to a presentable status by making the finish even, took out all the surface scratches, and made me proud to own it once again. That night I showed it off to one of my friends and he bought it from me on the spot! Since I have a dozen or so Chief Specials, I replaced it with my current carry gun a M60-7 which was new in the box awaiting duty.

Depending on the brightness you desire, you can stop polishing at any point. Just go slow and wipe off the gun periodically so you can inspect exactly where you are. This is an easy job and truly does not require a professional to do it. I won't say it's impossible.........but it's pretty hard to screw this one up if common sense is used.

Chief38

 

[OldBlood]

Ytrod, Did your 64 come with the silver hammer/ trigger, or did you do something to clean them up? Mine are 64-5 and came with worn case hardening. Like the way your's looks.

 

[dfariswheel]

dfariswheel, I would like to make a few commrnts and ask a question regarding your warnings about using soft muslin buffs. The wheel I use is a hard spiral sewn cloth wheel, available at places like Ace hdwr., along with stainless compound. Muslin is much softer than stainless steel, which is hard even as steel goes. To do the kind of damage you describe, a person would have to use an improper compound and way too much pressure applied to the stock being polished. the trick is to work slow, costantly evaluating your work, getting it to the desired shine and then stopping. How is a piece of muslin going to "dig in" to stainless steel? I'm not trying to be cute, I just don't see how it is possible.

Soft muslin wheels flex and bend, tending to "roll over" or dig into sharp edges and corners.
They also flex into holes and dish them out.
The problem is the wheel is simply too soft and too narrow, as well as usually being to small in diameter.

Looking at a gun that was polished with soft muslin wheels during a re-finish often shows rounded off edges and corners, dished out holes, and ripples in the flats, caused by use of soft wheels.
These are often clear indications of a gun that's been refinished, and is a sign of a ham-handed polisher using improper equipment.

Professionals use large diameter hard wheels, often hard felt, stacked to form a wide polishing area.
It's not unusual to see hard wheels a foot in diameter and stacked to 6" to 8" thick.

Colt used to make their own wheels from wood covered in leather. This allowed a hard "no-give" surface of sufficient diameter and thickness to prevent any rounding of blurring of features.
That's why Colt was famous for their quality polishing with true edges and flats.

Where softer wheels like stitched muslin work okay is on small items. I was a watchmaker as well as a gunsmith and we used soft stitched muslin for polishing jewelery and watch cases.
For any larger item like a plaques or a trophy we used large diameter hard felt wheels in commercial polishing setups using very fast, very powerful motors.

As an example of what happens when you use soft, smaller diameter wheels, try to polish a large flat area with a small buff and a Dremel tool.
The same thing happens when you use a soft thin, small wheel on larger parts.

Here's what Colt used. Most other gun makers use similar size wheels.

To be fair, there's a difference between shining up a stainless gun and doing a full polish job prior to a re-finish, but the same dynamics still hold. A small, thin wheel in a standard electric motor is going to roll over edges and leave ripples in the flats.

 

[LIGHTNING-FAST]

looks good

Lighting-fast I used Mothers Mag polish and two old undershirts to polish this 629.

Looks good i may try that Thanks Tom

 

[taxifolia]

I'm finding good info here. Just bought a nickel 39-2.
I'm a polished SS fan - thinking maybe polishing only the flats on my 4566 and 5906.
Maybe the answer is in this thread, but for my situation, what is best method and polish to use ?
Don't have a bench grinder, etc. Would prefer only by hand method.
How much disassembly beyond field stripping and grips off is necessary ?
Looks like ambi decocker and maybe mag release off ?
How about the extractor (I could mask that) ?
My objective would be a high gloss finish - at least like a 64-5 / 64-2 / Judge / Ruger New Vaquero, etc..
Would polishing add to or detract from value ?
They are keepers, so I'm not overly concerned about that.

Thanks.

 

[OldBlood]

64 I polished on my 6 inch wheel