Flitz?

I have only used Flitz on knives but IIRC it has abrasives in it and I would not use it on a blued gun, unless taking off the bluing is what you're going for.

With a polishing compound it's going to take forever to remove the blueing. Not to mention that it will be uneven and with enough willingness you can round some edges and dish some of the holes in the frame. Use a commercially sold blueing remover, or even soak that revolver in vinegar. Vinegar removes blueing quite good actually. Wash the revolver thoroughly with water after that. Polish with varying grits of sandpaper, backed on some smooth wooden sanding block. Change the direction of sanding with every grit. Finish with 0000 steel wool to break the microscopic edges left from the sanding. Flitz is an optional last step, but I don't think that it will worth it at all polishing that revolver, as with cold blue one cannot achieve the same deep gloss like from the hot blue process - it's an entirely different animal. Finish that piece with 400 grit sandpaper, followed with steel wool and you will get quite satisfactory results.

P.S. Polish the frame with the side plate and the yoke (crane) attached to it.

Yeah flitz will strip bluing surprisingly quickly. I used to use it alot, but only on "white" metals, its great for polishing aluminum to a mirror finish (polished aluminum is shinier than chrome).
Id go with Mizars suggestions.
Ive actually got a 1903 colt thats pretty jacked up that im going to blast and hot blue sometime this week...gotta go get more chemicals.
I had originally planned to polish out the slide and frame, but the pits on the edges are deep enough id either have to angle the flats, or remove the lettering in the middle of the slide.

Just like SImichrome, it's an abrasive. Finger pressure is uneven so removing the finish is uneven. Wrap the cloth around a hard flat object to remove it more evenly.

What is being removed is the outer layer of converted metal - down to bare white steel. It is a removal process, not a chemical conversion. That buffer wheel might be avoided but what it does will have to be reproduced to get flats with a reflective finish on it. Back to the hard flat object to do that - you are removing metal, it's just at the micro level working out uneveness you can't readily see with the naked eye.

Once it gets finger grooved you have to work it back to flat to get an even unwarped finish. Only a flat object which is stiff will do that.

As previously noted, vinegar removes bluing. (Don’t let mayonnaise from your sandwich drip on your firearm!). But it takes a few minutes. Birchwood Casey makes a “Blue and Rust Remover “ that is instantaneous. Just in case you are in a hurry.

I like grits down around 1500 for polishing. Think automobile finishers. And while I like 0000 steel wool on blued steel, do not use steel wool on stainless steel. I know we are not talking about stainless in this thread, but folks should be aware that small particles of steel wool can get embedded and cause rust, even on stainless steel.

J-Bar said:

...but folks should be aware that small particles of steel wool can get embedded and cause rust, even on stainless steel.

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Yep - the sole reason why my kitchen sink rusted couple of years ago.

I have used Flitz mainly on plated guns where it works beautifully at removing the tarnish and brings a nice shiny, mirror-like look to the plated surfaces. I have also used it on stainless guns (though Mother's Mag Polish works much better), and I have used it on blued guns without removing any of the bluing. I have also used Flitz to clean up the blades on most of my knives.

Some examples:

Let us not kid ourselves - the only reason why Flitz is so good at cleaning and bringing back the shine is because it's abrasive. One can get away "cleaning" a blued gun occasionally simply because the hot bluing process creates a layer of quite hard oxide. But every, and I do mean every, time one is using Flitz on a blued gun he is effectively thinning the finish down.

Many years ago when I worked in a gun & pawn shop, I ran the gun counter. We obtained quite a few quality guns that were in various stages of neglect. Part of my job was to clean them up and make them more presentable for sale. Flitz is what I used after a good traditional cleaning, and it made some of those old smiths and colts just shine in the display cases.Never had any issues with finish coming off.

I prefer Mother's Mag Polish, but have only ever used it on stainless guns. If you are going to continue using Flitz to remove the bluing, you are likely going to need to do it several times to achieve somewhat even results. However, Mizar's suggestion seems a much better option.

If you are wanting to remove the bluing, as mentioned above, there are better and much faster options than flitz. The difficulty in hot bluing is not so much the process in removing the bluing but the proper polishing and buffing after finish removal to prepare for rebluing. For the amateur, parkerizing, painting, or even rust bluing is a bit easier on prep work than for hot bluing. If you really want the old Model Ten to shine, I believe that S&W does rebluing and does it right. I know that Ruger still does so as they reblued a battered 1976 Security Six model for my FIL and it looks stunning.

Last week, I saw a Victory Model Smith that had been hot reblued, however the S&W logo was smeared as was some of the other lettering, it showed pits under the bluing etc. I suspect that it was done by someone who knew hot to hot blue but not how to properly prepare a surface.

The Victory Lend Lease in .38-200 next to it still had its honest original Parkerizing and looked much better. One of the reasons that Pythons (or other Colt revolvers) or old Smith's bring so much is you are buying the polishing expertise of people who spent years at learning their craft and it shows in the finish.

Flitz, more or less, is a mildly abrasive polish that can remove the finish unevenly with considerable pressure. Mizar is correct that it will thin the bluing finish using polishing techniques but with a light touch, it is probably ok for occasional prettying up something for presentation or sale on a garden variety firearm. Something like a blued Python or an old fire blued pistol, no way. Non-abrasive cloths should be used on these objects of fine art only for debris removal and cleaning.

Johnson's paste wax, the stuff in the flat yellow can, will shine your gun right up and prevent rust after you are done shining it and it contains no abrasives so it's safe to use. I use Flitz or Semichrome on thing like brass, raw aluminum, and raw steel to keep them looking good. Applying Johnson's wax will keep them looking good longer.

I will only use Flitz on the cylinder faces of stainless guns to remove the firing rings every once in a while... but I’ll use it sparingly because I don’t want to abrade the face of the cylinder or goof up the chamber mouths.

It makes the gun look brand new...but of course the rings come back the very next time it’s fired

I have used vinegar to remove the bluing on a couple of Walker replicas, as the original revolvers had cylinders in the white. It works very effectively, and quickly if you soak the part(s). I’d use that before an abrasive polish.

I soak blued guns in vinegar for a few hours, and scrub off the orange residue, its much faster, and does not effect the polish, its also 100% at removing the finish. After the orange is off, immediately degrease and start the finishing process or rust is instant. This is a very common method with parkerizing.

It took less than 10 minutes to totally remove the blue from my Walker cylinders. No orange residue. I don’t doubt you, but “a few hours” seems excessive!

I used muriatic acid to remove bluing; does it in seconds. ( You must run the parts under water immediately, or it will keep removing metal...!) Then a polish wheel and jeweler's rouge (gently) to return the shine before bluing. Good ventilation is strongly suggested.

Riomouse911 said:

I will only use Flitz on the cylinder faces of stainless guns to remove the firing rings every once in a while...

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The face of the cylinder is the one place I will not use a metal polish with an abrasive for exactly the purpose you mention. A Brass brush is good enough for me.