Tips for polishing out very fine scratches (updated)

KalamazooKid

KalamazooKid

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I have a revolver from the late 50’s that was probably “polished” with a slightly abrasive rag long before I owned it. I’ve accentuated these “scratches” (they don’t look this bad to the naked eye) in the picture below.

My question is whether there’s a way to polish these out on a blued finish? I’ve applied several coats of Ren wax but just wondering if a better option exists. Anyone with experience?

2/26 update: I applied a very light coat of Flitz and while it’s very hard to show the difference (right/bottom two pics), it definitely helped. This is a relatively rare revolver being a 5” K-38 special order for IL SP in 1957. So I wanted to proceed with caution.

a0e5d580c9a942985d154a1302c944c3.jpg
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Wiregrassguy said:
A scratch on a blued finish means that the Finish has been removed from the surface of the metal.
Click to expand...
Not necesscarily.

Carbona blue could be described as an applied finish. It has a "thickness". It is not very thick, but it is possible to scratch it on the surface without going through to bare metal.
What you could try-
Use a very mild polish like Simichrome or even Blue Wenol. Test a small area using the polish on your fingertip, not on a rag. Rub gently and see what you get. If it is working, you might increase pressure. Keep the area and your finger clean, wiping and checking often. Obviously you need to wipe it with the cleanest, softest rag you have. Old tee shirts and micro fiber rags work.
Go slow. You can do it again, but you can't put blue back on.
Flitz is the toughest polish I would use. NO Mother's Mag.
 
I have successfully removed very light scratches with -- don't laugh -- Crest toothpaste.

Think about it: Toothpaste contains extremely fine abrasives that are so mild they won't damage tooth enamel. Used with a pure cotton (no cotton blend or polyester) cloth, and applied very gently and patiently, I've been able to polish out very light small scratches from blued guns.

(Toothpaste will do the same thing for watch crystals, btw...)
 
I have used a jeweler's cloth to good effect. It's somewhere north of silk in abrasiveness, but not much. They're pretty inexpensive too.
 
I used Flitz on my old model 15 to get a lot of light surface scratches out.The gun is 56 yrs old so there was a lot of them.I used it indirectly by putting small amount on a clean rag and started rubbing a pan so that the abrasives would break down and once the rag turned brown I worked on the gun.Seemed to work pretty good without losing any of the old blueing.
 
tooth paste is quick and easy on blued steel, but. "jewlers rouge" comes in several grits, might be better. diamond sanding comes in more grits. the scratches you have are not worth bother ( as stated above ). I would polish the "hand that rotates the cylinder" good luck; vin
 
I use fritz lightly on blued guns.

Future note,,

On stainless and nickel that’s foggy I use simi chrome polish on a soft rag,
I use fritz once the finish is clear. I save the used simi chrome polish for dull blued guns. Only if the finish is good but dull in color. Try polishing your blued rifles. Even the old military rifles look awesome.
 
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