white lettering
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Marksman
Member
Acetone will remove the paint with no harm to the blue.
acetone works great
I've had to handle a lot of paint on front sights, roll stamps, serial numbers etc.
Just wipe the gun down with clean cotton rag (old T-shirt) to get rid of oils. grease, etc. Remove wooden or plastic grips.
The I use regular cotton swabs dipped into a small bottle/can of acetone, liberally soak the painted areas. Let soak for a few minutes (5 will usually do it...10 if really old and stubborn). Then just use an old nylon toothbrush and it comes right off.
Wipe down again, oil and final wipe as you do after normal cleaning and done...done...done.
I've cleaned white paint, neon red, orange and all sorts of high vis paints....usually they are just Testor's Model paints.
Never any harm to bluing, or to stainless finishes, and I've done a lot of old rifles, Colts and Smiths over the years. The white paint was popular when 1st internet listings started coming around.
I've had to handle a lot of paint on front sights, roll stamps, serial numbers etc.
Just wipe the gun down with clean cotton rag (old T-shirt) to get rid of oils. grease, etc. Remove wooden or plastic grips.
The I use regular cotton swabs dipped into a small bottle/can of acetone, liberally soak the painted areas. Let soak for a few minutes (5 will usually do it...10 if really old and stubborn). Then just use an old nylon toothbrush and it comes right off.
Wipe down again, oil and final wipe as you do after normal cleaning and done...done...done.
I've cleaned white paint, neon red, orange and all sorts of high vis paints....usually they are just Testor's Model paints.
Never any harm to bluing, or to stainless finishes, and I've done a lot of old rifles, Colts and Smiths over the years. The white paint was popular when 1st internet listings started coming around.
Attachments
Really going to date myself but here goes.
Back in about 1959 I had a Ithaca pump with a Polly Choke on it. In order to see the different markings on the choke I white painted the markings with white paint. If big if I remember correctly I used nail polish remover to take the paint off.
DWalt
Member
Nail polish remover contains acetone or MEK as its active ingredient.
Any paint remover will quickly dissolve the white right to the bottom of the stamping. WIpe off with wet rag and oil.
I once had a gun completely covered in boat deck paint. I dropped the whole thing in a bucket of some solution or another (40 years is a long time to remember what I used), I don't think it was acetone but a powerful paint solvent of some kind, and I let it sit for quite some time. When I finally cleaned it up no harm was done to any part of the little pistol (Walther Model 1 - .25 ACP), 100+ year-old worn bluing included.
Be careful with some paint removers etc and aluminum parts. Acetone or MEK is all you need for small light applications of paint. Acetone is less toxic to humans than MEK
Also acetone is less likely to damage any plastic parts it may come in contact with. I saw MEK eat the handle off a Swiss Army knife.
Marksman
Member
Acetone will do the job and is less hazardous than MEK.
Forefinger
Member
I use acetone myself but it isn't plastic friendly. I collected fishing reels, the old casting reels made in USA. I had free source of acetone and would use it to clean the running gears of these vintage reels. That old grease that had turned solid would dissolve right now with acetone. A guy was watching me clean a reel and a short time later decided to clean his Diawa casting reel. He bough a quart of acetone at Lowes and melted the plastic parts in reel. My dad use to bring acetone home from work to use to assemble plastic model airplanes. He applied with artist brush and the
seams were almost invisible. It will dissolve just about any paint I've come across. That includes stock finishes, so be careful with acetone and use it in ventilated area.
seams were almost invisible. It will dissolve just about any paint I've come across. That includes stock finishes, so be careful with acetone and use it in ventilated area.
Acetone is more flammable than gasoline. No smoking, pilot lights sparks etc..
Put other than some stocks and stock finishes, front sight inserts, the white outline on rear blades there is nothing on a S&W revolver it will harm
Put other than some stocks and stock finishes, front sight inserts, the white outline on rear blades there is nothing on a S&W revolver it will harm
I recently posted about a k22 CM, that was painted with a thick enamel paint. Acetone and brass toothbrush removed the paint. Hoppes #9 and brass wool removed the varnished old oil. Acetone will remove paint in your lettering.
CMudrock
Member
Just be careful with stuff like Acetone, MEK, Toluene ETC! Working in chemical plants for many years I was always around that stuff.
Can be very flammable and realy not good on your body. Back in the old days when we were a heck of a lot dumber we used to wash all the other junk of of our hands with Toluene. We had that by huge tankfuls and in fact were told by the older guys on the job to just go ahead and use it.
Can be very flammable and realy not good on your body. Back in the old days when we were a heck of a lot dumber we used to wash all the other junk of of our hands with Toluene. We had that by huge tankfuls and in fact were told by the older guys on the job to just go ahead and use it.
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