I did a morning trip to the range today with my 686 and a couple other pistols. Just got done cleaning everything afterwards and made a discovery.


Mr. Clean Magic Erasers work great on stainless steel guns for removing powder residue that even Hoppe's won't. I don't know if they'll work on a blued gun or not. I'm not willing to try as I've used them on my aluminum boat and they will remove paint. I don't know if they'll remove bluing or not, but on stainless steel they work great.

I've cleaned synthetic rifle stocks with Magic Eraser, works great. I'd be pretty cautious about putting it to a blued finish. It is capable of ruining some finishes.

Use them to clean up plastic gun parts in the pawn shop. Only down side, rough textured grips wil really shred them

I'm not surprised. They are made of melamine, and melamine foam is abrasive.

Google: "MSDS, Magic Eraser" for what's in there!

Melamine is a mild abrasive and will clean many things - it will also scratch and remove finishes if used often. Use it wisely and cautiously.

The abrasive Magic Eraser will remove a blue or black gun finish .
Be very careful with it on/around blued guns.
Gary

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Magic eraser works great on parkarized and blued guns to re-finish it to give it what you call a "smoked" finish. Be very careful with it and you have to know what your doing or you will ruin the gun. However just to give you an idea magic eraser costs a couple bucks at the store and custome gun shops charge thousands of dollars to "smoke" your gun.

Any chance you could post a picture of a gun with the "smoked" finish you're describing?
I've never heard that term and would be really interested to see what one looks like.

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They work well to clean white shoes also.

What are you thoughts on using on 3rd gen stainless like law enforcement turn ins with a "30 yrs on the street finish". 5946, 5906 vintage. Would there be too many clean spots- tedious process tò get the nooks and crannies? Good tip

Is that another name for "battle worn"... et al.

I used google-fu for a “smoked” finish… if you search on “smoked nitride” it appears to be a distressed nitride finish; possibly with the fore-mentioned Mr Clean product? Looks kinda like smoothed out blue with very slight high-edge wear?

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I’ll have to try that on the stainless mag tube on my Mossberg 940

OK, so if I'm reading your post correctly, a "smoked finish" is basically the equivalent of a blued gun with some "honest wear" and "patina"?
That is what I'm seeing using "smoked nitride finish" as my search term on Google....
So basically, it is a new term to describe an older firearm in average condition? Or a newer firearm that has been "aged" to look like an older firearm in average condition?
Did I get that right?
If not, please, feel free to help me understand...

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A term that is new to me. Where did it come from?

Smoked Nitride- It's Hot | 1911 Firearm Addicts

New to me too, just trying to figure it out. A lot of the references seem to relate to Nighthawk Customs, so my PR spidey-sense is tingling a little.

Definitely a new custom finish as opposed to actual wear on an older gun. So it’s in the Fender Relic or pre-worn jeans class of things.

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I agree it is a new term. It mimics the look of an old well used Colt SAA. We called that an "antiqued" finish when it was done to a Uberti or Ruger. My friend Bob Wells (RIP) was a master at making a new Uberti look like a very old SAA Colt (see photo). He called it "cooking them". Then the Italian manufacturers got in the act and sold "antiqued" single actions that didn't look that good, but some bought them.

Attached Images

BobWells uberti.jpg (96.0 KB, 35 views)

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Lee Erickson

I get a kick out of how much money is spent to make something look old and or used. To each their own and yes, those Magic Erasers can do some damage. My wife learned that lesson on one of our countertops!