I am not a gunsmith, nor do I play one on T.V.

[bigbadgun]

I am looking for a little advice on how to refinish a Uberti 1847 Colt Walker
all of them that I see are either blued or browned. And they all look very nice. However I want to do something a little different with mine.
I know how to strip the blueing off but I want to Polish the barrel and cylinder to a high shine is this easy to do. (I dont want it plated)
And would I just use a polishing wheel on my bench grinder with jewlers ruoge or what would be the process any thoughts would be great.

 

[rcmodel]

You can do it with a buffing wheel & several different grades of buffing compound, but you won't be very pleased with the results.

It will come out very shiny, like chrome, but all the screw holes will be dished out, and all the sharp edges will be buffed off.

Best to wet sand it with fine grades of Wet or Dry black paper. Start out with oil & 320, then 440, and progress up to at least 600 or finer.

Use sanding blocks on all the flat surfaces to keep all the flats flat. Keep working down to finer grades of paper until everything is totally scratch free, then do the final polish on a buffing wheel with rouge.

PS: Regardless of how you do it, you don't need to strip the bluing first. The polishing will take it off nicely.


rcmodel

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Are you going to hot bath(salts) blue or cold blue?

 

[bigbadgun]

thanks rcmodel
Jimmy I want it shine gray or silver without the cost of plateing

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Do you mean,no finish,bare metal?

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Do you mean,no finish,bare metal? If so, you run a high risk of rusting. Be prepaired for constant polishing to retain the shine.

 

[bigbadgun]

is there no clear finish that I can put on it to reduce rusting

 

[jimmyraythomason]

Most spray on or wipe on finishes require a fairly rough surface to adhere to. Most such finishes won't adhere to highly polished metal. Brownells,Inc. offers a clear metal coat epoxy that you might try. Who knows,it might work.

 

[bigbadgun]

Great thanks jimmy

 

[GeorgeR]

Bare Metal in SoFla

South Florida is a great big rust cabinet, and if you leave the metal bare, or even spray it with Krylon clear coat, it will rust really quickly.