Alot of case hardened actions & parts are not cased that awful deeply that they cannot be polished up and at the same time remove the thin outer case (hardening).
Most can use a good polishing to square things up, make the flats,,flat, ect. Also to remove small blemishes that otherwise hide in the current finish.
An otherwise great looking gun can look not so great to the engraver once the finish is off and in the white.
It avoids the annealing & rehardening steps but still provides
for a soft surface to engrave while leaving the inside and wear surface areas case hardened.
A grey/antique type finish can then be applied to the parts and will take nicely to the soft outer surfaces.
Gives you another option to think about.
I've done it a number of times
