I have quite a number of rough borneo amber pieces of different
colors, bought from a local wholesaler (Amberasia) and started to do
polishing myself. There are two things i noticed after sanding and
to final polishing.
small surface holes from less than 0.5mm to larger ones 3.0mm and
depth 0.5mm to 1.0mm. I believe these are air bubbles lies trapped
in the amber and becomes surface holes when i sand opened it. What’s
the best way to treat or cover up the surface holes.
new fine crust swirl will appear after two to three days after
final polishing. I do some searching for answer on the internet and
concluded that when water in the amber evaporates, crust will
appear. This occurance only happens to my brown and cognac with swirl
amber and not to other colors - cognac, green, white etc. Tried
applying by dipping the whole polished amber piece into water-based
varnish or lacquer to stop the water from evaporating and still after
one week, the same thing happened.
Will be happy to forward pictures of the amber to helpful members
for review and feedback. Any help or advice is much appreciated.
Hello, I have never heard of Amber from Borneo, is it new or am I
just behind? This stuff sounds more like what some people call Copal
Amber, which is only about 10,000 year old tree sap. It is very
flimsy stuff. I am very interested to see where this thread goes.
Here’s a trick commonly used by specimen collectors and museum
restoration folks:
Using thread or light fishing line, figure out a way to suspend the
piece of amber from the string/line. Sometimes, a fish hook with the
tip inside a bead hole is a good choice.
Suspend the piece from the top of any closable container, like a
shoe box. I like to use a small mason jar. I punch a small hole in
the flat lid, pass the thread through it and tie the thread to a
pencil. Let the amber hang in space. Then place a small container
(jar cap, etc.) inside the larger container. I just use the jar
itself, but pour some ethyl alcohol or isopropyl alcohol in the
smaller container or jar. Don’t use denatured alcohol. Most rubbing
alcohol works fine. Close the container and place it in a warm room
overnight.
The alcohol will dissolve the surface of the amber, fill small pits,
and leave a perfectly smooth surface that appears polished. When you
remove the piece, it’s still tacky, so don’t touch it. Just hang it
somewhere for a half-hour to an hour and it will be dry and shiny.
Pits gone!
Thanks a lot for method and its now coming to 11.50pm and will try
it tomorrow and let you know testing status one or two days time. Any
helpful ways or methods with regards to below question?
new fine crust swirl will appear after two to three days after
final polishing. I do some searching for answer on the internet and
concluded that when water in the amber evaporates, crust will appear.
This occurance only happens to my brown and cognac with swirl amber
and not to other colors - cognac, green, white etc. Tried applying by
dipping the whole polished amber piece into water-based varnish or
lacquer to stop the water from evaporating and still after one week,
the same thing happened.
I’ve not experienced that with amber, but have with copal. Both are
resins, of course, and I would imagine that there are all types of
oranic volatiles that coud leach out and evaporate, leaving the crust
you describe. Sorry I can’t offer a solution…