Metal polish of choice?

[MilkCrate]

Whether cleaning up a vintage score or refreshing a neglected razor out of your stash drawer, what is your metal polish of choice?

Does it remove rust, patina, water spots, etc.?

 

[BarberDave]

Yes to all the above but for final polish semichrome, No abrasives. I use Flitz and Maas for that or actually 4000 wet and then a scrubby then the polishes

 

[GearNoir]

I haven’t done much polishing, but I picked up a tub of Flitz for some tea staining that happened on my polished Vector. Applied barely a dab on a single use cotton makeup pad, a minute of hand buffing motion, and it worked like a charm.

 

[DeepSea]

I like flitz and Cape Cod cleaning and polishing cloth.

 

[August West]

I like flitz and Cape Cod cleaning and polishing cloth.

I thought it was all naval jelly and elbow grease with you swabbies.

 

[Spider]

I’ve used Flitz and Maas, and both work, but I much prefer Maas!

 

[MilkCrate]

I’ve used Mother’s and 0000 steel wool.

 

[CBLindsay]

I always forget I have the little tube of Maas but when I’ve used it I’ve been impressed by what can do, it definitely has skills beyond simple abrasives. Mag wheel polish is an easy one to get hands on and can double as a cloth strop dressing if you are so inclined but I actually prefer ScratchX 2.0, it’s a progressive abrasive liquid that works well as a final polish on pretty much any material including scales and plastics. I also like to use the various pastes and diamond sprays on cloth or paper towels to polish different materials. Lapping film and wet dry sand paper are also in my toolkit for restoration projects.

And since @August West brought up naval jelly, I have that AND EvapoRust on hand for rust mitigation. The EvapoRust is something I recommend everyone who buys vintage straight razors to have on hand.

 

[Bogeyman]

SIMICHROMEPOLISH.COM

 

[Somnos]

Flitz for everything including cleaning up minor scuffs on stainless steel watch cases and bracelets, especially the clasps...

 

[mrdoug]

Flitz for everything including cleaning up minor scuffs on stainless steel watch cases and bracelets, especially the clasps...

Ditto, Flitz has worked great for me.

I also keep Renaissance wax around for sealing / protecting a razor. I don't hear about it as much, but I'm glad I keep a ton of it in the den.

I also have, somewhere in the house, a bottle of Brasso. I'd only bust that out when all else fails. It's highly agressive.

Edit: Just realized this is in the hones, stones and steel thread... Oops. I don't do straight razors. I doubt anyone would want to renwax their straight. My bad.

 

[MilkCrate]

I had forgotten that I had Brasso on the shelf.

 

[shadowman12]

I prefer United Cutlery Metal Glo Pro Polishing Paste for polishing straight razors.