High quality super fine polishing powder

Jewelry Discussion
1

I’m making a telescope mirror and am on the lookout for high quality
consistent super fine polishing powders. I’m looking for anything.30
micron and less. I see there are many rouges out there that might fit
the bill as well as Al Oxide at around.05. I was wondering if you
guys could point me to a reliable high quality source for small
amounts. It would also be nice if there was a kit with a
progressively smaller polishing powder selection. Thanks!

2 
I was wondering if you guys could point me to a reliable high
quality source for small amounts.

Check out Kingsley North. They sell abrasives and polishes for stones
and glass. I use their Micro Alumina for polishing rocks with
fantastic results. You probably want to use optical grade Cerium
Oxide for polishing a telescope lens.

All is available at Kingsley North: http://www.kingsleynorth.com

Rick Copeland
Silversmith and Lapidary Artisan
rockymountainwonders.com

3 
It would also be nice if there was a kit with a progressively
smaller polishing powder selection

Greg, that’s a real ambitious project… I bought a book that I
don’t exactly recall the title - “Telescope Making” or something.
One site I just found recommends a good book first thing…

I just Googled “telescope mirror making” and got a great many hits.
We have an observatory nearby (Chabot) that has a weekly
mirror-making class, BTW… One of the first Google hits looks
good: Welcome to ATM Site

Actually I just went back and shortened that to
http://www.atmsite.org/ and “ATM” stands for amateur telescope
makers, try that, too. Click on the “keyword” link and there is much
there…

From there is a couple of sources: http://www.willbell.com/
http://www.newportglass.com/

Used to be Edmund Scientific was the place for amateur mirror makers,
but in looking I guess they don’t do that anymore… There were
several other places on the Google search, but you can look at those
yourself, I’m sure… Happy grinding, it’s gonna be awhile…;

4

You didn’t say what material the mirror will be made of.

kpk

5

Hi the mirror is made of plate glass which is pretty soft as far as
mirror substrate is concerned. I am polishing right now with cerium
oxide but it is .5 micron. The most important thing in making
telescope optics aside from having a good paraboloid is that the
glass be as smooth as possible. That is why I am on the hunt for
smaller and smaller micron powders. After researching this weekend I
am thinking of ball milling some black rouge.

Thanks for everybody’s help, if you know of some high quality black
rouge at a good price I would love to take a look. Thanks!

6

you may want to check out facetrough.com they have a wide selection
of polishing powders and are quite knowledgeable about them as they
are not just vendors but actually use the things they sell ! They
have a good selection of 100,000 - 500,000 micron powders of various
substances and a very limited diamond lot (they are closing that
stuff out). I’m sure you can find optical grade materials there. rer