Mine is aluminum with aluminum baffles. I unscrew is and dump the baffles in a jar of Hoppes gun solvent, wait a while and brush them off with a tooth brush. Seems to work.
Lots of ways to finish wood stocks.
If you want a glossy plastic looking finish, spray or brush a one part poly, or spray a two part urethane. Or if you really want to go super glossy, you can varnish it, will look like glass.
Medium glossy - wipe on finish like Minwax Antique Oil, or any...
I have a well used, Charles Daly 1911 that runs and shoots great. Its got a Vortex RMR and at 10 yards its very accurate. Its not an expensive gun, and its got a giant scratch/gouge on the slide from the previous owner, it looks like he dropped it on a sharp rock. So its not a high end...
I have tried Cold Blu-ing on white parts, came out great, and relatively low tech. Ginsboy is a member on here, maybe he will chime in. If not check out his video's...
xylene is stronger than acetone.
The premium stripper at Home Depot is pretty potent, I've been using it to strip the plasticote off my 31ft Airstream, and it works better than the Aircraft stripper at half the price.