Polishing with Eveflex rubber cylinders

Just a quick post to recommend the eveflex rubber cylinders from Cooksons, especially for those of you who are starting out or with limited experience of metal finishing/polishing. I had bought a set (link at the bottom) a couple of months ago but put them at the back of my bench and forgot about them. I'd been favouring the radial discs for quite some time but I thought I'd give the rubber cylinders a go on a simple square band with a flush set diamond. You start with the coarse blue cylinder and work your way up (as you do with any polishing compounds) through the medium (black), fine (brown) and finally the extra fine (green). At this point you should already have achieved a mirror finish, removing small scratches and marks at the beginning with the coarse cylinder (after your emery paper) and working your way all the way up to a mirror shine. I use a green radial disc to polish the metal around the diamond setting as the cylinder doesn't quite reach. I finish with rouge on a chamois pendant wheel and wahooo! I have a beautiful, shiny piece without the need for lots of different compounds or an expensive polisher/grinder.

The cylinders can be a little messy as they disintegrate but they certainly do a good job. They are great for beginners as they can be used with any hobby/dremel type machine or a pendant motor. The only downside to me is their limited reach due to the shape. Radials get into all the nooks and crannies that these don't but you can grind away the cylinders with an old flat file to produce a more suitable shape. I posted a link to a video on beaducation a couple of months ago that shows how to do this. I grind mine into little points so I can polish those pesky bits of metal that are hard to reach. I'd say to anyone to get a set of these, some yellow, blue and green radial discs and a block of rouge with a soft material pendant wheel and you will have guaranteed shiny jewellery every time :)

http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery...t-description2