Ever polish a "Glass Bead Finish" on a S&W revolver?

[Zaydok Allen]

I've used Mother's Mag polish on a number of stainless revolvers with a "brushed finish". With enough even applications, the guns usually turn out looking great IMO. If you keep going, you can get them looking nearly as shiny as nickel, but not quite.

I have a S&W with a "satin" finish. It looks fine, but I rather like my revolvers to have a bit of shine. The satin finish also seems easier to scratch than the brushed.

So I'm thinking about hand polishing the gun, but I'm not sure how the finish will turn out. So I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience hand polishing a "satin finish" which is basically a flat matte finished stainless steel, for those who are unfamiliar. This is not a gun I am going to ever sell, as it's one of my favorites, so I'm not terribly concerned with keeping it all original.

 

[Winkman822]

Never done a revolver, but I did brush polish my stainless Springfield TRP quite a while back. The gun was bead blasted to have a matte stainless finish. I used different grades of automotive sand paper to get rid of the glass bead medium and achieve a brushed finish. I started with 400 grit to remove the glass bead medium, then moved to a 600 grit and finished with an 800 grit paper. The trick was to go in ONE direction and to work slowly. It was a simple but time consuming process. This was only done on the flats of the slide. I'm not sure how this technique would work on a revolver given its many curved surfaces.

 

[tiamat]

Kodiak, are you talking about S&W's painted-on 'satin' finishes like what they're putting on recent airweight J-frames?

I've not done it myself (but I thought about it), so I did some searching and found posts on S&W's forums of some people who have done it. Unfortunately, the posts were rather old, so any pics they had used were long gone. From the comments though, many thought the end result looked like polished stainless steel (i.e. they liked it!).

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Kodiak, are you talking about S&W's painted-on 'satin' finishes like what they're putting on recent airweight J-frames?

I've not done it myself (but I thought about it), so I did some searching and found posts on S&W's forums of some people who have done it. Unfortunately, the posts were rather old, so any pics they had used were long gone. From the comments though, many thought the end result looked like polished stainless steel (i.e. they liked it!).

No, it's not a painted on finish like on the J frames. It's a solid stainless steel gun (686+ PC gun). It's just the particular way they left the steel rather than their typical brushed stainless look.

 

[RainDodger]

I've polished a stainless S&W before with a combination of a buffing wheel and a dremel with polishing bobs to get into the tighter places. It goes very fast. I used super, super fine jeweler's rouge. It looked like a mirror when I was done. Definite bling. If you're going to do it, be very, very careful not to go too far. It would be easy to round the sharp edges or take too much off around lettering, etc.

I got tired of it quickly and returned it to it's original satin finish, which I much prefer.

 

[dfariswheel]

You can get an acceptable bright polish on stainless guns using any good metal polish and a rag.
Polishes like Mother's MAG even Brass-O and a cloth will work fine.

Just sit down in front of the TV and polish away.
While you can get a bright shine metal polish will not remove the fine machine marks and defects left by the manufacturing process.
To remove the fine machining marks requires a factory level polish job which is risky unless you know what you're doing.

If you'd like to just alter the satin finish to a slightly brighter finish, you can use a very mild polish like Flitz.
Just don't over do it and get too bright.

 

[boricua9mm]

"Satin" is normally used to describe a brushed finish. Are you talking about a beadblasted finish?

 

[Zaydok Allen]

"Satin" is normally used to describe a brushed finish. Are you talking about a beadblasted finish?

Oh crap. Yeah boricua I used the wrong term. It's the finish a S&W calls the "Glass Bead" finish.

Sorry for the confusion all. Better change the title. Thanks for pointing that mistake out.

 

[45_auto]

I polished one of my 686's, but I used a very fine polishing compound rather than Mag Polish. It looks great.

I'll try to post a few pics tonite.

 

[boricua9mm]

I really like the subdued look of the beadblasted finishes, but you are right, they show a lot of nicks and scratches very easily compared to a brushed/satin or polished finish.

I have polished a brushed/satin model 65 3" to a nice shine with Mother's Mag polish. I have also re-touched up brushed/satin finishes using 1,000 grit sandpaper from the auto parts store. I think you can certainly polish it, but since you are starting off with a beadblasted finish it will require a lot more elbow grease than if you were starting off with a brushed/satin type finish.

I have a gorgeous CS1 3" with a beadblasted finish that needs to go back into the blasting cabinet. From what I understand you have to completely strip the gun, beadblast it, and then spend a lot of time getting the loose media out of the gun before reassembly. I wonder how difficult this is; would I be able to do it myself with a cheap Harbor Freight blasting cabinet? I suppose the beadblasted finish is better than bluing in this regard, but I'd love to learn more about how it is done.

 

[Jim Watson]

Sure, you can polish it up anything from "less matte" to mirror bright. Do be careful about power tools, you can get one as shiny and as wavy as a fun house mirror.

I think I would practice bead blasting on something less valuable than a CS1.

 

[19-3Ben]

I have a S&W with a "satin" finish. It looks fine, but I rather like my revolvers to have a bit of shine. The satin finish also seems easier to scratch than the brushed.

In my experience, it also rusts a little easier. I had a bead blasted SP101 and a bead blasted Sig P232, both of which rusted more easily than my other guns when carried a lot. Actually, before I had the Ruger blasted, it didn't rust at all. After, I had to do more rigorous maintenance. Removing grips and oiling under them regularly to keep the rust at bay.

I dont do bead blast any more. Too many nooks and crannies for moisture and salty sweat to hide and stay!

 

[Zaydok Allen]

Good point on the rusting issue. I'm not terribly worried as I keep a desiccate pack in the case, and live in a relatively dry climate. I still keep my guns oiled though.

For clarification, I have no intention of using any power tools for polishing. I have a limit, and do not particularly like mirror finishes. It's a 686 Competitor I'm talking about, and I think the different angles on the gun present some interesting opportunities to create matte vs shine contrasts, and could come out looking really sharp, if done carefully. The only polishing I have ever done is with Mother's Mag, by hand, and that's what I would do here as well.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Yep, did it once on a S&W 65 'Ladysmith' that had seen lots of abuse.

Turned out decent to.

Look at the top left and you will see it. It has Rogers grips on it and has a grey finish.

Deaf

 

[BYJO4]

It will take more work but you can polish it up to whatever shine you like.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

The work doesn't bother me. I have about 20 hours of work in on two revolvers and about 3 hours work on a 1911.

Some people knit, I polish revolvers.

 

[bannockburn]

Probably the shiniest one I have among all of my stainless guns that have had the Mother's Mag Polish transformation.