Snubbie Score - Couldn't Pass It Up

[doc540]

You know how it goes.

Local guy listed a Smith snubbie.

Noticed it had a flat latch.

Some hooplehead had refin'ed it with Cerakote.

Someone tried removing it and gave up.

I learned to polish and spent about 8 hours taking it back to the nickle (without removing the nickle...that's a real trick).

Seller says he'll give me the original stocks, too.

1955 Chief's Special Lightweight

(rollmarks are crisp, that's the glare)

[carlson1]

Wow! Great find and great work. Some people just do not have the love for the finer things of life.

[sparkyfender]

Very nice little Smith!

Enjoy.........

[nyj]

Nice work on a sweet little gun.

[LDB415]

Very nice! The only thing that makes a gun like that any better is being nickel finish, and it is! Congrats on a great acquisition. Oh, and I hate you just a little bit. :) j/k

[wheelgun1958]

Did someone say flatlatch?

[Excaliber]

Congrats!

You've got a beauty there!

[TexasGal]

Envying you right now! Congrats on such a sweet find.

[tomdavis]

Reclaiming and restoring a Smith to its original glory, plus the good buy, is a great feeling. You deserve to enjoy it.

[mojo84]

Nice find and even better work getting it back in shape. Any chance you took a before picture?

[doc540]

Nice find and even better work getting it back in shape. Any chance you took a before picture?

thanks

(notice it's inside the trigger guard, too)

[RoyGBiv]

Beauty!!

I learned to polish and spent about 8 hours taking it back to the nickle (without removing the nickle...that's a real trick).

Care to share the How-to?

[doc540]

Beauty!!

I learned to polish and spent about 8 hours taking it back to the nickle (without removing the nickle...that's a real trick).

Care to share the How-to?

Thanks

I hesitate to post this because it is SO easy to go too deep and into the bare metal.

Here ya go:

LIGHT, SLOW AND EASY

That's the rule. Do NOT get frustrated and in a hurry.

For the large flat areas and cylinder I used a buffing wheel on my bench grinder with RED rouge.

Light and easy a little at a time. EXTRA CARE ON THE ROLL MARKS

Then used a Dremel with a felt disc for hard to reach areas, again with red rouge.

It's SLOW going.

Final polish by hand with blue Flitz. (Ignore the Mother's polish in the pic, I didn't end up using it.)

Two coats of Renaissance wax.

Did I say go "LIGHT, SLOW AND EASY"? ;)



Hope this helps.

[The Annoyed Man]

Doc, doc, doc....... You just can't leave the snubbies alone, can you? I'm sure there is a Snubbies Anonymous 12 step group around for guys like you who've got it real bad.

[doc540]

Doc, doc, doc....... You just can't leave the snubbies alone, can you? I'm sure there is a Snubbies Anonymous 12 step group around for guys like you who've got it real bad.

and in my pocket!