Recommended buffing wheels & compounds

Hello all, You can use a coarse compound to begin with, clean and
then polish with a finer compound. All personal choices. The
important thing is to use a dust collector. If you don’t, the
polishing compounds might not hurt you, but the cotton fibers will
definitely kill. It is, I believe, called byssinosis. Also a dust
collector will catch precious metals to pay for a nice vacation.
Have fun. Tom Arnold

After years of buffing, I’ve settled on two compounds for 98% of my
polishing. I use Graystar compound for the prefinish and Zam or
Fabustre for final polish. The reason for Zam or Fabustre is that
they don’t get as dirty as rough does, and they polish
plastic/plexiglas, soft stones and resin. I work with many different
materials.

As for prefinishing, I use a fine grit 3M grey deburring wheel for
99% of my sanding/emerying. Due to repetive injuries from the late
’90s, I cannot emery the way we all do, or my wrists will pay for it
up to a month. That was a health/work issue, forcing me to change
how I refinish mymetals. I also use a scotch stone (Tom O’Shater
stone) with water, since I have a good selection of them and find
them superior when working on flat surfaces or hard to finish areas.
Only when I’m demo-ing or sanding the rims of domed pieces do I use
emery paper. I also go thru a ton of mini abrasives with the flex
shaft cleaning up rings, bezels, seamsusing coarse, med, fine and
polishing rubber/silicone wheels.

Also another health issue in the form of allergies to
buffing/compounds/fiber or lint, I couldn’t buff without having
allergy attacks, so I turned to mass tumble finishing. I actually
design my work so that most ofit can only be finished by tumbling. I
use multiple rotary tumblers, and the motorized part is custom-made
for me.

I recently rediscovered steel compound, and I love it for polishing
steel since I refinish my hammrs and stakes.

As for cleaning, I use Simple Green, Awesome, or Windox for
dissolving the buffing compound and make cleaning between steps
easier. Final cleaning is often the ultrasonic to get into the hard
to reach spots.

Some of us had to change and adapt and we all find the best way to
buff.

One last tip - the Swifty 1-step Polisher from Contenti (teal in
color)is a godsend - you can remove minor tool marks and polish the
metal, and it won’t harm hard stones, which means I can get the
bezel polished where it meets the stone.

Joy

I also have decided to chime in with this discussion. I have to
admit it’s kind of interesting to see the levels of professionalism
here with this thread.

Let me start out by saying I have had over 40 years experience on a
bench, owned my own trade shop and taught at GIA’s world headquarters
in Carlsbad, CA.

I employed a polisher who had 20 years experience in just doing that
in my shop. He worked there for 10 years. I picked up some nice
things from him, but what I really liked is following my own credo
when it comes to repaired or custom pieces. even in mass production.
Everything that leaves the shop goes out “showroom new”.

Therefore, over the years I have seen newbies try to polish jewelry
by feeding the piece to the wheel like a cube of sugar to a horse.
that was a good laugh but caught the student just in time.

I personally changed the polishing regimen at GIA as it was good but
surely could be better. Contamination is the biggest culprit to a
mirror finish.

IF you go through the steps to get that mirror finish you will never
go back to thinking contamination won’t cause any issues. It does.
flat out.

So here is the way I polish and if you follow this regimen you won’t
be sorry.

First-the polishing room should be set up with at minimum two motors
and two dust collectors.

Second-set yourself up with two ultrasonics-one for tripoli or grey
star polishing compound and one for rouge buffing compound. Notice I
use the word "polishing for cutting and “buffing” for final finish.
You will see the importance of that in a moment.

Third-It is extremely important for polishing and buffing wheels to
be free from lint that flies in your face. Get a fresh or clean
buffing rake, put wheel on the polishing motor and rake out the loose
threads. To get rid of the hanging pieces still there I burn them off
with just a match to get it started and pat it out after they have
been burned off. make sure the little sparks or burnt threads are
out. This creates a lint-less wheel.

Fourth-Make sure you have two sets of wheels. one for polishing and
one for buffing. NEVER CROSS THESE OVER. Charge each one with
whatever suits you for each. My personal favorites are old school but
have stood the test of time. Grey star from Gesswein for cutting and
red rouge for yellow metals and green rouge for white metals. (not
talking about platinum here, that is different and has its own set of
compounds). I kept these wheels either in a drawer or on a peg board
in front of me.

Fifth-After you have done all the emery, pumice wheel work at the
bench use the Polishing compound on a designated motor and don’t ever
change it, that is, using that motor for polishing only. When you
polish the metal you work AGAINST the wheel to do the cutting action.

Sixth-Clean the polishing compound off in the polishing compound
ultrasonic. never cross this over to the rouge ultrasonic. Then
steam clean the piece to go to the rouge buffing motor.

Seventh-The final finish. ah yes the beautiful piece you want to see
after the rouge ultrasonic and steam. When you do your final finish
you work WITH the wheel NEVER against it because all you are doing is
putting a high buff on the piece. not cutting it. Ultrasonic in the
rouge ultrasonic and steam.

IF you have to use a buffing rake to clean used buffs have two of
them one for each compound.

If you follow this regimen and train your jewelers to not cross
contaminate you will be a lot more proud of your work.

The ideal situation is to have a full time polishing technician who
does all the plating as well. He/she would be very upset if you come
in and contaminate the wheels. it’s like a jeweler and his/her highly
polished gravers. you better not borrow one and ding it up or the
wrath will be unleashed…

Good luck and happy polishing!
Russ Hyder
The Jewelry CAD Institute

Hello Jo,

Regarding polishing compounds, I would like to concur with you
regarding “Blue Rouge” used on sterling silver.

I have found that “Picasso Blue” (a platinum rouge, I believe?) is a
great rouge, for my finishing goals (of a high polish) on sterling
silver.

On a related note, I will mention that someone recommended that I
try the Luxi brand compounds as well. Here are my personal
impressions:

  • (for Tripoli step) when comparing Luxi Blue (pre-polish) to
    Graystar (intermediate Tripoli- like) on a stitched, tight weave
    muslin buff, I found Luxi blue to be a less aggressive alternative to
    Graystar, resulting in less undercutting/ drag lines. Luxi Blue
    appears to impart a finer, brighter, higher polish than Graystar. It
    seems almost like a polish rather than a pre-polish. I now favor Luxi
    Blue over Graystar.

  • (for rouge step) when comparing Luxi White to Picasso Blue on an
    unstitched balloon cloth buff, both work well, but it appears to my
    eyeballs that Picasso Blue results in a finer, brighter, higher buff
    polish. I still favor Picasso Blue.

My interest in the Luxi brand compounds was peaked when I heard that
they are “water soluble”, and are designed for easier, faster
cleanup.

Just thought I would share my recent test findings.

p. s.- I am very intrigued by Richard’s frequent mention of Hyfin
rouge (is it the white?), and would like to try this as well. I have
researched it online, and it appears to be available via the UK, but
not in the USA…

Best Regards,
Julie

Hello Jeff,

I just wanted to say that you have caused me to suffer duct/ dust
collector envy!

On a related note, I am contemplating the use of a split flat lap/
angled polisher. Never having used one before, I was wondering if I
would be able to hold something the size of a “penny” on the tip of
bare (or leather cot protected) finger, or do you suggest that I
would need to create a holding jig? I was just wondering. if I pushed
up against the bottom of the lap, and then released pressure, would
the “penny” come off the lap and remain on my finger? Or would it fly
off? Just trying to get my bearings on this idea.

Best Regards,
Julie

Fourth-Make sure you have two sets of wheels. one for polishing
and one for buffing. NEVER CROSS THESE OVER." Russ makes an
important point here. 

To keep from doing that I have used a fat tipped sharpie to write on
the sides of my buffs what compound it’s used for.

Have fun and make lots of jewelry.

Jo Haemer
timothywgreen.com

On a related note, I am contemplating the use of a split flat lap.
I have to say that my split lap is one of my favorite tools in the
studio. I use it on almost every piece, both prepolishing
components before assembly and for final finishing. It's ideal for
creating crisp edges, flat surfaces and once you get comfortable
even curved surfaces. It's great for removing mill marks, it's a
big time saver. Yes, you can use it on a flat discthe size of a
penny, I would hold that in my bare fingers or you could usefinger
cots. A wooden jig with a hole cut with a spade bit, half the
depthof the disc might work, but I imagine it would fill with
compound, I have never tried it but it seems like it might be a
finger saving gadget. 

The thing is that the split laps speed is very intimidating and it
generates a lot of heat very fast. It takes some getting used to as
it’s easy towreck stuff with it. It cuts down metal really quick.
Some people, it justplain scares and they never use it. If polishing
the penny sized disc, youwouldn’t typically lap the whole surface at
once. You’d do about 2/3 of it, pull it away and rotate, do 2/3
again, pull away and rotate, until you get the whole surface flat.
If you try to hold the whole thing under in one go with your fingers
you will likely lose it or burn your fingers, or both.

I always use one of those extra wide sharpies to make the top bevel
of the lap black when it’s new, that way you can see the work on the
underside better.

My two cents, Mark

Hello Julie,

I purchased that polishing lathe (minus the enclosure and dust
collector) from a retiring jeweler in New Bedford, MA when I was in
high school. It had a cyclone filter that I used for years and the
dust went into a high-tech filter bag. As you can see, that set-up
has dramatically changed.

Regarding the flat lap, I would absolutely make a jig for something
that size and thinness.

Something on the idea of a ring clamp that will grasp the edges of
your piece. Keep in mind that there are slits in the lap

http://www.ganoksin.com/gnkurl/ep81i0

hat allow you to see what you’re working on from above when
polishing the piece underneath. I doubled the four slits to eight to
get more clarity. Get my number from my Web site if you would like to
discuss this further.

Jeff Herman

Hello,

I have been on the wheel for about twenty years polishing my own
work and probably 15 before that polishing much of my Dad’s. I have
used the same 1/2 horse motor in that time polishing sterling almost
exclusively. There has been some 14 K yellow and copper but the
dominating metal has been sterling.

The basic forms we have run are wrought wire, twisted wire, and
stamped flat wire bracelets along with craft shop earrings pendants
and rings.

My polishing schedule is pretty typical I imagine and changed very
little from what my Dad showed me. For bracelets:

1 Once the shaping and swage work is done I tune up the piece with a
Cratex or Advantage type disc on a Foredom hand set. This is to deal
with rough edges, knock down some file marks, and get rid of some
reluctant flux.

I may do some hand work with some sand paper sticks I make up with
600 grit wet/dry to address scale on wide surfaces.

2 I then toss the work in a vibrating tumbler with green plastic
pyramids, dawn soap, and circulating water for a few hours for a
dull, clean product. Problems show up at this stage that I may have
missed otherwise.

3 My first wheel is Tripoli on a 6" x 60 ply sewn buff for my cut
down work. I next have an uncharged, old, 6 x 60 yellow buff that I
pass the work through to dust off the residual compound. Clean out
the corners so to speak.

4 The work gets it final shaping and truing up and then a soak in
hot water, ammonia, and Dawn for a degreasing. I have never been able
to afford a steamer but I have seen them in operation and I may get
one rather than a second rolling mill.

5 The final buff is from a 6 x 60 un-sewn fine muslin buff and
typically Zam as of late. But I have used red rouge, white rouge,
and Fabuluster as well. I am trying out a batch of Dailux Red.

6 Once they leave the wheel for the last time another soak in
ammonia, water and Dawn brought to a boil and then simmered for 20
minutes or so.

Scrubbed with a toothbrush, dried, bagged and added to inventory.

I rake the wheels as needed and I toss them out when they get old
and worn down. One devastating hand injury has left me a might gun
shy for high speed turn things.

My space to work is tiny, (My shop space is 5’ x 7’ and I polish in
another space about 1/2 of that) and I am not the most orderly
individual. However, I keep my wheels separate and take care not to
cross contaminate during the steps.

I get good results with this process. I don’t have studio. I have a
shop and I am a Smith. I produce wearable objects from the Craft Shop
tradition.

And now and then I think I create some art.

Don Meixner

Do (m)any of you keep separate wheels for red/green/white/black/etc.
rouges?

Janet in Jerusalem

Dumb question:

I’ve seen pictures of lapping wheels, but never saw a live one in
motion. I always wondered why (small) items wouldn’t get grabbed by
the slits and pulled out of your hand…

Janet in Jerusalem

To keep from doing that I have used a fat tipped sharpie to write
on the sides of my buffs what compound it's used for.

I use a regular-tipped Sharpie to write on the sides of my buffs
what compound they’re used for…:-)…

Janet in Jerusalem

They spin way to fast to get things caught in the slots. They are
there so you can see what you are doing. Personally I have never used
one. I always used flat laps in varying degrees of hardness.

They are pretty simple to get used to as well as the split lap.

Russ

Do (m)any of you keep separate wheels for
red/green/white/black/etc. 

Yes because they are made for certain colors of gold. or metals…

Russ
The Jewelry CAD Institute

Hi Janet,

I guess it depends on how small is ‘small’, but I’ve buffed 10-12mm
disks with no problem. (the heat sensors in my fingers are fried, so
I have to be careful not to damage myself, but mechanically, it
works.) (and you wonder how I burned out the heat sensors in my
fingers. Buffing like that is probably a good part of it. Some days,
I’m amazed I survived my 20’s.)

Smaller, more 3D things are easier. They just don’t get stuck unless
you rotate them such that the leading edge digs in, but so long as
you work on the tail of the piece, you’re good.

I second the tip about magic-marker-ing the upper surface black, as
well as using a sharpie (of whatever size) to mark your buffs with
compound

All of mine are coded with whatever they’ve got on them. Saves much
confusion. (I also date mine, but that’s more a case of compulsive
control-freak-ery, rather than anything truly useful.)

I happened upon a fabric store that was going out of business, and
picked up a bunch of the little drawer cases used for embroidery
floss. Clear plastic drawers in nice wood rack boxes, just the right
size to keep all my various compounds and buffs (A) separate, (B)
clean, and © out of the way, yet ready to hand, right over top of
the buffer. (the buffer, and cases are in the top of one of those
wire-grid shelving units. Makes them easily mobile, and self
contained.) (and more importantly, adjustable to fit the height that
I prefer.)

FWIW,
Brian

Hello Mark and Jeff,

Thank you both for your experienced advice regarding the use of the
split flat lap, I really appreciate it!

Ah! “to jig or not to jig”.!

Ok, so! I think my understanding is:

  1. if I want to hold it with my fingers, then I might want to
    polish/ buff as per Mark’s advice of hitting 2/3 of the item at a
    time, and rotating until all areas polished/ buffed.

  2. if I want to hit the entire surface on the lap at one time, then
    as per Jeff’s advice, a jig would be a way to hang on to the piece,
    and not burn my fingers.

Thank you!
Best Regards,
Julie

Hi Janet,

(sigh) yes. Separate wheels for every single stinking compound I’ve
got. (Of which, I’ve discovered I have a surprising number.)

With ziplock baggies for the near orphans, and storage drawers for
the more common ones. One compound to a drawer.

The various rouges are in sub-divisions of the ‘rouge’ drawers.

No, I’m not anal retentive at all. (I just got tired of fighting for
a good finish, and decided to do it right. It’s quicker in the long
run.)

Cheers-
Brian

PS. > When I was a student, I used.50 cal ammo boxes. (the steel
ones) They’re about the right size, and seal air/water tight.
Available pretty cheap too, and they stack/move well.

I kept them stuffed under the lower shelf of a workbench when I was
in grad school. Just grab the ‘tripoli’ can and tote it off to the
buffing room when I went. Worked well.

I've seen pictures of lapping wheels, but never saw a live one 

First, we use Tripoli or white diamond and green rouge for just
about everything. Greystar on the lap, which I’ll get to. As long as
the compounds are right it’s more about skill. Knowing WHAT a great
polish is takes a long time in itself. Oh yeah, emery paper, never
carborundum.

The lap, or split lap. It’s dangerous till you get the hang of it,
and it’s also darn useful for the work it does. You have the machine,
you get a lap and put it on the spindle, and the first thing you do
is get some rough sandpaper and a stick and dress it true. That
removes any danger of the slits grabbing things.

The last big shop I was in, long ago, used MX wheels which I guess
are still out there. Those are very aggressive, like separating
disks almost, and require good scrap management because they just
grind away metal. Then your basic hard, rock hard or flint hard lap
with greystar or similar is what most people use them for, I guess.
Almost more valuable is a soft lap with green rouge, especially on
platinum. You can use that on domed surfaces too because it doesn’t
cut.

As for a small disk, as was mentioned, most people I know use a
leather pad, which 99%of the time is a section of someone’s old
belt, and then do it in sections, as was mentioned. If you want to
finish it whole in the end then that’s easier than starting out with
the whole disk at once.

One major problem with the lap is silver. Silver can get so hot so
fast that it can hurt you - like in an instant it’s 600F. You WILL
learn the smell of burning flesh sooner of later. Work holding
schemes like leather can help a lot, but the thinner and smaller the
silver the hotter it will get and ~fast~.

Anyway, if you are making lots of flat sided rings and the like you
just can’t beat a split lap…John D.

I have injured my fingers so badly over the years I gave lost a lot
of tactile ability. It is hard to impossible for me to work small. I
jig every process I can. Especially polishing earrings. If you drop
me an email address in private mail I will send you photos of one of
my favorite polishing jigs

My shop space is so small I have limited my machines to the very
basics. Presto lite torch, flex tool, small drill press, and a bench.
My polisher is in another room. I have one motor and no room for a
second so I am constantly changing wheels.

So keeping the wheels separate is a requirement in my shop. My shop
is quite productive and pretty efficient even though it gets a
little cluttered at times.

Regards Don Meixner

Hi Julie, I think your understanding is right. It seems everyone has
their own methods for just about everything, including using the
split lap. I really prefer to hold it in my fingers because you have
so much more control. Even with leather or finger cots the piece will
sort of shift a little bit. A jig would work if you could make one
but I think the hot, gooey compound build-up might make flipping it
over and doing the next one a little annoying because you’d need to
scrape or steam out the jig, maybe I’m wrong about that. If you’re
holding it on your fingers and it gets hot, just pulling away for a
few seconds in the wind of the wheel will often cool it. Better yet,
If you are lapping multiple items just put the hot one down and go to
the next and work your way around that way. I say hold it with your
fingers but my fingers are gnarly old things that are covered with
rhino hide from many lost years at the bench, I may be a bit of a
freak that way and so my advice may not work for you. But for what
it’s worth, there it is anyway.

Mark