Woodmonkey
Established Member
Is it conceivable to use something like the chestnut buffing system to remove scratches from glass, such as a watch face or pair of glasses?
Buffing question
- Thread starter Woodmonkey
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AJB Temple
Finely figured
I do not have the chestnut system, but I do have a dedicated polishing station with multiple mops and compounds, and use it a lot.
In my experience considerable care is needed with small items to prevent mop snatch. I think If I were trying to polish a scratch out of a small glass item, I would prefer to use jewellers polishing paste and a dremel.
In my experience considerable care is needed with small items to prevent mop snatch. I think If I were trying to polish a scratch out of a small glass item, I would prefer to use jewellers polishing paste and a dremel.
Polishing glass is not easy, at least not to optical standards. If the scratches are very light then I have good success with jewellers rouge on a polishing mop but you must take care not to overheat the glass or it can crack. For glasses (I assume eye glasses) I wouldn't even try, you will create ripples which will make you feel sick.
I found that there are a whole bunch of grades of mops and grits available for polishing. For rouge, the finest I've used, I found that Burns Rouge was really pretty good.
SAIC are a pretty good source for abrasives and mops :
https://saic-uk.co.uk/product-category/ ... ng/#page=2
but also companies like Cookson gold, HS Walsh and Cousins in the Birmingham jewellery quarter have a great range of stock (and websites) and are also able to give advice,
The whole Sterling weakness currency thing at the moment means that the really big craft suppliers like Rio Grande in the US (website and good advice) arent as competitive for UK purchasers as they used to be (especially due to the import tax).
As has been said, optical standard wouldtake some serious kit/skill ..and probably best avoided ... choice of mop and polish to cut deep enough but not too deep is tough enough for just glass clock faces. You could always try practicing on broken down double glazed units (assuming your local dump has some)
Worth having a chat with the Birmingham suppliers for the jewellery trade imo
SAIC are a pretty good source for abrasives and mops :
https://saic-uk.co.uk/product-category/ ... ng/#page=2
but also companies like Cookson gold, HS Walsh and Cousins in the Birmingham jewellery quarter have a great range of stock (and websites) and are also able to give advice,
The whole Sterling weakness currency thing at the moment means that the really big craft suppliers like Rio Grande in the US (website and good advice) arent as competitive for UK purchasers as they used to be (especially due to the import tax).
As has been said, optical standard wouldtake some serious kit/skill ..and probably best avoided ... choice of mop and polish to cut deep enough but not too deep is tough enough for just glass clock faces. You could always try practicing on broken down double glazed units (assuming your local dump has some)
Worth having a chat with the Birmingham suppliers for the jewellery trade imo
