Those who have highly polished guns – polished nickel plate, bright stainless, or Colt’s justly famous Royal Blue – often ask about the best way to keep these fine finishes looking good.

My recommendation: Selvyt. It’s not a paste or a wax, it’s a cloth – a pure cotton, non-impregnated cloth that jewelers have been using for many decades to give the finishing touches to highly polished gold, silver, and platinum.

The Selvyt cloth is simply a specially woven cotton that has a unique nap. That’s it, there is nothing more! The process used to make the Selvyt results in what can only be compared to a cross between fine velvet and chamois. The result is hundreds of thousands of miniature “brushes” on the surface that gently polish without harming the finish in any manner whatsoever.

Selvyt’s special cloth also suspends any dust or microscopic grit inside the nap, so that it doesn’t contact the surface being polished. This is in stark contrast to chamois, which seems prone to scratching if someone even mentions the word “dust” in the vicinity in which it is being used! (I’m exaggerating, of course, but not as much as you might think.)

The Selvyt is especially good for the Colt “Ultimate Stainless” finish, which is notoriously soft. The Selvyt brings back the high shine without harming the surface of the steel; it’s really remarkable.

When the Selvyt gets dirty – and it will – just wash like any other cotton fabric. It will come out of the dryer like new, ready for more use! I’ve had one of mine for more than a decade, washed several times, and its performance is unchanged.

So good is the Selvyt that Purdy – the makers of hyper-expensive shotguns – sells them under their own name for polishing their fine pieces. If that isn’t an endorsement, I don’t know what is!

You can find it at many jewelers, any jewelry supply house, many silversmiths, and (of course) online. Be careful – you want the genuine Selvyt cloth, made in England (there are pretenders out there.) Selvyt also makes an impregnated cloth for tarnish protection on silver; you do not want that model! Ask for the plain, un-impregnated, original Selvyt cloth.

The Selvyt comes in several sizes, from 5×5″ on up. I like the 14×14″ size, which will set you back around $10 or $12 these days (I haven’t had to buy one in years, so no hate mail if I’m wrong!) It may seem like a lot for a small piece of cloth, but it’s worth every penny.

-=[ Grant ]=-