polishing case hardened parts

[halfded]

I like the look of shiny steel triggers and hammers better than the case hardened look.

Are there any detrimental effects to polishing case hardened parts (hammer and trigger) to make them nice and shiny?

Parts in question come from a S&W model 10, by the way. One's from the late 40's to early 50's and the other is from late 1974.

 

[Oyeboten]

Far as I know, you may Polish Case Hardened Parts with no worries on their loosing any strength or hardness.



I tried annealing a cut-off Hammer Spur from an S&W Model 10-6, and, once slow cooled from a Cherry 'Red' Heating...the damned thing was STILL harder than a File could bite...so...any heat from Buffing would not matter.

 

[halfded]

I'm talking about using Mother's mag polish or billet polish, not just shining them up on a wheel.

I want that mirror shine

 

[dfariswheel]

As long as you aren't polishing the actual working surfaces, there's no problem with polishing case hardened parts or color case hardened parts.

Where people get into trouble is in trying to do a "trigger job" and polishing the hammer/sear engagement or safety block surfaces.
As long as you only polish the exposed areas, you should be okay.