I always thought hand polishing a blued finish was a waste of time
For years I just used a buffing wheel on my bench grinder for any final polish before bluing, figuring it was faster and got a good enough shine. Last month, I was working on a 1940s Winchester 94 that had some light surface rust and pitting. The customer wanted the original bluing preserved as much as possible, so I decided to try hand polishing the worst spots with 0000 steel wool and oil, just to see. I spent about three hours on the receiver alone, going in tiny circles. When I applied the cold blue, the difference was insane. The hand-polished areas took the color way deeper and more even than the parts I'd hit with the wheel, which looked a bit washed out in comparison. The wheel just couldn't get into the microscopic texture the same way. It convinced me that for a museum-quality restoration, the slow way is the only way. Has anyone else found a specific job where going back to pure hand work beat the power tools?