Going crazy with the polishing. Lets see your pics.

[DeeBee]

After I polished my 649, because the finish was really bad, I decided to take on my 640-2
I think I am addicted.
I am still not done with either. I want it to look like nickel, when I am done!
Lets see yours.

649-3

640-2

 

[xray97]

Haven't done any of my S&W's but here's my Vaquero I "Flitzed"

 

[Ilike9mm]

Would you mind telling us what you use? Buffing wheel, compounds?

 

[DeeBee]

Would you mind telling us what you use? Buffing wheel, compounds?

I do NOT use a wheel. I have done mine all by hand, with Mothers Mag polish. I have used 1000 grit wet or dry sandpaper, for the deep scratches.

 

[rburg]

Its vandalism of the worst kind! OK, maybe not so bad.

Back in the early to mid 1970s I had a nice M60 I got from the guy across the hall. He was a cop and worked rotating shifts. My wife was a 2nd shift nurse at the hospital. The insulting part was he sold me the 60 one day when he needed money in the worst way. I offered to loan him the $100 he needed, but he didn't want the gun. It was a great deal (he was a good friend)so I handed over my private stash of a $100 bill. Little did I know he was buying another M60, this one with a factory polish from the mid 1960s. I felt cheated, his M60 was shiny, mine was kind of dull. So the first kid was young and I had to sit with him in the evenings. I took to polishing. A few hours by hand each night. And I made really good progress using automobile rubbing compound. So I moved to white compound and continued my work. Soon my gun was a bright as his.

Then I stopped the handwork and went to a cloth wheel on a dremel tool. It got even flashier! So time and money intervened, other guns caught my eye, and like Puff the Magic Dragon, it just sat in a drawer, forgotten and neglected. Then the buddy that sold it to me up and died! Terrible turn of events. He'd been a good friend for a long time. It brought the gun back into focus.

I even remember clearly one evening when he came across the hall, bored, and wanted something to do. Like young guys often do, our stomachs came into play. There was a restaurant a few blocks away that served strawberry pie. Just great stuff. And then I realized my little one had never even tasted it. We were all game for a hike, so over the hill we went. Whenever I think of Mike Lemon I think of the M60 and strawberry pie. So when the fool died on me, I got mad and gave the M60 away. OK not as bad as it sounds. I gave it to my son who thought he was the greatest guy on earth.

Go read the thread in the lounge about what happens to your guns when you die. This is one I gave away to make sure it went where I wanted it to go. No missteps, its where it needs to be. Son understands why he got it.

And don't cry for me. If I look hard enough, maybe I'll find another M60 to replace it. One from the golden era of M60s with a 400,000s serial.

 

[JCS&W]

I seem to have a "thing" for shiny nickel Smiths. This is my favorite, it belonged to my dad. Not bad looking for a 1956 Smith. I use Flitz and Ren Wax. It does still go to the range, but not often anymore.

 

[ben1]

rburg you and your story and the stories of many others are the reason I come back here everyday. That story resonated with me and I needed that right now. Thanks a lot. I have polished my share as well. I have a nickle 29-2 4 inch so my Flitz bottle is half empty right now.

 

[TAROMAN]

Great work.
I have polished up a number of really beat up SS Smiths.
For jobs like this, you will need a lot more than Mother's.
I use auto body sandpaper (dry's fine - tried it both ways) cut into 1" wide strips.
Depending on how bad it is, have started out with as coarse as 600 grit.
Different areas will probably need different grits to start. You may even need to use a fine file to smooth out deep gouges, usually the bottom of the triggerguard where the gun has been dropped.
Strip the gun, install sideplate with all flathead screws. I keep a set of screws just for this purpose.
For the flat areas, I wrap the sandpaper around a little aluminum sanding block I made.
After all has been worked with the first sandpaper, go to the next finer grade. Work it with this one to smooth out all the scratches from the last grade.
Repeat this with finer and finer sandpaper until you end up with 2000 grit.
You will quickly learn that if you don't completely remove the previous scratches before going finer that you will have to back up and do it over, Trust me on this!
After its polished to 2000 all over, start in with Mother's and rub, rub, rub. I start out polishing with a cotton shop rag and end up with a microfiber cloth.

Here are some of the worst that I have done:

This model 67 was a complete junker. $150 at the LGS. Dirtiest and most beat one I ever saw. Soaked 3 days in Ed's red before even starting on it:

Here's one of the $210 Ohio prison guns:

This one had a very coarse sandblast finish with lots of pitting (yes, stainless DOES rust!) like it had been a boat gun. It took more work than the others:

Final note: Unless you REALLY know what you're doing, do not use any power tools!

Another cop gun. First one I polished. It was decent to begin with:

 

[PA Guns & Ammo]

It is hard to tell the difference between the before and after on mine due to the lighting and background so I just used the after pic. I used a microfiber cloth which made a world of difference. ~James

 

[Lee Barner]

this is a mod 64 that began life as a 4" sq butt until one winter when i had too much time on my hands. lee

 

[kritter]

What can I say, I went big.......

 

[Doublebit]

Originally posted by Lee Barner;
"this is a mod 64 that began life as a 4" sq butt until one winter when i had too much time on my hands. lee "

Lee,
How did you get rid of the stamped letters on the side of the barrel?

LT

 

[LouisianaJoe]

This is a well used 64-3 that I bought because it had some new 60's vintage diamond magnas on it. I polished it a little with Blue Magic metal polish. The price was reasonable to begin with but the magnas made it a bargain.

 

[computerdynamics]

Not a very good pic of my 19-5, 1983. She's shiny though!!
Tony

 

[Revolver-dude]

Glad to see I am not the only guy that likes shiny Smiths. You have some beauties posted. I just bought a NIB 686 5" Talo from Buds that has an issue in the stainless where the ejector rod is housed. (Don't know the correct terminology for the location). I have been afraid to use the sandpaper but I suppose I can't really screw it up to where it couldn't be fixed with more polishing. I was going to return it to S&W but I don't really like to ship my guns back and forth without having a serious issue. Thanks for the photos.

 

[deanodog]

Even the S&W autos shine.
5906

 

[Black_Sheep]

Model 64

 

[dlbx2]

Here's my only nickel S&W left!

Somehow I have traded, bought, & sold until I only have one nickel n frame left. Thanks to all who have posted. Nice pics and great guns!
DLB

 

[DeeBee]

Now if someone has an idea to keep fingerprints off of the polished guns, I am all ears

 

[H Richard]

Renaissance Wax helps a lot with fingerprints.