Scratches In Stainless Steel

[bmwaddicted]

My new 1911 is really nice for the most part. The only problem is that the finish has some real light scratches in it that I want to take out. Any ideas on the best way to get them out?

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[FknRa]

scotchbrite by 3M. (works on almost anything with a brushed finish and no coating)

[Rob72]

A green 3M abrasive pad from Walmart. Use long, sweeping, uni-directional strokes, in line with the factory buffing pattern. Basically act like you are sweeping dust from a delicate suface. If you go back and forth, or if you put the pad on the gun and brush from that point, you leave swirls.

[shooter1]

As the former poster stated, scothbrite. A few scratches on my SS shooters don't bug me much. Now scratches on a blued finish, those I get concerned about!
str1

[FknRa]

I found that if you lay the pad on a towel on a good flat stable surface and draw the part across the pad you get the best results.
go one direction and pull the part all the way off with even pressure. The towel will protect it from further scratches while finishing.

(parts finisher in a machine shop for my first job)

[QKShooter]

If the scratches are on flat areas then you can do a beautiful job of getting them out with no special or expensive equipment.

If the original finish is Satin or Brushed Stainless then that is always done using an abrasive wheel.

But, you Don't Have an abrasive polishing wheel so here is what you do.

To match the finish you'll need to buy some various grits of 3M Wet or Dry paper.

Get yourself a perfectly FLAT small block of wood and glue a piece of firm leather to the flat face.
Small - like 1.5 X 2"

Cut the sandpaper into pieces to exactly fit/ wrap around the block and then just lightly run that over the flats in one direction only.

Do not press real hard because you don't want to screw up any roll markings.

That is actually the preferred way that many places "even up" a Satin or "Brushed" Stainless finish on the flats.

SO your remaining Question should be What Exact Grit Do I Use?

And here is how you decide.

Find a piece of scrap Stainless and try the different grits on that until you spot the one that matches the original surface finish exactly.

If the Stainless on your firearm is highy polished as in Bright Shiney then you have two options...A Simichrome type paste polish and a rag - or a buffing wheel loaded with extra fine Stainless Rouge.

[glembe]

You could send it to a gunsmith of your choice and have it jeweled

http://www.customjewelshop.com/page2.html

[bmwaddicted]

the finish isn't brushed, It's a real smooth shiney finish. I think Im going to try to find a buffing wheel for my grinder, and some polish and see what happens.

[dawei]

the finish isn't brushed, It's a real smooth shiney finish. I think Im going to try to find a buffing wheel for my grinder, and some polish and see what happens.

Buffing Wheel with Jeweler's Rouge does the trick!

[Thumper]

scotchbrite by 3M. (works on almost anything with a brushed finish and no coating)

+1! Works like magic too.

[lightningstrike02]

A metal finisher is the person to ask. Scotchbrites are made in a lot of finish grades. I have used green, gold,red,blue.... Now I have a #4 10 inch finish wheel on a bench mount. Now that makes a pretty weapon.
But a metal finisher will look at your material and give you all sorts of information about how you may be abusing your corners, roughing up the imprinted images, flattening round points. Some of my stainless I have never retouched and some are now mirror brite. But I learn alot each time I ask a finisher for advice before I go for the power.
My main finish cleaner is now Flitz on a cotton cloth and hand power for stainless surfaces after general cleaning is done. And if you ever get the chance to work on your stainless weapon at a finishers shop people will stare and start to talk about your weapons. That is kinda neat and well worth sweeping the floor for.

[ICTsnub]

the finish isn't brushed, It's a real smooth shiney finish. I think Im going to try to find a buffing wheel for my grinder, and some polish and see what happens.

Careful you don't round off the sharp edges, or worse, let the wheel snag a corner, and throw your slide or frame across the garage!

There is a third option, micro-mesh sand paper. If you have any friends that work in one of the local aircraft plants, ask them what it is. Grits as fine as 12000 will get you a mirror finish. You can wrap them on a block to do the flats on your slide.

Problem is, everything from your jeans, to your holster are a coarser grit than that, and will tend to scratch it again.

[raevan]

If the gun is a collector Item, leave it as is, any attempt at pollishing will be noticable and will detract from the value. My stainless guns all have wear scratches and shiney spots, I leave them there.

In order to polish any metal, metal is removed. If you remove to much metal at serial number it could be considered as defacing number and cause problem if your gun has to be confiscated for any reason.

Hand polishing will keep original lines intact, using a polishing wheel will blur and soften lines of pistol. As a collector I have a general rule of minimal polishing is the best. The more you polish the more likely one is to ruin what is being polished.

[Ghuqu2]

What about automotive rubbing compound?

OK, on a side note, I went to that custom jeweling site, am I the only one turned off from "pimp" guns? Jeweled barrels OK, but the rest, come on.

[Smokewagon]

Mothers Aluminum Mag Wheel Polish. Great for all other metals too. Leaves no marks. I use it on polished Stainless Ruger Vaquero and brushed stainless slides.