Day 28 Pre-polishing Getting Ready to Set Stones

This pendant is coming along nicely. I pulled it out of the Magnetic Tumbler today and it was nice and shiny in all the places I couldn’t get to with wheels and brushes, especially around the bezels and the back. I have the stones picked out (Lab Created Chatham Emerald) and diamonds for the channel. We will tackle the settings tomorrow, but for today, let’s get this baby shiny!

Now, If you ask 10 polishers how to go about polishing a piece of jewelry, you will probably get 11 answers. Different jewelers use different compounds, but there IS a progression to follow, and every step you do, you are trying to make the scratches and blemishes lighter and lighter each time, and finish with a polishing rouge that will shine amazing, so I will show you one way.

Even though it is shiny out of the Magnetic Tumbler, there are still small scratches  and imperfections that need to be addressed. The first thing I do is go after it with a 3M JoolTool Brush. (Red) This brush will remove some of the scratches and burnish marks from the tumbling. These brushes also require no polishing compound, they are impregnated with different grits.

Next I use my Foredom and load a Stiff End Brush with Graystar Polishing Compound. I add a couple of drops of Mineral Oil to the Compound. This will create a little “slurry” and polishes better, and also keeps the debris from getting everywhere. Sometimes I use Oil Based Valve Grinding Compound on an end brush, it is more aggressive, but works good on silver to remove deeper scratches from those hard to get places. You can also get this at an automotive supply store.

Now I will go over the pendant with a Soft Hair Wheel Brush (or Medium) loaded with Bobbing Compound, a tripoli compound that works quick on silver. I use a soft brush here since there are more rounded and “organic” shapes. If there were more prongs or sharp edges, I would use a Stiff Brush, which gets in between prongs better.

Lastly, I take the pendant to my polishing machine, again I use Graystar Compound, but on the machine, it rotates much faster, therefore polishes out the remainder of the scratches. Remember to have specific wheels and brushes that are allocated for specific compounds and never mix them. You will have a better polishing experience if you do.

Thanks again for stopping by and following along, I value each of you and your feedback. Check back tomorrow and we will finish this project.

Have a Great Day!

Doug