Matte and a Super Shiny Finish

Jewelry Discussion
1

Okay,

Sometimes I really hate finishing!!! I love making jewerly but finishing
can really p*%$ me off. Anyway, besides using a tumbler can some of you
folks share your favorite ways to acheive a matte and a super shiny finish?

Thanks guys!!!

DeDe

DeDe Sullivan
Producer
Manhattan Transfer Graphics
Tel: 212-907-1204
FAX: 212-370-9346
E Mail: @dede

2

DeDe,

Matte finishes can be simple and can be used to finish off the
back-side of a piece you really don’t want to finish anyway. The
easiest matte finish is to lightly sandblast the piece. Next try
a brass brush and soapy water. Emory paper run in one direction
only. I get a heavy texture tapping coarse sandpaper with a small
hammer. Matte finishes hold polish and dirt and can be difficult
to clean.

For the high shine, polish,polish,polish.

Bill
Ginkgo Designs
@WILLIAM_I_EISENBERG

3

DeDe:

I’m surprised you don’t, as I like finishing. I can tell you
what I use, probably nothing secret or special, but it does a
good job. I use silicone wheels for cleaning up, at least
through the blue wheel, although this may be overkill, then I use
tripoli on a treated yellow muslin 6" wheel followed by red rouge
on an unsewn white cotton 6" buff. Only problem is all the
threads and dust from the cotton buff — I don’t have a hood
yet, the buffer is in the garage.

4

Sometimes I really hate finishing!!! I love making jewerly but finishing
can really p*%$ me off. Anyway, besides using a tumbler can some of you
folks share your favorite ways to acheive a matte and a super shiny finish?

  1. a really coarse 8" steel brush for a nice rough surface
  2. a worn 6" steel brush for matt
  3. a 3M scotchbrite 8" disc for soft satin

Water fed, 1425 rpm.
It’s been ages since I polished anything!

Brian
Brian Adam ph/fx +64 9 817 6816 NEW ZEALAND
http://crash.ihug.co.nz/~adam/
http://www.optisearch.com

5

Sometimes I really hate finishing!!! I love making jewerly but finishing
can really p*%$ me off. Anyway, besides using a tumbler can some of you
folks share your favorite ways to acheive a matte and a super shiny finish?

I don’t really like to finish either, at least not a high
polish. I sometimes think it just isn’t worth the time involved
to get that surface. I guess I am just a so so polisher. I do
like matte finishes and I use a small table top sand blaster to
achieve that look. It works great. I also sometimes use a mizzy
wheel to obtain a really rough surface. That works well too.
You can also get a soft matte finish by using a brush that
attaches to your flex shaft called a satin wheel. It’s actually
a round brush, looks like a scouring pad for pots. That has a
nice soft look.

Barry

6

DeDe,

I don’t do production work, so have never used a tumbler, and
folks around hear don’t seem to go for matte finish, so I don’t
do that either.

As for a bright finish, I start with files, only where needed
for major gouges or shaping. Then I graduate to 400 grit
sandpaper, then 600 grit, then I use bobbing compound, followed
by tripoli and finally rouge (gold) or Zam (silver). When using
the sandpaper, I use sanding discs on areas that I can and still
maintain clean lines. Everywhere else I use the sandpaper
wrapped around paint stirrers or popsicle sticks, or anything
else that will fit where I need to go.

I have found that using the bobbing compound before the tripoli,
really gives a mirror finish. If you don’t need a "designer"
finish, you could omit that step. I have to admit it is a pain to
keep changeing the buffs for each step and if you are doing
production work, the additional step could add to a few dollars
in labor cost.

Hope this helps.

Sharon Ziemek

7

De De -

I also decided I did not like to finish(read polish and buff)so
I dont. Dont even own a polishing machine. Hammered surfaces - I
make sure the hammer is smooth. When soldering, I sweat solder
wherever possible so no solder clean up. Where I must file, I
then use abrasive papers on wooden sticks down to a used 400 and
then just burnish with a brass scratch brush and sudsy water. I
work in high karat gold. I like the soft look of the scratch
brushed surface, dont like a high polish mirror shine - cant see
the metal, only reflections. Softer surface also shows the
color differences much better when using several metals. Also
those first few scratches that the wearer puts in are not so
noticeable as they are on a high polished or a sand blasted
surface. One of my first instructors used to call it the “butler
finish”, you know, the kind of finish an old piece of holloware
gets after being polished for years. For those few concave
surfaces where sand sticks wont fit, I just use an abrasive
wheel on my flex shaft, then scratch brush. Just design around
the processes you do and do not like to do.

Mary

8

DeDe…

I’m not fond of finishing either, but I just grit my teeth and
put in the time on the buffer. For the type of fabricated silver
I make, there’s not really any other choice.

I do have one fast and easy hand “technique” for you though.
Green Scotch Brite pads will give a nice satin finish. Try
experimenting with them for different patterns, such as ripples,
delicate crosshatching, and a moire pattern.

Karen

9

Dede

you might use a fordom hammer with the matt finsh arbor. you
must polish first and it will come out good we do this and it
works for us we are a trade shop and we run to a lot of neat
stuff all so make sure that the tip is good and bright if you
use a dull tip you will get a dull finsh and you can polish the
tip with polishing paper good luck

jack
jvp jewelry

10

Could you give me the exact details of the bobbing compund and
the tripopli materail? I want to try and get the same here in
Israel.

Thanks

Shlomit Grossman

11

DeDe, for a nice Matte finish we use (of course after sand paper
work) polish with Scotchbright material. Ther is also a fine
metal brush as a reel which gives you a matte effect.

Shlomit Grossman

12 
Sometimes I really hate finishing!!! I love making jewerly but
finishing can really p*%$ me off. Anyway, besides using a
tumbler can some of you folks share your favorite ways to
acheive a matte and a super shiny finish?

hi dede, i’m with you. for matt finishing i use a pencil blaster
called micro blaster ( i think) it’s made by danville
engineering in CA. they have several models. first, i like to
sandblast, second, i beadblast. this gives a great uniform
finish. it also won’t catch dirt like a sandblasted only surface
will. for shiney, highly reflective finishes i use emery paper
down to 4/0 so i spend less time on the polishing lathe. this
gives me precise corners and it’s an almost foolproof way not to
get those ripples on flat surfaces. thouhg when one is on the
polishing lathe, is’s always good practice to use multi
directional polishing. as chick hearn says, “don’t practice
mistakes.” best regards, geo fox

13

Could you give me the exact details of the bobbing compound and
the tripoli materail? I want to try and get the same here in
Israel.

I’m afraid I have no idea what these compounds are made of.
Perhaps some of our resident chemists can help out.

Sharon

14 
 I use bobbing compound, followed by tripoli and finally rouge
(gold) or Zam (silver). When using the sandpaper,

Hi, I had to ask . . . what is the difference between ZAM and
FABULUSTER??? I haven’t a clue! Can ANYONE help with this
question???

15 
  I do have one fast and easy hand "technique" for you though.
Green Scotch Brite pads will give a nice satin finish. Try
experimenting with them for different patterns, such as
ripples, delicate crosshatching, and a moire pattern. Karen

Karen, than you for that hint, I’ll have to try it soon! I have
a lot of those laying around the house!

16 
   Could you give me the exact details of the bobbing compound
and the tripoli materail? I want to try and get the same here
in Israel. I'm afraid I have no idea what these compounds are
made of. Perhaps some of our resident chemists can help out.

You rang, milady? G’day, I do know that both are made from
crushed and carefully sieved pumice powder. I think that the
carrier might be a soap. Not much point in trying to make them
oneself - they’re cheap enough. Another name for tripoli used to
be plain “buff soap”.

Cheers,

        /\
       / /    John Burgess, 
      / /
     / //\    @John_Burgess2
    / / \ \
   / (___) \
  (_________)
17 
I'm surprised you don't, as I like finishing.  I can tell you
what I use, probably nothing secret or special, but it does a
good job.  I use silicone wheels for cleaning up, at least
through the blue wheel, although this may be overkill, then I
use tripoli on a treated yellow muslin 6" wheel followed by red
rouge on an unsewn white cotton 6" buff.  Only problem is all
the threads and dust from the cotton buff --- I don't have a
hood yet, the buffer is in the garage. >>

DeDe, GET THE DUST collector . … it’s worth every penny you
pay for it! Thunderbird has Economy one for under $200.00 and it
even has good lights! IJS has the economy one for $176.00 (plus
shipping) I recently purchased one (without the motor, since
my motor was purchased locally) and I was AMAZED at the amount of
grey dust it collected in a two week period! Actually, I was
SHOCKED ! To think, that I may have been breathing that stuff in
. … scary thought! (BTW, with the motor included it’s about
$246.00)

18

DeDe:

Here i go again with the cheap option. I agreee about getting a
dust collector, tho’. You can make your own from thin plywood or
masonite or even cardboard and mount an old vacuum or squirrel
cage blower in it. Put a piece of filter material in it like
what you put in your forced air heating system.

19

Tripoli comes in large blocks about 7" long, it is brown in
colour, has a pleasant sweet smell. I’m not sure what the
abrasive in the compound is. I purchase it from local tool
merchants. It is made in the UK by W Canning in Birmingham. They
are quite a large company. They do have a web page, so you might
try looking at that to see where their nearest office is. You
could probably get it mail order from one of the UK suppliers.
Richard W UK

20

Shlomit:

Regarding bobbing compound and tripoli, you just order them by
that name here (US), they are very common. The tripoli is a
powdered silica (don’t know what size) mixed with some kind of
binder wax. Don’t know the composition of the bobbing compound.
The tripoli comes as a whitish bar and the bobbing compound is
brown.

Regarding the Brown and Sharp gage of metals, you are the
physicist, but I would assume that they are linear. It’s just
that bigger gages are smaller and I guess they start somewhere at
some constant value. I will look them up in “The Complete
Metalsmith” for you when I get home.