Polishing Stainless Steel?

[Jaydottcomm]

Does anybody know the best way to polish stainless steel? I have two ragged blued guns. One is a pistol and the other a mossberg. What im wanting to know is the steps on how to get that glass shine to the metal. By Hand..i dont mind putting in the man time. What grits of sand paper are used, polishes, or any other medium that will garner a professional look? Also i used some gun blue and rust remover to strip the blue from my mossberg but wouldnt penetrate the receiver. Made its made out of a different metal and painted. I dont know..but it would be nice if i could match the receiver to the barrels. Any suggestions? :banghead:

 

[Stinger]

The receiver on the Mossberg is aluminum and it is not blued. The barrel is not stainless steel and will need some type of finish on it to prevent rust.

 

[bang_bang]

I've reblued a couple of rifles I own with some gun bluing Cream...can't remember the brand. On one of the rifles, I was able to get that mirrored black glass look down the barrel, and it looks like a quality job.

First, use some Mother's Mag Polish and one of those red 3M sanding pads to remove the old blue and any rust. The Mother's Polish helps prevent excessive oxidation to the metal before you put your finish on it. Make sure that the 3M pad only barley bites the metal, or you'll end up with big scratches.

Then, I took 2,000 grit wet-sandpaper and repeatedly wet-sanded the barrel until I could see my own reflection. I cleaned the barrel with another round of Mother's Polish (God, I love that stuff) and wiped down with water and dried thoroughly with a dry cloth to remove the last of the Mother's residue that might not allow the blue cream to do it's job.

I had to practice a bit on the blue cream application to make it look even and dark. But, it comes off easy, and once the barrel or whatever is blued, wipe with a wet towel and BUFF with a dry towel to remove any blue left on the rifle. Apply a thin coat of oil and you're done.

BTW...just found the Blue Cream; G96 Brand Gun Blue Creme

 

[kcshooter]

Stainless can't be blued, so these guns obviously aren't stainless. If you remove the blueing from carbon steel they will begin to rust within hours. You will need to reblue, parkerize, gunkote, something to prevent rust.

The best cold blue I've found is OxphoBlue available from Brownells or Cabelas

 

[Ceemack]

As already mentioned, the receiver on the Mossberg is aluminum so bluing won't work. Best bet for matching colors: send it off to a certified vendor who applies Duracoat.

As for the Smith...you COULD strip all the bluing off (naval jelly works well for this, and it's readily available and cheap), but that requires detail-stripping the gun. Some are up to doing that on a Smith, some aren't. You COULD then re-blue it with a cold-blue preparation, like Brownell's Oxpho-Blue. It's really tough to get even color with cold blue; the trick is good surface prep, heating the part up with a hair dryer until it's almost too hot to hold, and then keep rubbing the bluing all over the part until it just won't take any more color. If you screw it up, you can strip it off with naval jelly and try again.

It's a hell of a lot more work than it sounds, and you won't be 100% happy with the results. Best bet: find a good gunsmith who does hot bluing and let him do it. It'll be money well spent.