Hey Guys!
I wanna know in regard to silicone discs around prongs to finish off, example for flashing etc… I usually work with diamonds, Tourmaline & Sapphires… Will any of my dics scratch my stones if i work to closely?
Still pretty new to stone setting & prongs.
Also, will tripoli buffing compound do any of my three above mentioned stones if i decided to give it a buff?
Or perhaps it seem like i need Pumice Wheels? I from where i normally shop i can finde these two. Bit annyoing that grit is not stated.?
I’d definitely stick with the pumice. I screwed up a rather nice amethyst cab with a pink silicone wheel by not realizing I’d brushed up against it, and the better part of a year later I’m still annoyed about it. I’m not sure about Tripoli- a quick google tells me Tripoli is 5-7 mohs, and your tourmalines can be at the upper end of that range too. If you’re working with a lot of them it might be worth (potentially) sacrificing a small one to run your preferred polishing compounds and wheels over it to see what happens.
Something I keep meaning to do is to compile a chart for myself of the wheels and compounds I use, and the hardness of a wide variety of stones. I do enough googling that my phone understands the word Mohs now but it would be nice to have it at a glance above my bench. If I ever actually get this together I’ll definitely post it in case others would find it useful.
I use both of those 2 pumice wheels almost daily. They don’t have any kind of grit listed, but the medium will move a fair amount of metal (I use it a lot for casting clean-up, and whatnot), and the fine one leaves a nice matte polish. I have yet to work on a stone that either of them will scratch, either.
