Removing Idiot marks on stainless steel !!

[greg vess]

Sometimes if the surface I'm working with is raised and nothing else will come in contact with the paper I do this.

I put the piece of wet dry paper on a flat surface and tape it down if I can or staple it to wood if that's the piece that I'm working with. Then I take something like a level for a straight edge. Then I rub the part in the direction of the brushed stainless so that I'm not making cross hatch marks on the part. You don't want to go in circular motions or Criss-Cross motions you want to stick with the grain of the brush marks that are pre-existent. It's very easy to see him you can't miss it.

 

[Mtndweller]

Just to clarify use wet dry paper and you might put a little oil on it for lubrication. Try to go with the grain of the brushed look. In other words don't go in circles or Criss crosses. Try to keep The strokes as straight as possible in line with the brush marks.

Yes sir & thanks getting paper today

 

[geezer]

For brushed finish I would recommend a red scotch bright pad, you can work up to a gray pad to get more shine before having to move up to finer abrasives and polish (depends what you want )

You need to keep in mind that a stainless guns finish is technically just scratched but all of the scrathes are moving in the same direction (think like wood has a “grain”) when you work these scratches out your gonna want to work the abrasive pad from one direction (from the rear sight down the slide to the front ) and avoid going back and forth as you’ll make J shaped swirls , you might get away with only buffing the area around the scratch but it’ll need to be blended for probably an inch or so on either side.

Another thing to keep in mind if your fingers are going to create uneven pressure across the work surface use a block of some description to evenly apply pressure.

Set you up a fence to slide the slide against......,Red scotch brite flat on a table, use a piece of wood or something to make the slide move straight down the pad...Yes, it matters....as mentioned, move to gray, and on to white pads depending on your taste....

 

[cskiles]

It's a Ruger P89 just drag it behind your truck on the concrete with a rope. It'll be fine.

I was thinking that he could just toss it in a rock tumbler...

 

[greg vess]

Set you up a fence to slide the slide against......,Red scotch brite flat on a table, use a piece of wood or something to make the slide move straight down the pad...Yes, it matters....as mentioned, move to gray, and on to white pads depending on your taste....

I was to suggest that. I usually piece of glass or a mirror and tape the wet dry paper to the mirror. Then use a small level to use as a guide so that the marks are made in a straight uniform fashion. Either way it keeps you from wandering of in a rogue direction.

 

[TheGman]

A dremel with some polishing pads and some Flitz.
Don’t use sandpaper of any grit as greg vess suggested. You’ll do more harm than good that way, even with 3000 grit.
Here’s a link for Flitz

Amazon.com

flitz is a great product

 

[lostchild]

Just sell it and buy a new, unmarred one. Jeez...

 

[greg vess]

I suggest starting with something like 5,000 grit. If it looks like it's doing more polishing than it is taken out the scratch then gradually go down to a coarser grit. You can always reduplicate the the brushed surface with the coarser grit. If you find one side doesn't have the same brushed look as the other then just repeat the process on the opposite side and both sides will be equal.

 

[rosewood]

I am with Gregg Vess. Absolutely nothing wrong with using wet/dry sandpaper for polishing stainless guns. As long as you use the fine stuff. I use anywhere from 400 grit to 2000 grit depending on what I want to do. If you want a mirror finish, 2000 grit will get you there. You may start with something coarser to get scratches out than progress through finer grits until you get to the desired finish. That same paper is used for polishing paint on autos, granted you follow up with a buffing wheel, but you are still using it on paint.

I am betting on that Ruger, something like 1000-1500 will give the desired finish. Just polish in the direction of the existing polish marks.

As for that revolver cylinder, I found that polishing the S&W revolvers, you polish front to rear for the frame and barrel and around the cylinder to get the factory finish. Seems like I used 2000 final on the frame and cylinder and have been quite pleased every time I have done it. That cylinder in this post needs some more work around the circumference of the cylinder. Be sure to parallel the polish direction with each pass.

Rosewood

 

[buellbrewer]

show the finished product.

i enjoy these posts (even with the comical/sa responses). Possibly not always the right answers but gets a person an abundance of leads to work on. I'm about to start a project with some metal finishing (a kibler woodsrunner) and found some of these post helpful.