Easiest to Polish Yourself: Matte, Satin, or Polished?

A

Aristides

New member
I recently purchased a Smith & Wesson revolver that has the Matte Stainless finish. I've always preferred their Satin Stainless, and am thinking about sending the revolver to Smith & Wesson to have it refinished.

But I'm also wondering which type of finish would be easiest for me polish myself, if the gun got a nick or scratch. I'm thinking that might be their Polished Stainless. Would that finish be any easier for me polish than the Matte or the Satin?

Thanks.
 
Matte is by far the easiest to maintain. Stick it in the blasting cabinet with the appropriate media and it will look like new in about 5 seconds. The scratch will just disappear.
 
I've read about guys using Flitz and Mother's Something or Other. I'm talking about doing little touch-ups myself, not big overhauls.

Surely one type of finish is easier to touch-up than others. I'm just wondering which version is easiest for using something like Flitz.
 
I'm just wondering which version is easiest for using something like Flitz.
Click to expand...

Everyone that has commented has it right, from one perspective or another.

High polish is beautiful and in SS is reasonably scratch resistant. However, Flitz, Semichrome, Mothers... none of that stuff will remove scratches from polished SS. Super light scratches from aluminum, sure... with a lot of work.

To remove scratches from polish requires removing metal from the area surrounding the scratch, and blending the surfaces. This requires multiple steps and a good amount of skill to do it right... hence Slopemeno's comments.

45_auto is right in that a blasted (some call a "frosted" finish) finish is easy to touch up, if you have a blast cabinet and the scar is not too deep.

Bill DeShivs has it right with Scotchbrite pads... A finely "brushed" surface can be easily re-brushed, and costs you nothing but the pads and a bit of time. Again, if the scar is not too deep... but at least, like blasting, you can blend it so it's not so noticeable.

Cheers,
C
 
]I know you guys are discussing scratches on SS. However, when I shoot my 500Smith I get powder burns on the front edge of the cylinder. I used to use two different solvents to scrub and scrub for the longest time to remove it. I discovered that using Ceramabryte will take it right off. If you are not familiar with it , we use it for the flat ceramic top of our stove. It is for SS, smooth surfaces and a lot of things. Works Great.Here is a pic.
 

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