Help cleaning up my stainless finish?

W

willmc33

New member
I have a Smith & Wesson 5906 that us obviously all stainless steel construction. The bead blasted finish has finally begun getting some shine spots and small scratches on its surface. I heard that steel wool can be used and it will clean up the finish and take the scratches out. Problem is I donr know which steel wool to use or the process. Do I need to oil the surface before I put the steel wool to it? What type of steel wool do I need? I dont want to replace scratches with more scratches. Dont want to polish it with just clean up the blasted finish Thanks for any help.
 
I have XD's in stainless and picked one up cheap had some pitting on the stainless I used scotchbrite ''GREEN'' pads from any hardware store its the ones you use to scour clean your pots and pans and when I was done doing the whole slide it was remarkable I did not go across the grain of the stainless but with it and now and then when I touch it up it blends in with the other part of the finish. Good luck and have fun.
 
I own a 5903 and based on the type of finish these guns have I am not sure that spot polishing it with steel wool or some compound like Flitz will give you the desired results. If anything you will probably have to redo the entire gun and even then not sure if it will look right, but again no expert. It might be best to seek some advice from a gunsmith about bead blasting or refinishing.
 
I know "the guy" - a friend of mine - who works at a machine shop that has a bead blast cabinet. He charges me a six pack of beer and $5.00 for the shop to "touch up" my guns.

He has everything needed, it takes five minutes at most (I tear down the gun and bring in the parts separately) and he even removes that tacky logo from my lone wolf barrels for my Glock.

I'm not sure you can duplicate the factory finish with a scotch brite pad. You probably can remove the rough texture finish and replace it with a "scuff" finish. See Barry's comment above.

Take before and after pictures and post them up. We would be interested to see how it comes out.
 
i would not use "steel wool" because it will leave iron deposits and start rusting. You can find stainless steel wool.
 
I have XD's in stainless and picked one up cheap had some pitting on the stainless I used scotchbrite ''GREEN'' pads from any hardware store
Click to expand...
The green scotcbrite pad is a little more abrasive than I like to use to get a nice satin type brushed finish. Check out an auto supply store, and if you want a satin typed brushed finish get the light gray 3M Scotchbrite pad, these things are basically synthetic steel wool. You could even pick up the white scotchbrite pad to give it its final brushing on the finish after you used the gray. If you want a flat satin type finish without bead blasting you can use different grits of wet-dry sand paper. If you wana go this route I suggest picking up 1500, 2000, and 2500 grit wet-dry, use the wet-dray sandpaper with a little bit of gun oil. When using either the scotchbrite pads or sandpaper cut out small wood blocks to wrap the pieces of scotchbrite pad or sandpaper around, and I mean small as in maybe a block the size of a zippo lighter and one half that size. This will help you apply even pressure with each stroke giving you a more uniform finish. You want to try to keep long even strokes in the same direction which the wood blocks also help you achieve. It may take alot of trial and error but you will eventually achieve a finish you find desirable with a little experimentation. If the brush marks in the stainless don't look as smooth as you want a very quick, and I mean pretty quick, wipe down with mothers mag polish or flitz might take some of the edge off. Too much polishing though and you will just ruin all the work you did and will have to rebrush the stainless.

By the way none of this will touch up any of the bead blasted finish on your firearm. The only way to do that is to get it re-blasted, which in itself is not all that expensive. You could always try and refinish the gun yourself with the methods above, and if it doesn't turn out as good as you hoped you can just have it re-blasted again no problem.
 
Last edited:
Thanks to everyone for your help here. Dragline thats what I am going to do. I own more then 1 3rd Gen Smith & Wesson so I would like to try it myself. If I cant get it handled then I will just pay a pro and I will definately post before and after pics. I want to try to get back as close to the original matte finish as possible. Thanks again.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top