Finish maintenance on a 1911:Advice please

[MTHall720]

Is there a way to make a non-reflective black finish look more like a polished blued appearance with a hand applied polish/wax such as Flitz or MAAS?

 

[Jim Watson]

If you polish matte black oxide enough to make it shiny, you will get shiny BARE STEEL. The oxide layer is thinner than the matte texture of the metal.

I have read of "oil buffing" Parkerizing to a bit of a gloss.

I don't know what would happen if you waxed it like a car fender.

 

[drail]

No. If you want a gloss finish you must strip the old finish off, polish the steel and then refinish. Bluing (or oxide) is not like paint on a car. You will simply "polish" it down to raw steel or build up a thick layer of wax that will simply flake off.

 

[Unclenick]

I'm not sure that a thick filling wax layer could not be built up, but it would likely yellow and come off over time. You can give the matte finish a wetted look with Johnson't Paste Wax, and it's a perfectly good gun preservative, but turning it from matte to satin is about as far as I would expect that to go.

As the others said, under that oxide or black Parkerizing layer (whichever you have) is at least an etched, and quite possibly also abrasive blasted matte steel surface.