What do you guys use to polish metal bits?

Aloha Michael, 

Those should work just fine, I use my Dremel with the felt polishing heads and what looks like the same color rouge.

Aloha,

Keone

That’s a nice kit. Just wipe parts down first with acetone or 90% alcohol & let the tools speed polish evenly. A jeweled bolt is done by polishing with different grades and direct spaced pressure. You don’t want unevenly buffed/burnished parts. And blueing can come off easily so carefully.

For trigger sears, I use a ceramic stone I bought from Brownells about 30 years ago. Have EZ Lap diamond tools in different grits I use for faster material removal. I don't use a Dremel too much for polishing but the selection you have there would be good. Cratex makes some rubberized abrasive grinding forms for Dremel , hand, or bench grinder in different grits . I use those quite a bit, especially I keep a very fine one on a slow turning bench grinder to do quick sharpening and semi fine polishing .

Bob

I use a Dremel polishing wheel at slow to medium speed. It looks like a pencil eraser with a very fine grit. It makes a mirror finish.

Chrome, auto paint(lacquer) polish compounds. Glass or jewelers rouse (not sure on the spelling) for the final stage. Oh and Flitz.

Wet/dry paper from 400 up to 2000 grit.Wizards Metal Polish (comes in a rectangular metal can thats like the old Band-Aid cans. Looks like pink insulation. Similar to Never Dull but works MUCH better.) along with Flitz.

...and Elbow Grease!

Mike.

I'm a knife maker by trade and have polished a ton of steel to a mirror shine both soft and hardened. I find the best method is to wet sand to 2000+ grit then use the green chrome compound on a sewn wheel. Those felt bobs should work for what you're trying to do though. After buffing with green, use a clean loose wheel or a clean bob. The blue is usually a little finer than the green compound for metals like steel so you can repeat the process with blue for a higher shine if needed. You just want to check that it is indeed finer as not all compound manufacturers follow the color code. One more thing to note is watch out for rounding off corners you don't want rounded when sanding and buffing parts like that. Using a sanding stick or geswein die maker stones will help here.

For trigger components that are flat and you really want to to remain flat, I would only use flat shaped stones. I would never use a rotary tool on them due to it possible altering that flatness.

Hard Arkansas stones would be my choice. Brownells will have small square and triangle shapes that are perfect for trigger job work. 

Trigger components specifically I'm with Loren in that it is critical they maintain flatness. I would also add that it isn't critical they be mirror polish, you actually want top surfaces to be polished but for there to be an underlying scratch patter which retains lubricant. Otherwise, with too perfectly polished a surface, you will essentially "squeegee" the lubricant off the metal and your trigger can get a sticky feel. 

Regarding tools specifically, I'm quite partial to Spyderco's ceramic bench stones and their ceramic file set. They'll get you a great finish, and unlike many of the natural stones out there that function by releasing abrasives into the slurry on top which is what actually does the cutting, on these the stones themselves do the cutting and thus they remain flat. 

https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/category/sharpeners



Just my 2c. I hope that helps.  

Felt dremmel head and polishing compound. 

Be aware that some sears are only surface hardened and cannot endure much honing and polishing without leaving the contact surface too soft for longevity creating an unsafe situation.

Arkansas wet stone works well, the black is ultra fine.

Hello Michael. I use a product called Flitz. Absolutly amazing stuff. Clean all the scratches out of what your polishing with an abrasive and then hit it with Flitz on a paper towel or polishing pad or tool for the dermal. It will come out looking like chrome. We used it on aircraft windshields. Good luck