High polish

[wyn]

How do you get a high polish shine on a gun. Recently bought one that could use it. Am I better off trying to polish it to make it shine or should I try to blue it?

[blitzkrieger]

I used a dremel with buffing wheel and stainless steel polishing compound to shine up my .22 rifle. A bench mounted buffer would have been much faster but I did not have one at the time.  

   what is it that you want to polish? If you polish first then blue over top of that your blueing job will look much nicer.

[cedarview kid]

I have a .22Magnum Mini with .22LR cylinder that I think was polished at the factory, but I'm not sure. It came in a nice wooden box with the NAA logo on the top. The serial number begins with EC, which I don't think was the standard prefix for the magnum, which (I think) is just E. Maybe the C stands for "Cased"? i'm not sure.

   

   But the polish is excellent. It's a beautiful little gun. I posted pictures awhile back.

[pocketcarry]

I have a high polish that I bought way back, it is beauitful. Would not take for it. Only one I have seen.

[jstanfield103]

I have polished a 40cal S/W, 45cal S/W, and my 1 1/8" mini. It was easy, go to Walmart in the automotive isle and buy some 2000,1000,800,400 grit automotive sand paper. Start with the 400 grit and sand the whole gun until you get all the little pits out. Then keep advancing up untill you have it nice and shinny with the 2000 grit paper. Then the final touch is to use Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish.

[doc_stadig]

If it is stainless, bluing won't work, stainless won't take it at all, I've done probably 8 or 9 complete strips, long guns and wheel guns, then re-blued them, recently, which to my thought, is the better way to go. Make sure that the firearm is not going to lose any value, or get some family member totally upset for damaging great, great, grandpa's civil war relic that was used to kill General Washingfoot, during the Civil War, AKA, The War of Northern Aggression!

   I payed less than $500 for 3 black-powder revolvers and the lever-action shotgun, combined.

   There are some that say the only way to do a complete re-bluing is with hot bluing, and I suppose that may be good for the person that can tie their weapon up for the time it takes to get it done. I took an afternoon to do each of 4 revolvers, and about 5 hours to do a single shot lever-action 12 gauge, but my thoughts were to try to make them look well used, well cared for, but well used. So the surfaces were well smoothed, and properly stripped and cleaned, but I held back on the prescribed time and only did a couple of layers with the perma-blue. I got the 3 bottle kit by Birchwood-Casey, and several grades of steel wool to keep the finish right.

   I've heard it said that cold-bluing won't last but I've got one I did 30 years ago that still looks good, much depends on what you do with it after it's blued, I think.

   

   

   Doc

[grayelky]

Wyn-

   The type of metal you are dealing with is most important. Standard steel that is blued or parkerized, or SS. The next question has to do with what you want to do with the gun. A high polish job on a SS mini that will be pocket carried will result in a lot of scratches that will need to be polished out from time to time. A display SS mini with a high polish will always look great. It may need some light maintenance from time to time, as the surface may oxidize in its display case.

   

   Jstanfield103 and Doc_stadig both offer good advice. If you are wanting to re-blue a gun, the better polish job and surface prep will give you a much better than factory blue job.  Unfortunately, if the surface is not smooth and straight, any imperfections will show up in the final blue job.

[45flint]

Is there any way to take a poor turn of the century nickeled breaktop and taking off the finish to turn it to a blued gun? So many of these guns have a bad finish now.  

   Steve

[tom]

An ultrasonic cleaner would take off the nickel plating.  But a renickel would be more appropriate.  The manufacturers of the cheaper guns didn't do much of a job of polishing; without a great deal of polishing,almost certainly more than enough to obliterate the lettering, it wouldn't likely look very good.  One of the reasons for plate rather than a blue finish was the expense of polishing time.  

   

   I inherited a Smith & Wesson .32 Hand Ejector from my grandfather.  When I got it the plating was flaking off.  At that time, however, Smith & Wesson would repair and replate.  They did an excellent job

[coinchop]

My father in law, used to use some kind of reverse to eletroplating to remove old nickle off guns before he reblued them. I rember the battery, wires, and tank he used, but don't remember the plan. I am sure its in one of the old gunsmith books he had, that I now have. Have to look someday.

[coinchop]

To late to correct, but if it will take off nickle, it will also remove nickel.

[bill_deshivs]

An ultrasonic cleaner will not hurt properly applied nickel, but it may remove plating that is already flaking. Plating can be removed by reverse plating-reversing the plating current. It can also be removed chemically.

   A common misconception about plating is that it makes a surface shiny-it doesn't. The surface has to be polished to be shiny, then plated. Most older guns were plated to prevent rust.

[chopprs]

Bill is correct in his statement about reverse plating. It is an electrical current process not unlike the original plating process. One of the problems with removing plating on older guns is that the plating that remains protects the metal underneath and the exposed areas are unprotected and show wear. You may not like what you end up with. It may be a very uneven and unsightly surface. Another polish and plate job to correct it may be expensive and time consuming as it will consist of a plating, polishing to even the surface and another plating and polishing for a finish. The end result may also not have the same/correct part to part fitment as before or even incorrect, inhibiting the correct  function of the gun. I have seen it done correctly as well as incorrectly. To do it right can be a lot of work depending on the condition of the example submitted.