polishing stainless steel revolvers

coronel · November 8, 2007, 08:12 AM

Which metal polishes work the best in achieving a mirror like finish on the exterior of a stainless steel revolver? I have Smith and Wesson and Ruger security sixes in stainless steel and would like to have a mirror like finish in them appreciate your input thank you.

Dave P · November 8, 2007, 08:14 AM

flitz works very well.

Ranger325 · November 8, 2007, 10:29 AM

+1 Flitz.
Although I've not used it, I've read several members here and on other forums claim good results from Mother's Mag Wheel Polish available at most auto parts stores.

Regards,

JWT · November 8, 2007, 10:41 AM

Another fan of Flitz. Great stuff!!

686ssr · November 8, 2007, 11:32 AM

It depends on how you want the finish. Semi chrome polish works alot better than flitz. And if you want it polished so you do not see the mill marks and brush marks than you have to use polishing rouge in 3 steps with a buffing wheel.

Phxdog · November 8, 2007, 01:35 PM

I polished a stainless S&W over the weekend. I used Mothers Billet polish which I picked-up at AutoZone for about $12 (ouch!).

I had touched up a scratch or two on the gun with 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper which left some very fine sanding marks in the finish. The Mother's eliminated those sanding marks & took the entire revolver to an almost polished chrome finish (by hand).

I am VERY happy with this stuff. It says it's safe for any polishable metal including gold, so I figured it would work on stainless. It did. One caution, high gloss stainless steel is a fingerprint magnet. I probably need to give it a light coat of Johnson's Paste Wax.

Good luck, & show us a picture of your results.

clayking · November 8, 2007, 01:50 PM

As always, lots of rubbing with Mothers Mag and finished up with a coat of Renaissance wax for fingerprint avoidance.....................ck

fisherman66 · November 8, 2007, 06:50 PM

I used Mother's Mag

deanodog · November 8, 2007, 07:46 PM

All the above work well. The trick is give it enough work(rubbing) to work well

coronel · November 9, 2007, 12:43 AM

Thank you all for your input I really appreciate now I have something to go by. Again thank you very much.

BillCA · November 9, 2007, 03:59 AM

Before you begin, mask off the rear of the cylinder's recoil plate either side of the hammer. Also mask off both sides of the hammer's opening down to the top of the backstrap.

If you polish these to a high gloss, not only will you see yourself, but also blind yourself when the sun is behind your shoulder.

GUNKWAZY · November 9, 2007, 07:10 AM

Start with the regular Mothers paste and then finish with the Mothers Billet polish. The Billet polish is much more expensive, and more refined than the regular polish. Get your self a bunch of clean soft rags.
the gun below was polished with those 2 polishes and all by hand.
Good luck.

Jeff (GUNKWAZY)

JoeHatley · November 9, 2007, 06:18 PM

Flitz, plus one hour of watching the ball game.

Joe

tango3065 · November 9, 2007, 08:30 PM

Will the mothers alone take out the brush marks that the smiths and rugers have or did you use something else before polishing them?

Thunderhawk88 · November 9, 2007, 08:35 PM

I like Mothers....worked great on my S&W 620.

BillCA · November 10, 2007, 07:42 PM

Quote:

Will the mothers alone take out the brush marks that the smiths and rugers have or did you use something else before polishing them?

I picked up a used Model 67 where someone tried to buff out a scratch below the thumb latch with a 3M pad and botched the finish up.

Before:

I used Mothers' mag polish to blend in the rough finish. This took about an hour by hand using a soft cloth (actually old baby diapers are perfect). The result came out pretty well.

After:

Once I started though, I decided to do the whole gun, except the cylinder. I started with mother's mag polish for the bulk polishing and then moved to using Flitz for a final polish. Add a change of grips and it looks great.

But just a little reflective:

Driveout02 · November 21, 2007, 02:29 AM

Ok, I'm about a week from getting my Ruger SP101, and would like to polish it as well, but I've never done that to a gun. Should I take the gun apart and polish all the pieces (at least the ones I want polished) individually?

Also, I saw a picture of a revolver once that was polished, but the cylinder indents were left satin stainless. Is customizing your finish job like this a hard thing to do by hand? If so, how much would a smith charge for a nice polish job?

jetman · November 21, 2007, 06:56 AM

I just used Mothers Mag Polish and several hours off/on watching TV polishing up my Anaconda. I never took mine apart. I took the grips off and just worked in different areas at a time. I only used elbow grease and no power tools at all. I could do a little more detailing, but it's OK for now. I may do some more detail work this winter.

Click on the picture for more/bigger views

azsixshooter · November 30, 2007, 07:18 PM

Wow man, that Anaconda looks slick! That's the kind of look I'm going for with my S&W 686. I just bought a Dremel 400 and the polishing kit. I cleaned the gun then wiped it dry and I'm starting to work it slowly in a small area. My goal is to try and get the brush marks out producing a fine mirrored look and I can tell already it's going to take some time.

Can anyone give any good tips? I tried to get the Flitz polish at Sportsman's Warehouse today, but they were out of it. I have some stainless steel polish that works pretty well, but I might still try to get some Mother's from Auto Zone.

Someone above mentioned a 3 step process with the jeweler's rouge, can anyone elaborate on that? I'm curious what the 3 steps are. Thanks for any help and advice.

GUNKWAZY · November 30, 2007, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Can anyone give any good tips?

Yeah, take the damn dremmel back.
If this is your fist gun, you may not be happy.
All of mine were done by hand with NO power tools at all.

Jeff (GUNKWAZY)

azsixshooter · November 30, 2007, 09:35 PM

I'll take your advice and try hand-polishing first. I had already tried the stainless steel polish that I had and it shined it up nicely, but didn't do anything to get the brush marks out. It's a very fine polish though, I think more of a finishing polish. I picked up some of the Mother's Mag Polish and the Mother's Billet Polish. I'll start with the Mag and then try the Billet.

I will be keeping the Dremel though, a dips***t roommate of mine burned up my old Dremel and I haven't had one for about 10 years now.

azsixshooter · December 1, 2007, 04:29 AM

My cp's camera sucks and it doesn't do it justice at all, but here's a pic of her after hand-polishing with Mother's Mag then Mother's Billet:

I'm impressed with the Mother's products, but I am still going to need to use the Dremel because I've got a lot of deep scratches that I could never get out with a rag and the Mother's. I don't even know if I'll be able to get them all out with the Dremel, but I suppose I can find a coarser polish than the kind that comes with the Dremel polishing kit. Once I get the big scratches out I'll go to hand-polishing with Mother's stuff. Mother's worked better than the Blue Magic Liquid Metal Polish I had used previously. The Blue Magic wasn't bad, but I think the Mother's brought out a more brilliant gleam.

RGT · December 1, 2007, 04:59 AM

Yet another Mother's Mag fan.

Springer SS 1911 and an old SS Python. Both came out beautifully.

jetman · December 1, 2007, 11:27 AM

I used just elbow grease and Mothers Mag polish alone on my Anaconda. I've read of others with deeper scratches using multiple stages of automotive finish sand papers. He started out with 800 grit then 1000, then 1200 etc... until it was all uniform. THEN hit it with Mothers for a mirror like finish. I really didn't want to put that kind of efffort into mine, and mine didn't have any real scratches on it either. You might also try to use a very fine automotive Scotchbrite type abrasive pad to get out the scratches and then hit it with the Mothers. Sometimes a high speed buffer wheel or dremel can burn in areas and leave an uneven finish in areas, if you're not careful. A friend tried to cut corners on a Colt Pocketlite Mustang with a buffer wheel and then a dremel, and it doesn't look near as nice as my Anaconda.... and he said so not me.

Bill DeShivs · December 1, 2007, 03:49 PM

The Dremel is a professional's tool for specialized projects. It is NOT for gun polishing. You can not get a consistent polish with it, and will do more harm than good.
If you must polish, use automotive wet/dry paper (dry) wrapped tightly around a flat piece of wood. Start with 400 grit, and work your way up to as high a grit as you can find. 2500 is available. Then use Simichrome, Flitz, etc. on a soft cloth.
And make darned sure you get all the grit and polish out of the action!

November 8, 2007, 08:12 AM	#1
coronel Member Join Date: March 1, 2007 Posts: 23	polishing stainless steel revolvers Which metal polishes work the best in achieving a mirror like finish on the exterior of a stainless steel revolver? I have Smith and Wesson and Ruger security sixes in stainless steel and would like to have a mirror like finish in them appreciate your input thank you.

November 8, 2007, 10:29 AM	#3
Ranger325 Senior Member Join Date: April 23, 2005 Location: NW Ohio Posts: 428	+1 Flitz. Although I've not used it, I've read several members here and on other forums claim good results from Mother's Mag Wheel Polish available at most auto parts stores. Regards, __________________ Ranger325 "People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. " George Orwell

November 8, 2007, 01:50 PM	#7
clayking Senior Member Join Date: January 29, 2006 Location: Florida Posts: 796	As always, lots of rubbing with Mothers Mag and finished up with a coat of Renaissance wax for fingerprint avoidance.....................ck __________________ Never argue with an idiot, they will just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

November 8, 2007, 06:50 PM	#8
fisherman66 Senior Member Join Date: August 22, 2005 Location: The Woodlands TX Posts: 4,679	I used Mother's Mag __________________ la plus belle des ruses du diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas!

November 9, 2007, 12:43 AM	#10
coronel Member Join Date: March 1, 2007 Posts: 23	Thanks Thank you all for your input I really appreciate now I have something to go by. Again thank you very much.

November 8, 2007, 08:14 AM	#2
Dave P Senior Member Join Date: August 16, 1999 Location: North Florida Posts: 1,346	flitz works very well.

November 8, 2007, 10:41 AM	#4
JWT Senior Member Join Date: March 16, 2007 Location: Southern Arizona Posts: 3,888	Another fan of Flitz. Great stuff!!

November 8, 2007, 11:32 AM	#5
686ssr Member Join Date: November 6, 2007 Posts: 37	It depends on how you want the finish. Semi chrome polish works alot better than flitz. And if you want it polished so you do not see the mill marks and brush marks than you have to use polishing rouge in 3 steps with a buffing wheel.

November 8, 2007, 01:35 PM	#6
Phxdog Senior Member Join Date: January 18, 2006 Location: Phoenix Posts: 236	I polished a stainless S&W over the weekend. I used Mothers Billet polish which I picked-up at AutoZone for about $12 (ouch!). I had touched up a scratch or two on the gun with 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper which left some very fine sanding marks in the finish. The Mother's eliminated those sanding marks & took the entire revolver to an almost polished chrome finish (by hand). I am VERY happy with this stuff. It says it's safe for any polishable metal including gold, so I figured it would work on stainless. It did. One caution, high gloss stainless steel is a fingerprint magnet. I probably need to give it a light coat of Johnson's Paste Wax. Good luck, & show us a picture of your results.

November 8, 2007, 07:46 PM	#9
deanodog Senior Member Join Date: October 3, 2005 Location: East Ky Posts: 196	All the above work well. The trick is give it enough work(rubbing) to work well

November 9, 2007, 03:59 AM	#11
BillCA Senior Member Join Date: November 28, 2004 Location: Silicon Valley, Ca Posts: 7,117	Before you begin, mask off the rear of the cylinder's recoil plate either side of the hammer. Also mask off both sides of the hammer's opening down to the top of the backstrap. If you polish these to a high gloss, not only will you see yourself, but also blind yourself when the sun is behind your shoulder. __________________ BillCA in CA (Unfortunately)

November 9, 2007, 07:10 AM	#12
GUNKWAZY Senior Member Join Date: January 23, 2007 Location: Sunny AZ Posts: 597	Start with the regular Mothers paste and then finish with the Mothers Billet polish. The Billet polish is much more expensive, and more refined than the regular polish. Get your self a bunch of clean soft rags. the gun below was polished with those 2 polishes and all by hand. Good luck. Jeff (GUNKWAZY)

November 9, 2007, 06:18 PM	#13
JoeHatley Senior Member Join Date: July 1, 1999 Location: Iowa Posts: 2,135	Flitz, plus one hour of watching the ball game. Joe __________________ Go NRA

November 9, 2007, 08:30 PM	#14
tango3065 Senior Member Join Date: October 10, 2002 Location: USA Posts: 146	Will the mothers alone take out the brush marks that the smiths and rugers have or did you use something else before polishing them?

November 9, 2007, 08:35 PM	#15
Thunderhawk88 Junior member Join Date: January 14, 2007 Location: So. California, Desert style. Posts: 745	I like Mothers....worked great on my S&W 620.

November 21, 2007, 02:29 AM	#17
Driveout02 Senior Member Join Date: December 9, 2006 Posts: 205	Ok, I'm about a week from getting my Ruger SP101, and would like to polish it as well, but I've never done that to a gun. Should I take the gun apart and polish all the pieces (at least the ones I want polished) individually? Also, I saw a picture of a revolver once that was polished, but the cylinder indents were left satin stainless. Is customizing your finish job like this a hard thing to do by hand? If so, how much would a smith charge for a nice polish job?

November 21, 2007, 06:56 AM	#18
jetman Senior Member Join Date: January 29, 2007 Posts: 154	I just used Mothers Mag Polish and several hours off/on watching TV polishing up my Anaconda. I never took mine apart. I took the grips off and just worked in different areas at a time. I only used elbow grease and no power tools at all. I could do a little more detailing, but it's OK for now. I may do some more detail work this winter. Click on the picture for more/bigger views

November 30, 2007, 07:18 PM	#19
azsixshooter Senior Member Join Date: April 22, 2007 Location: Pinckney, MI Posts: 657	Wow man, that Anaconda looks slick! That's the kind of look I'm going for with my S&W 686. I just bought a Dremel 400 and the polishing kit. I cleaned the gun then wiped it dry and I'm starting to work it slowly in a small area. My goal is to try and get the brush marks out producing a fine mirrored look and I can tell already it's going to take some time. Can anyone give any good tips? I tried to get the Flitz polish at Sportsman's Warehouse today, but they were out of it. I have some stainless steel polish that works pretty well, but I might still try to get some Mother's from Auto Zone. Someone above mentioned a 3 step process with the jeweler's rouge, can anyone elaborate on that? I'm curious what the 3 steps are. Thanks for any help and advice. __________________ "Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that." --Saul Tigh http://sargesrollcall.blogspot.com/2...s-no-more.html

November 30, 2007, 09:35 PM	#21
azsixshooter Senior Member Join Date: April 22, 2007 Location: Pinckney, MI Posts: 657	I'll take your advice and try hand-polishing first. I had already tried the stainless steel polish that I had and it shined it up nicely, but didn't do anything to get the brush marks out. It's a very fine polish though, I think more of a finishing polish. I picked up some of the Mother's Mag Polish and the Mother's Billet Polish. I'll start with the Mag and then try the Billet. I will be keeping the Dremel though, a dips***t roommate of mine burned up my old Dremel and I haven't had one for about 10 years now. __________________ "Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that." --Saul Tigh http://sargesrollcall.blogspot.com/2...s-no-more.html

December 1, 2007, 04:29 AM	#22
azsixshooter Senior Member Join Date: April 22, 2007 Location: Pinckney, MI Posts: 657	My cp's camera sucks and it doesn't do it justice at all, but here's a pic of her after hand-polishing with Mother's Mag then Mother's Billet: I'm impressed with the Mother's products, but I am still going to need to use the Dremel because I've got a lot of deep scratches that I could never get out with a rag and the Mother's. I don't even know if I'll be able to get them all out with the Dremel, but I suppose I can find a coarser polish than the kind that comes with the Dremel polishing kit. Once I get the big scratches out I'll go to hand-polishing with Mother's stuff. Mother's worked better than the Blue Magic Liquid Metal Polish I had used previously. The Blue Magic wasn't bad, but I think the Mother's brought out a more brilliant gleam. __________________ "Which side are we on? We're on the side of the demons, Chief. We're evil men in the gardens of paradise, sent by the forces of death to spread devastation and destruction wherever we go. I'm surprised you didn't know that." --Saul Tigh http://sargesrollcall.blogspot.com/2...s-no-more.html

December 1, 2007, 04:59 AM	#23
RGT Member Join Date: November 27, 2007 Location: North Central Florida Posts: 20	Yet another Mother's Mag fan. Springer SS 1911 and an old SS Python. Both came out beautifully.

December 1, 2007, 11:27 AM	#24
jetman Senior Member Join Date: January 29, 2007 Posts: 154	I used just elbow grease and Mothers Mag polish alone on my Anaconda. I've read of others with deeper scratches using multiple stages of automotive finish sand papers. He started out with 800 grit then 1000, then 1200 etc... until it was all uniform. THEN hit it with Mothers for a mirror like finish. I really didn't want to put that kind of efffort into mine, and mine didn't have any real scratches on it either. You might also try to use a very fine automotive Scotchbrite type abrasive pad to get out the scratches and then hit it with the Mothers. Sometimes a high speed buffer wheel or dremel can burn in areas and leave an uneven finish in areas, if you're not careful. A friend tried to cut corners on a Colt Pocketlite Mustang with a buffer wheel and then a dremel, and it doesn't look near as nice as my Anaconda.... and he said so not me.

December 1, 2007, 03:49 PM	#25
Bill DeShivs Senior Member Join Date: April 7, 2006 Posts: 10,985	The Dremel is a professional's tool for specialized projects. It is NOT for gun polishing. You can not get a consistent polish with it, and will do more harm than good. If you must polish, use automotive wet/dry paper (dry) wrapped tightly around a flat piece of wood. Start with 400 grit, and work your way up to as high a grit as you can find. 2500 is available. Then use Simichrome, Flitz, etc. on a soft cloth. And make darned sure you get all the grit and polish out of the action! __________________ Bill DeShivs, Master Cutler www.billdeshivs.com