Polishing sterling silver discs

[DaisyDaisy]

Could anyone give me some tips and advice on getting a really good, shiny, smooth finish on sterling silver discs (1mm thick), please. I'm using them for doing stamped jewellery. I get the discs from Cooksons but some have a very scratched, dimpled surface. I've used pro-polish pads until my hands and fingers are so sore I could weep!

Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[mizgeorge]

If you're doing a lot of them, I suspect you need to mechanise! I still enjoy hand polishing (I use micromesh) for some things, but for this size, you probably need to invest in at least a basic flex shaft (a hobby drill will do to start with). Then it's up to you to find your polishing medium of choice. I like 3m radial discs, but there are plenty of other options that I'm sure will be suggested.

[DaisyDaisy]

Thanks, I'll look into that....before my hands blister and bleed!

[eirish]

I worked out a decent system for sanding/polishing flat discs using masking tape wrapped around one leg of my bench peg, sticky-side out. That anchored the disc in place and allowed me to sand the whole surface at once without sanding my fingers, by holding onto the tape at the sides rather than the disc itself. The tape also catches some of the dust and protects the surface you're not currently working on.

I wrapped my wet/dry paper around some rectangular pieces of pine stripwood from Homebase (score it at each edge to give nice crisp corners) and secured it with more masking tape to give a nice flat surface and plenty of leverage. My wood pieces were a bit wider than the discs so I could attack the whole surface at once.

Elynor

[Dennis]

First of all I would shop around for the cleanest undamaged disks. I should also order by phone and state quite clearly that damaged disks would not be acceptable. The jewellery trade is one of the most poorly served by its suppliers, and jewellers being humble, accept their station in life without complaint. I have even had to reject heavy wires bent up just to fit a small polythene bag and other silver with nicks and scratches…..Rant over.

Personally I would go with George’s first suggestion and rub up my disks on micromesh sheets laid flat. I suggest you try a selection and then reorder your favourite grits. They are numbered and you can rotate them a quarter turn for each next-finer grade
http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&sclie...hp.1.3.0l4.0.0.
I find these more benign on my fingers than mops and brushes. You might have to lick your finger to move the disk along, or even use a small pinch of Blu Tack, or a Sticky Fixer. Dennis.

[DaisyDaisy]

Oh, Dennis, I'm afraid I'm one of the ones who tends to just accept what I receive and not make a fuss. I did have a particularly badly scratched and dimpled disc from Cooksons (sorry if any of the staff are reading this!) today and I have used polishing papers and pro-polish pads to the point that I've almost lost the will to live! I feel utterly defeated Have to say I thought the surface scratches were just something we had to deal with.

It's been a real learning curve doing the stamped jewellery. I've ruined a couple of discs by just hitting the letter punch that bit too hard and it's dimpled the silver above the letter.....however, today I discovered that if you place a bit of sticky tape just above where the letter is to be stamped you get no dimple!

Thanks for the suggestions....I'll take a look at the micromesh sheets although birthday hints will be given about a flex shaft cos they look very exciting!

[Kwant]

I have been very satisfied with a 9 sheet micro mesh kit available on ebay just search ebay for micro_mesh

As to accepting things with no fuss I too have been guilty of that, once having received a fair bit of sterling wire ready tarnished :0) Never said a word to them, and it was not Cookson.

[louisella76]

I bought a micro mesh kit the other week (also from ebay) and really like the finish it gives

Re surface scratches, I must admit I also thought it was par for the course. It's forums such as this which bring awareness that it's not so thank you !

[josef1]

If you have a few to do,You could try cutting a circle the same size as the disc from an A4 sheet of thick card with a sharp knife make sure the card is thinner than the disc (if its 1mm then just over half that thickness) then place a piece of cloth (about A4 size) under the card to protect the shiny surface when you turn it over and put drawing pins in the corners to secure it all to your bench if you dont mind sticking pins into it ! (or a peice of scrap wood) then use a flat sanding block of block of wood thats bigger than your discs diameter start sanding over the disc with say 800 grade wet and dry paper( depending on how dented they are), vary the direction your sanding, try to keep the block flat to the disc and check often until the dints are gone,then go down the grades of paper repeating the process, using say 1200 and ending up with say 2000 grit keep checking the disc to see how your going( run it under water to wash off the sanding dust), and your not taking too much off, you can slightly wet the sanding paper but watch you dont soak the card this should give you a nice flat surface to final polish with rouge, working through the different grades may seem a pain but it will be quicker than just using a fine paper and remember if the dints are deeper than the thickness of the metal you will not be able to get rid of them by sanding you will need to planish the disc flat then sand

Hope this helps.

[Wallace]

If you have a few to do,You could try cutting a circle the same size as the disc from an A4 sheet of thick card with a sharp knife make sure the card is thinner than the disc (if its 1mm then just over half that thickness) then place a piece of cloth (about A4 size) under the card to protect the shiny surface when you turn it over and put drawing pins in the corners to secure it all to your bench if you dont mind sticking pins into it ! (or a peice of scrap wood) then use a flat sanding block of block of wood thats bigger than your discs diameter start sanding over the disc with say 800 grade wet and dry paper( depending on how dented they are), vary the direction your sanding, try to keep the block flat to the disc and check often until the dints are gone,then go down the grades of paper repeating the process, using say 1200 and ending up with say 2000 grit keep checking the disc to see how your going( run it under water to wash off the sanding dust), and your not taking too much off, you can slightly wet the sanding paper but watch you dont soak the card this should give you a nice flat surface to final polish with rouge, working through the different grades may seem a pain but it will be quicker than just using a fine paper and remember if the dints are deeper than the thickness of the metal you will not be able to get rid of them by sanding you will need to planish the disc flat then sand

Hope this helps.

Really great advice - very inventive.......thank you for sharing.