Polishing help please.

[Animalnutty]

Hi,

Have just finished this piece and really struggled with polishing it. Unusually I think the photo despite the magnification, seems to making it look better than it actually is, it's not a great polish. It looks nice but could be better, would like to know if possible any tips for future. I do pretty much all my polishing on my big mops but obviously not possible with this or I'll end up polishing away the bezel and still not getting into the corners of the bezel/flat background.

I had a couple of issues, my solution to prevent fire scale keeps peeling off in places while soldering, have tried mixing thinner and thicker but still seems to do it, don't remember having this problem before certainly not regularly. I've had my argo-tect for a very long time, still loose powder but could this be the problem? So there was quite a bit of fire scale to contend with.

I taped the bezel off and did the side edges with the big mops them used a little mop with the dremel, the small mop didn't produce overly satisfying results. It still didn't get into the edges so then swapped to medium soft bristle attachment and finished polishing with that. It took an awful lot to get it polished and I didn't get the kind of results I get with my big mop. I'm sure there is probably a better way or different attachments I should be using, so any tips would be much appreciated.

Dennis if you see this, I haven't reverted to curb chains, this one was requested :)

Thank you.

Karen

[CJ57]

To get into the edges and attack the firestain at the same time I use hard bristle mops with tripoli on the bench polisher. It needs a bit of welly that the Dremel just won’t give you and. allows you to get into the edges without damaging the bezel. If you hold the piece at an angle , holding the bezel away from the mop, the bristle will get into the edges and polish the bezel without wearing it. I use the bristle to do the first polish of the flat areas as well. I like these ones https://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Black-Bristle-Lathe-Wheel-2-Stiff-Bristle-Metal-Centre-prcode-944-010&query=Bristle&channel=uk

[Animalnutty]

To get into the edges and attack the firestain at the same time I use hard bristle mops with tripoli on the bench polisher. It needs a bit of welly that the Dremel just won’t give you and. allows you to get into the edges without damaging the bezel. If you hold the piece at an angle , holding the bezel away from the mop, the bristle will get into the edges and polish the bezel without wearing it. I use the bristle to do the first polish of the flat areas as well. I like these ones https://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/Black-Bristle-Lathe-Wheel-2-Stiff-Bristle-Metal-Centre-prcode-944-010&query=Bristle&channel=uk

Ah thank you Caroline, that's a great help. Sure that would have made things easier. Need to do an order so will add that to the list. Thanks. Karen

[CJ57]

Ah thank you Caroline, that's a great help. Sure that would have made things easier. Need to do an order so will add that to the list. Thanks. Karen
There is also a white soft version but I find them pretty useless although I haven’t tried them for a final polish

[pearlescence]

Check my friend Stephen Goldsmith's book Polishing and Finishing. its only a tenner and he is a master polisher. (and that really is his name!)

[Animalnutty]

There is also a white soft version but I find them pretty useless although I haven’t tried them for a final polish

Thanks, will get one of those too, can give it a go for a final polish.


Check my friend Stephen Goldsmith's book Polishing and Finishing. its only a tenner and he is a master polisher. (and that really is his name!)

Thanks very much.

Karen

[china]

The white soft version is if I am correct is also known as a swans down mop, I use on when I have completed a final polish I then do another final polish with a swans down, seems to just bring it up that little bit more

[CJ57]

No Bob I was speaking about the soft white version of the black bristle mop I given a link to.
I use a swansdown for my final polish too

[Animalnutty]

The white soft version is if I am correct is also known as a swans down mop, I use on when I have completed a final polish I then do another final polish with a swans down, seems to just bring it up that little bit more

Thank you, I thought I had one of those, but having ordered one, I realised it must have been a soft cotton mop as these are really dinky and the final polish mop I had was much larger. Will try this. Thank you both for help :)

[CJ57]

I see reading back that I look quite illiterate. I really must read back my posts after 5 minutes to see what bad grammar autocorrect had put in as it’s quite embarrassing!

[Sheen]

I see reading back that I look quite illiterate. I really must read back my posts after 5 minutes to see what bad grammar autocorrect had put in as it’s quite embarrassing!

My new phone does that to me too, I think it's too clever and does too much!!!

[CJ57]

I’m pretty sure it does i5 after I’ve sent it. I usually cast my eye over it and it seems ok!