Floor Plate Screw Color Removal Question
 

I recently sent my 16 ga VH back to Lawrence D. to have him tighten the gun up and also time/regulate the floor plate screws.

The 16 came back tight as a bank vault (thank you Lawrence) and he timed/regulated the floor plate screws with ne hardened screws. However the screws have this brownish color. I called Lawrence about this and he said just rub them with an eraser, which I subsequently did, but they still have the same rust brown color and look out of place. I'm really not interested in calling Lawrence back about this so if any of you 'smiths' on this forum have an idea, I'm all EARS!

The gun is tight and the screws are regulated, it's just the color of the heads that sucks.

:banghead:

I've heard from Bruce Day and others that rubbing lightly with Flitz will remove surface finish... but care must be used so as not to remove more finish than intended.

Thanks Dean. Never heard of Flitz, I guess it's a polisher/cleaner. West Marine carries it locally. I'll try a little with a Q-tip on the screw heads. I appreciate the corrective work that Lawrence graciously did but just wish he'd have recognized that the color of the screws didn't match with the rest of the floor plate and cleaned them up before returning the gun to me. Like what the $#%&^!!

Allen:
You can also try rubbing the screw heads (after each is removed) with burgundy Scotch Brite moist with Hoppes 9. These screws were originally cased, and aged with the bottom plate. If you can't find that grade of Scotch Brite locally, try a worn section of kitchen "scrubbie".

There are some different things that you can do. It all depends on what the surrounding metal looks like that you are trying to match. You may have to re polish the screw heads and then work from there. Things like vinegar or bluing remover will slightly dull a polished screw. Or flaming the screw head can darken it more. A very qigong application of cold blue can darken it too, but it sounds like a lighter bare metal patina look might be what you are more going for.
Lighting a PAPER match head on a polished screw head will actually create micro pitting and dull the surface. Let it set with be chemicals from the match on it and it will quickly start to patina. It is a bit of trial and error in getting the look you want.

Take the screw out and rub off selected amounts of finish with Flitz or leave the screw in and use an erasor on the end of a wood pencil. Either will do what you want. Very easy.

On a whim I applied a drop of my wife's silver cream polish (Weiman) with a Q-Tip and very lightly rubbed each screw head. Voila. Problem solved in 2 seconds. Brian, the floor plate on my 16 Vh although case colored by Turnbull some time ago, has mostly disappeared on the more exposed portion of the plate forward of the trigger guard as I tend to cradle the gun when hunting and the constant rubbing in this spot has actually worn the colors pretty bare in this location. So, my intent here was to get the surface of the screw heads lightened up so they would not stand out so much in stark contrast to the mostly 'silver' plate. Thanks everyone for the sugestions.

Try using a typewriter eraser.