emery paper grades

[Tina Bearhouse]

sorry, another question!

Now I have mastered piercing, I need to look more closely at finishing my copper and silver. I know that I need to polish out scratches, but how many grades of emery paper would you recommend? I'm getting a bit bogged down!

At my classes we have just used wheels on a pendant motor. I have a dremel, so would Cooksons radial disc kit (sorry, I haven't made enough forum posts to be allowed to post links] be sufficient? Or would I need papers as well?

[ps_bond]

My most used grades of wet & dry are p320, p600, p1200; I've got coarser & finer (think I've got some p3000 around) as well as Micromesh and a host of other abrasives. Once I've gone to p1200 I'd switch to polishing mops.
The Dremel will work with the radial discs; you can go through the grades and get a reasonable finish but I'd always end up finishing with a mop & polish. Paper is much cheaper too.
There's also products like Garryflex around - I know one jeweller who teaches the use of the blocks cut up into more convenient lumps.

[LydiaNiz]

I use 600, 800, 1200 and 1600. I also use the silicon polishing tips, and felt points and soft mops to finish

[pearlescence]

If you really want to learn how to polish master polisher (polishes for Theo Fennel amongst many others) Stephen Goldsmith runs classes. He has a class at the goldsmith's centre in November.
@goldpolisher

[Dennis]

I have re-written this post below in order to add a picture.

[Dennis]

There are other ways of looking at this.
Obviously, traditional fine jewellery requires traditional treatment, including meticulous finishing.

What I make is mostly from wires, drawn down by me, or from textured sheet. So I go to great lengths to preserve the integrity of the profiles , the marks of the drawplates and the freshness of the textures.

Finishing (except for some remedial work on excess solder) is limited to a brush up with a soapy brass brush, or a turn in the tumbler. Dennis.

[Snorkmaiden]

There are other ways of looking at this.
Obviously, traditional fine jewellery requires traditional treatment, including meticulous finishing.

What I make is mostly from wires, drawn down by me, or from textured sheet. So I go to great lengths to preserve the integrity of the profiles , the marks of the drawplates and the freshness of the textures.

Finishing (except for some remedial work on excess solder) is limited to a brush up with a soapy brass brush, or a turn in the tumbler. Dennis.

That's refreshing! And a beautiful piece that enhances the stone. Not having a full workshop with lots of polishing equipment I now feel slightly less amateur.

[Tina Bearhouse]

Lots of helpful advice, thank you all!

Dennis, that is just beautiful.