[Looking4] Metal finishing/polishing class

Jewelry Discussion
1

My boss has an employee that needs a metal finishing/polishing class.
I wasn’t sure where to look for that. We’re thinking a few days to a
week long. He’s been taught a lot but still isn’t quite understanding
how detailed he needs to be. Thanks for your help!

Valerie Heck Esmont
www.vahjewelry.com

2

Would help to know where “you” are!!!

John Dach

3 
My boss has an employee that needs a metal finishing/polishing
class. I wasn't sure where to look for that. We're thinking a few
days to a week long. He's been taught a lot but still isn't quite
understanding how detailed he needs to be.

Valerie, Revere acadamy in San Francisco, GIA, or a number of other
trade schools may help. But it occurs to me to suggest that perhaps
what he needs is not so much just polishing/finishing education, but
at least beginning bench work too. Only after himself actually doing
some of the metal work, might he fully understand what details he’s
not allowed to destroy at the buff, and what levels of finish are
considered acceptable.

And also be sure that your boss does not consider the polisher(s) to
be kind of the bottom of the skill, and pay, totem pole. The polisher
is often considered in many shops I know, to be one of the key and
important craftspeople. No matter how good the work, if the polisher
isn’t just as good, the work can be destroyed, and a good polisher
can make even mediocre work look better. That should not be
considered an entry level skill. I recall one shop I visited a while
back, where the (highly skilled) polisher was the highest paid
craftsman in the shop, and earned every penny too. And that’s not
because the various other people weren’t also good at their job…

Peter Rowe

4

Re metal finishing class: It would help to know where you are
located and/or if willing to travel.

5

Call and we can make this happen for your friend, we specialize in
one on one selected courses and would love to help. 800-731-1122

Dee Rouse Huth
California Institute of Jewelry Training

6

Thank you for the responses so far. We are located in North East Ohio
and there are no classes in our area so travel is a must. My coworker
that I speak of did not attend any type of school and had no jewelry
training before this job. But he is being taught all the skills my
boss has and what I do where I work. He is not being treated like the
low person on the totem pole. Every step of what we do is very
important. And we all take turns at each step of the way so as not to
burnout.

My boss can’t afford to send him away for months. I was really
fishing around for like a weeklong class on polishing/finishing
metal. We keep instructing this employee on what to do and thought
if he was in a class in a different setting it would build on his
understanding of the techniques.

Thanks for your time!
Valerie Heck Esmont
www.vahjewelry.com

7

I have often thought that this is an overlooked potential money
maker for a book or DVD. The lowest paid person in the shop is
usually doing the polishing, one of the most critical steps in the
creation process. Taking several finished pieces, showing the various
equipment, the steps involved in routine polishing, demonstrating
how to use a split lap properly, electro-plating, masking and
sandblasting or plating, oxidizing or antiquing, tricks for getting
black crud out from behind diamonds…on and on. If you made a good,
comprehensive DVD it would likely sell year after year.

Mark

8 
on and on. If you made a good, comprehensive DVD it would likely
sell year after year.

I second a DVD!