Polishing a blued gun

[dobrzemetal]

Does anyone have any tips or tricks on getting a blued gun back to a good shine without re-bluing?, I've heard about glass cleaner, flitz and cloth, wax, etc.

Anyone have a tried and proven way to re shine a blued gun without screwing up the finish?

 

[rcmodel]

Oil, or paste wax, or Flitz used very sparingly.

Anything you rub bluing with will eventually wear it off.

rc

 

[Oro]

or Flitz used very sparingly.

+1 to what rcmodel said. I have used Mother's with great success, but the trick is very, very sparingly and with a light touch. Then finish it off to protect it with a past wax or Renaissance Wax (my favorite).

On guns with a matte blue finish, like a S&W 28 or others, you CAN'T get it shiny, so don't try. You can remove some surface oxidation and rust, but don't try to get a uniform shiny finish or you will take it off like he stated.

 

[dobrzemetal]

So, flitz will work just really sparingly. I actually have Mothers in my gun cleaning kit so I guess ill give it a try. So what do you think to apply it with, a cotton ball or something?

 

[krs]

Be REALLY careful and try it on an unimportant gun if you have one or in a small area where the result can be covered up if need be. Most areas that are not normally seen will also not be highly polished so a hidden are may not give a good indication of what might happen to the polished areas.

I'm just saying that it is sometimes alarmingly easy to screw up a nice blue.

 

[rcmodel]

Mothers Mag Wheel Polish is abrasive, in order to clean the oxidation off of uuuuhhhh? ....Mag Wheels! Right!

Anything even mildly abrasive should not be used on bluing!
A Tall!

If your patch or rag starts turning black, that's the bluing or metal coming off!

rc

 

[Oro]

Anything even mildly abrasive should not be used on bluing!

This would rule out Flitz then, too. Flitz does contain abrasives and it's listed in it's contents. Mother's is slightly more abrasive than flitz. I own and use both, and both contain abrasives - diatomaceous earth (tiny little dinosaur-era bug bones, basically) in Mothers, and calcined alumina (baked aluminum dust) in Flitz (check the MSDS it is listed as "solid polishing powder 1344/28/1"). The hardness of calcined alumina is quite high - 9 out of 10 on the Mohr scale - very hard. The trick is just how much is used in the solution and how hard you rub on it. Flitz is safer to use if you are going to scrub away; Mother's requires a lighter touch.

Either will take bluing off if you rub it long enough or hard enough.

Again, use it sparingly and you have no problem. Here's a 27, for example, that had almost 40 years of crud removed with Mothers and it is as beautiful as the day it rolled off the assembly line during the 1st Nixon administration...



Below is a 1916 vintage S&W that was fairly well oxidized and pitted. I used Mother's quite aggressively on it, and it took away the oxidation and left the remaining blue without removing any I could notice. I have used both on a wide variety of guns, and am very comfortable recommending it's use within the limits described.

 

[Ohio Gun Guy]

I have had success with mothers. I kind of thought I was the only one willing to use it on guns. I think it works great. I sometimes use a buffer to work it in, although test each gun in a hidden area first. I have never had it be a problem, but dont start where it will be visable, just in case.

Shoe polish, works great on sealed wood stocks. Helps hide minor blemishes and gives a meduim shine.

 

[ranger335v]

The "shine" on any blued steel has to come before it's blued, we can't make an original dull or satin blue job shiney afterwards.

All we can do is clean the steel so the finish it has will show. A wax job MAY help it look a little better after cleaning but that too is largely dependant on the original finish.

 

[dobrzemetal]

Looks nice Oro. I just tried some out on a mag and it came out okay. I'm doing this to a 1983 bulgie makarov.

 

[Brazos]

Johnson's paste wax. It comes in a yellow and red can and you can buy it at any grocery store. Just rub it on, let it dry, then wipe it off with a soft rag. Your blueing will shine better than new. The wax has no abrasives and you can also use it on your stock. I have used this stuff since I was a kid.

 

[jumbo72]

so if you polish the blue off, what will be underneath? plain metal? I have a desert eagle 50 that's brushed chrome (i'm going to polish it), and i'm wanting to get a 44 mag barrel so i don't have to take out a 2nd mortgage to get .50ae ammo when i want to shoot. I've found a couple of black barrels, i think it'll look sweet if it's possible to shine up the black. Any suggestions?

 

[LTR shooter]

For simply shining up a blued gun I use a good wax for cars. My MKII Ruger looks far better than it did out of the box after waxing. As do my Marlin 39 and CZ American.

I use the Mothers for my stainless guns.

 

[jimmyraythomason]

I use 0000 steel wool saturated in WD-40. I buff fairly vigoruosly,havent buffed through bluing yet. After polishing this way I use oil cloths to do a complete wipe down. I don't use wax but it seems like a good idea.