Day 52 Final Polishing Jewelry

Today is the last day in a series that I started almost 2 weeks ago, working off and in different stages. I will finish the pieces I started with wax injection, cleaning, casting, tumbling, and polishing. (pre and final) Today I will quickly go over final polishing.

I mentioned before that it is a good idea to have specific polishing wheels dedicated to its own polishing compounds. Here I have a Wheel that I only use Red Rouge on. I do not load as much compound on the wheel as I do with the “Pre-Polishing Wheel”.

I am careful when applying the Rouge because if there is too much compound on the wheel, it will leave black or red spots and streaks on the metal, which is built up compound. Before each piece I polish, I add the rouge to the wheel, not too much pressure, for about 1/2 of a second, moving from left to right.

I am looking for a nice shiny luster on the piece, you will have to watch closely as you polish, but I find it is easier to achieve if I polish fairly hard at first, then pull the piece softly towards the direction of the spinning wheel. When I move the piece in the direction of the wheel, I notice a “dull film” seems to be on the piece and it just doesn’t have the desired shine I am looking for. On smaller pieces, I hold it with a Pin Vise

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There we go, now we have nice shiny pieces, ready to Ultrasonically Clean and Steam Clean, which tomorrow I will show you a couple of simple tools to make this easier as well.

Thanks for stopping by,

Now go put your shine on something.

Doug