I'm pretty sure that the two guns I saw were plated, not merely polished. I run into both polished and blued receivers on LC's fairly often.

Thanks for the lathe advice and encouragement. My father bought this lathe probably 30 years ago and never set it up. It was an antique then, so you can imagine what it looks like. It's fairly small, it would easily mount on a dresser top, and the motor is external with a v-belt going to the lathe. I just have to take the time to set it up.

I prefer wood to plastic, leather to nylon, waxed cotton to Gore-Tex, and split bamboo to graphite.