Polishing purchase choice

[Sunnybank]

Probably a dull question, my next major purchase is polishing equipment. At the moment I use a hobby pendant motor and flexible drive and use cutting compound and rouge on felt wheels to try to get a shine. This is all preceded by files and reducing coarseness of wet and dry paper. I get an OK shine but it can be a bit uneven if I apply pressure unevenly. My biggest complaint is that rouge dust gets everywhere. I tend to go for a satin finish using a brass brush to avoid the rouge.

I assumed that I would move up to a polishing motor such as Polishing Motor -1/2hp Includes Spindles - 2800 Rpm - Cooksongold.com but this still means using rouge which means I need extract of some sort and therefore extra cost.

I thought that barrels were only used to polish stones, yet there is a lot on the forum about them polishing silver. A few questions:-

• Can barrels be used to achieve a high shine on silver or have I completely lost the plot?

• Are the two methods interchangeable or are both really needed?

• Is the same amount of preparation with reducing coarseness of wet and dry needed? I’m not trying to avoid work as I find this quite therapeutic and love it when I get down to very fine stuff, just wondering about the process.

• Does barrelling remove fire stain?

• Is there any loss of detail on intricate work.


You all seem to rave about barrels so any tips or advice would be gratefully received. Sorry I started off with one question and it grew, I’d better post before I think of any more!

[Emerald]

Probably a dull question, my next major purchase is polishing equipment. At the moment I use a hobby pendant motor and flexible drive and use cutting compound and rouge on felt wheels to try to get a shine. This is all preceded by files and reducing coarseness of wet and dry paper. I get an OK shine but it can be a bit uneven if I apply pressure unevenly. My biggest complaint is that rouge dust gets everywhere. I tend to go for a satin finish using a brass brush to avoid the rouge.

I assumed that I would move up to a polishing motor such as Polishing Motor -1/2hp Includes Spindles - 2800 Rpm - Cooksongold.com but this still means using rouge which means I need extract of some sort and therefore extra cost.

I thought that barrels were only used to polish stones, yet there is a lot on the forum about them polishing silver. A few questions:-

• Can barrels be used to achieve a high shine on silver or have I completely lost the plot?

• Are the two methods interchangeable or are both really needed?

• Is the same amount of preparation with reducing coarseness of wet and dry needed? I’m not trying to avoid work as I find this quite therapeutic and love it when I get down to very fine stuff, just wondering about the process.

• Does barrelling remove fire stain?

• Is there any loss of detail on intricate work.


You all seem to rave about barrels so any tips or advice would be gratefully received. Sorry I started off with one question and it grew, I’d better post before I think of any more!

Hi Jane

Yes barrelers do achieve a high shine you have to buy metal shot

You can do both depending on the piece you have made barrel first then polish, well thats the way i do it if i can get away with barrelling i will.

You need to finish your item of as much as you can as with polishing

No barreling wont remove firestain but doesent show it up as much and finally barrelling shouldent remove fine detail although using a finer shot will help to shine the more inticate pieces and get into harder places.

Polishing is a filthy job and you really do need an extractor fan if you are using a mop.

Hope this helps but ask away if any more questions

[Sunnybank]

Thanks Jo, time to dust off the debit card.

[mochiandmocha]

We kinda have the same question, so asking here instead of starting a new thread:

at the moment we file, work through different grades of emery paper (usually 400-800-1200) on a pendant motor, then tripoli and rouge on same pendant motor (flexible shaft drill).
No extractor=messy.
And like Sunny we see everyone here raving about barrels and ultrasonic, and we wonder exactly what piece of equipment we could get that would save us some time polishing, and improve the look of our work.

Do you still need to tripoli/rouge if using a barrel?
I guess what I'm really asking here is "is there a magic machine that can turn my rough piece into a shiny wearable work of art", but I rather doubt it... If only we could skip the tripoli and rouge phase...

Maybe I still havent' understood the difference between a barrel and an ultrasonic, between polishing and cleaning?

Anyway if anyone could help...

[Gemma]

I use micromesh!!! It makes everything sooooo shiney
I don't have any tripoli and do have rouge but haven't used it since starting with micromesh (thanks George fr the recommendation)

[AlexandraBuckle]

ooh this is all very useful info!

I'm currently exploring the best ways to get ultra shiny work but without the mess of the rouge and tripoli (and i don't have any anyway!)

I remeber everyonr raving about micromesh before, maybe its time i gave it a try!

[MuranoSilver]

I just pop it in the tumbler-it gets things very shiny
(though not mirror finish)
Nic x

[AlexandraBuckle]

My new NG tumbler is great - and it definately does get things shiny enough.

I would like to be able to get a mirror shine - just so i know i can do it if i ever want to

[mochiandmocha]

Is micromesh like strips of polishing cloth? And what does an ultrasonic do, would that give the mirror finish and remove all traces of rouge that still dirty my boxes etc?

[MuranoSilver]

Ultrasonic just cleans (think making set stones all sparkly) also gets rid of grease etc....doesn't "shine" things.
To shine things you need a tumbler & they come in two basic types :
Rotary (spinning barrel) and Vibratory (Mechanical or Magnetic)

ROTARY advantages
•very easy to use
•simple in design
•lower initial cost
•work hardens the metal (good for earring wires, posts etc)
•less supervision required than vibratory (slightly more "set & forget")

VIBRATORY advantages
•Faster than rotary (often 30% or more)
•can polish more fragile and delicate materials
•upright design means no leaks

Those are some of the main key points, personally I'd recommend a good rotary tumbler.
(You'll wonder how you ever managed without it)
Hope that helps
Nic xx