Re-finishing hardware

[sorcerertd]

On a pen I recently posted in SOYP, a scratch appeared on the section. It was an antique copper finish. I know those antique finishes usually have a protective coating (I believe with epoxy?) Anyway, I thought I'd try to wipe a quick swipe of CA around it to "restore" the coating. In some weird phenomenon (maybe you chemists can explain it, but it's not that important), the CA pretty much hardened right away, as if there was accelerant on the finish already, leaving blue shop towel attached. Grr. So I used some debonder to remove the CA. Apparently the debonder (Satellite City Super Solvent) must dissolve the original coating as well. Fine, I just polished most of the finish off with zona paper, I experimented with some oxidizing compound, just very lightly applied. The last few pictures are after I lightly wiped it with a metal polishing cloth. The unintentional experiment is just on the one part of the section that had the scratch, as you should be able to see in the pictures. It doesn't look horrible either way, but obviously is different from the original finish

Turner's Warehouse has their Element series kits that are not finished per se., but you can age them if desired or just let them develop a natural patina. I'm tempted to remove the coating on one of the other antique finished pens and see what I can do with it. That would certainly be a good way to deal with the occasional kits that have blobs of the epoxy coating stuck to the finish. Has anyone else experimented with this on manufactured pen kits?

Also, does anyone have experience with other debonders? I see the brand Goof-Off has a super glue remover at a very reasonable price.