Quote:
Originally Posted by hughscpa
Do you normally strip it before doing the sanding/polishing? I could see where the old bluing could help you see imperfections still in the metal.
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IMO, it's better to strip when you're done with everything but the final 400 grit prep. The old bluing works very much like the black mist coat car painters use to find imperfections, so once you start filing or sanding you'll see the bad spots in all their glory. If you look at the pictures, you'll see what it looked like when I started filing and when I was done. The old bluing around the perimeter shows that the surface is slightly rounded from a previous polish, so once it's all bare metal you know it's flat again. You just have to use a good file and be very careful to keep it perfectly flat with the gun. The flat surface on top of the rear toggle was also rounded, but on this I used the milling machine and a grinding stone to get it flat and square with the rest of the toggle.
Of course, in this case I didn't have to strip it, since I blasted it instead. Some people don't strip at all, they just prep and blue over any remaining bluing. Haven't tried it, but supposedly the rust blue will work even if there's spots of old finish left.