Chrome Polish on a SS revolver?

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Sprout

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I bought a bottle of Turtle Wax Chrome Polish because somebody on TFl reccommended it for cleaning the cylinder face. As promised, it works like a charm with those green plasitc scouring pads.

However, on the Wheelgun Forum, I was told that automotive chrome polish is too abrasive and will wear the gun. Am I eroding my gun with the polish and/or the green pads? Are lead-away cloths the real solution? Harsh language?

Thanks for the help
 
Generally, most chrome polish has some sort of abrasive in it, which can wear away metal. You'd probably have to do a bunch of polishing, but eventually, you may take some off. I don't use chrome polish. I am able to get all the fouling off by using solvent and a nylon brush. If it's really tough, I will use a brass brush with solvent. If it's really, really tough, I use a product called Simichrome which is available from auto parts stores. That and a soft cloth will remove anything, but if it is overused, it will remove metal just like any other polish. Simichrome is used a lot on die tooling, so it does not removes the least metal of anything I've tried. This is important when dies need to be within 0.00005". My general rule is always to use anything in a paste form sparingly.

Ryan
 
As Wildalaska says: use the "lead away"-type cloths. That gets the residue (powder and lead) off quicker than anything else I've tried.

As for chrome polish on stainless steel? Why not? There's nothing you can polish off...
 
Any rubbng between surfaces has some abrasion level. I have used chrome polish on SS guns for years. I also use it in cleaning the bore when it has very stubborn fouling, although I would add I use only nylon bore brushes and scrub brushes. IMO, rubbing some CP with a nylon brush is less abrasive to the metal than the arm thrashing I used to have to do with a brass brush to get the bore and the cylinder tubes clean. The real cleaning effectiveness of CP is that it has some ammonia in it and it attacks both copper fouling and burn fouling. As for abrasion, CP is designed to polish chrome (a mirror bright finish) without clouding so any abrasive used in it has to be extremely fine. All cleaners (like J+B bore cleaner) have some abrasion. Used reasonably, you won't hurt anything.
 
Thanks again everybody. It's good to know that I wasn't hurting anything too badly, but if the lead-removing cloths or Flitz are better, it's worth a try.

I was worried that I was going to ruin my guns with TFL not around. I'm sure glad you guys are still around--and willing--to help.

Thanks
 
For exterior appearance I've used Blue Magic, a non-abrasive polish from the auto department at any store. For the cylinder face I've used Scotchbrite pads and Hoppes #9 followed by the Birchwood-Casey lead remover cloth.
 
well i read this post and decided to try to clean some nasty powder burnt faces this morning...

come to find out i didn't have any polishes of any kind so i went with a liquid wax... it was meguiars gold class ...

first i tried it on my ss 66, the rings came off first trip around... so i stripped off the grips and release and did the whole gun about 4 times.... really looks great, think i'll just keep shinning and see what happens...

then i tried it on my nickle 29, i've shot 500+ rnds through it and it was used when i got it.. i've tried to brush it to no avail, so i figured this would be a better test for the wax...

well it took three times as much rubbing, and it's still not perfect but it's not black anymore... just some light rings, so i just did a light wax on the rest of the gun and it's just as blinding as ever...

didn't have any problems cleaning the residue off... looks like a winner to me...

while im on the subject (not really) if you own a buffer and cd's this wax will do wonders....

take any scratched up cd you own, note the places that skip or just won't play and then.....

coat you're buffer pad with the gold class and fire up the buffer in your lap.... pad up of course... :D

lay the cd on the pad and hold it with the palm of you hand, it'll get slick after a while so it's a learned skill to keep the cd on the pad and not flying across the room...

do both sides!!! this will fill in any damaged portions on the track, on most cd players it will just keep on playing over these places.... but use some common sense when the pad turns the color of the cd paint you can stop....

i've never damaged a cd doing this... it can only help from my experience...
 
Not trying to be a meanie, but most auto waxes also have some mild abrasive in them to help strip oxidation. But I guarantee you none of the products listed in this thread will hurt stainless steel in our lifetime of rubbing. Rub away.
 
I've used the lead away cloths, they have a warning not to use them on blued guns because they will remove the bluing.

I wonder how they work their magic.

Anyone KNOW what is on those treated cloths.

My guess is some kind of very fine ABRASIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Yellow

The lead removing chemical is yellow, that's why the cloths are yellow, from whatever manufacturer.

Johnson's Paste Wax, the kind that comes in a short fat can and is used on floors, has no abrasives and works great on any metal or plastic or wood surface.
 
So Any chemists know what the yellow stuff is?

try this take the lead cloth and a matt stainless steel surface. or a painted surface and polish a bit it will get shiney and its not lead, that makes me think its a mild abrasive.
 
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