Polishing woes - Advice needed!

[Nick martin]

Good morning all,

Wish to ask you guys your advice on the final polishing of items. Strangely, I find this the most puzzling aspect of jewellery making so far as I just can't seem to get it right!

Heres an example of what I mean. I've recently made these two bracelets and therefore need to polish them. In the first photo ( circular bracelet ) I've pickled it, washed it afterwards, and put it through the Ultrasonic cleaner.

Then I've used a 'very fine' arrow point Eveflex rubber mop to refine the surface, followed by applying rouge using hard felt mops, followed by using a soft cotton mop. However... I still cannot achieve a high gloss finish and as you can see from the photos, I'm left with dark streaks which I cannot get rid of.

On the second bracelet, its not been polished yet, but what would you guys use to polish it ( mops ) in order to get into all the intricate fiddly areas?

Apologies for the dumb questions but this is driving me mad!

Cheers,

Nick

[ps_bond]

Are your dark streaks firestain?

[Nick martin]

No I don't think they are as there's nothing visible once it had been in pickle, or once I started to polish.

[LydiaNiz]

I think this has been mentioned before. I get this problem sometimes too - and always end up sanding back and re-polishing. Can I ask what motor you use to polish? I'm wondering it's because mine lacks the oomph necessary? Would be interested

[Nick martin]

I'm using a Foredom SR so I'm certain its nothing to do with that.

Too late for pieces I've already made, but I'm wondering if switching to Argentium or Reflections Silver would help bring about a better overall finish, or perhaps just switching to a different polish?

[ps_bond]

No I don't think they are as there's nothing visible once it had been in pickle, or once I started to polish.

Firestain is sub-surface and sometimes doesn't show until you've started polishing.
Try holding a piece of tracing paper on the surface of the metal - it kills the reflections and you can see the colour of the metal clearly (and therefore firestain if it's there).

If your grey marks won't clean off, they're not the polish.

[Goldsmith]

Nick, looking at your bracelets, I would suggest that you should try polishing the pieces seperately and remove any marking before you assemble the whole piece, then you do not have to do heavy polishing other than the connecting links, then just a final polish to add shine. I use a bristle brush with Tripoli to remove scratches on rounded items and a soft Swansdown mop with Rouge for the final polish, which gives me a mirror finish on sterling silver.

James

[Nick martin]

Yes of course, thanks for that Peter and that's a useful tip.

Here's another question then.. Is it best to pickle a piece EVERY time heat is applied to it, or is it okay to do all the soldering and simply pickle it at the end of the process?

Nick

[Nick martin]

Thanks James,

That makes good sense to me but the problem I have, is that the connecting links are all soldered so if I polish the components before I assemble them, then the piece needs placing into pickle which would then kill the polish right?

Do you use the bristle brush 'as is' ie without putting any polish onto it?

Nick

[Dennis]

Bracelet one:
If this was sufficiently pickled, which might not be the case, then I think you just have greasy polish residue and it would go with a soft toothbrush and neat washing up liquid. If this does not work, warm with a flame, re-pickle and tumble with mixed shot, but no needles.

Bracelet two:
This is an ideal job for a tumbler with burnishing soap and mixed shot with balls, satellites and needles. After two hours, or even less, it would come out blindingly shiny. The needles in mixed shot, which give little pinpricks on flat surfaces, do not seem to mark round wire, but clean all the recesses.

That said, new shot should be conditioned and cleaned by running it with solution over-night. Ideally it will be stainless steel. The best soap I know is Burnishing soap 'B'.