Reddit mentions: The best jewelry making polishing & buffing

I have had GREAT luck with rock stores (ie where you would go to buy crystals/geodes/etc). My local rock store has a yearly trunk show, and I end up getting really cool stuff for very reasonable prices. Lots of cool/interesting pendants, rings, etc. I'm wearing a dendritic agate ring from there right now, actually!

Things at rock stores are often set in Sterling Silver, so the maintenance is very easy and they go with a lot of different things. The added benefit is that you can find things that can be either fun and funky or classic and serious depending on the context of the rest of your outfit. I don't do earrings this way so much, but it's GREAT for rings and pendants.

I also second whoever said local vintage/resale places. I always check the jewelry display at my local savers and Goodwills. The jewelry at vintage shops is often a little more curated, but it can be a crapshoot as far as quality goes. I have specific stores I go to for their jewelry selection, but I only know to go there for jewelry because I've spent a lot of time looking at the case and deciding if it's worth it. Additionally, Goodwill has the "Goodwill boutique" stores now, and those are often filled with higher-quality or trendier items.

My #1 tip: silver tarnishes. Most resale shops do not polish it. You can find amazing, tarnished silver jewelry that cleans up right away with a sunshine cloth. Get a sunshine cloth.

My #2 tip: sometimes vintage stores will have pins/brooches that are amazing. You can often convert these to pendants. I've become much more of a brooch person recently due to some amazing happenstance discoveries, and I always get compliments on them. A lot of people consider brooches to be an old lady thing (which is absurd imo) so you can make some amazing finds.

I've gotten pretty things at Madewell, too, but I have a mixed track record with those things breaking, so YMMV. Another thing I'd say for this time of year is to hit up those Christmas craft market pop-ups--you'll find cool stuff that you might not encounter just searching online.

Hey everyone! I posted a few weeks ago with concerns about the cut of my moissanite stone - it was cloudy, dull, and had no fire.

I left the company name out of my original post because I wanted to keep things objective, but the stone was from C&C and I was very disappointed.

After I posted and got confirmation from you guys that something looked off, I called their customer support and they sent me a special cleaning cloth free of charge to remove any “film” or oil slick from the stone. Honestly, I wasn’t super impressed with this resolution and didn’t have high hopes it would works, but I tried to keep a positive attitude until the cloth arrived.

Well, it arrived yesterday and holy crap. This stone looks SO MUCH BETTER! There is actually fire and sparkles to the stone. I’m so happy, I can’t stop looking at it.

I’ve heard that other people have needed to clean a film off their stone, but didn’t think I would have that issue with a brand new stone. So, if you’re having issues with dullness in your moissanite I would recommend you give the sunshine cloth a try!

I think I've helped enough beginners with that little thing on the side bar....

But whatever, I'll play this game and set him up for immediate success and long term success for when he outgrows the old shitty leather belt strop.

Smiths Coarse and Fine 4" diamond stone for 14 bucks- I will personally attest to the quality of this thing, while the fine side is about 750 grit, it does a fantastic job. I own and use this piece of kit daily, works just fine.

Or this Norton Crystalon or whatever coarse and fine stone for as cheap as 10 bucks-I've used this one too to very good effect.

Green buffing paste 3 bucks-Chromium oxide buffing paste, I use the shit sometimes on my buffing wheels and once upon a time on strops. It works fine.

Paddle strop for 10 bucks-Should work just fine, and it's made to be a strop, the leather is tanned to be a strop, and it'll be better for the dude to learn on equipment appropriate for the task, as that's what it was manufactured for and not ghetto rigged.

From most of the reviews of the knife, it comes with a pretty good edge, not razor sharp though.

Ok, after searching amazon, looks like the green compound is pretty cheap, so I'll get that. 6oz green compound for $3

And if 1000 grit is what I need for a whetstone, looks like you can get cheap ones on amazon too. Here's a double sided 250/1000 grit stone Also, the blade on the knife I'm getting is only 2.8 inches long, so I assume the size of this whetstone should be good enough.

I guess that's only $10 more than what I would have spend on sandpaper. I assume the cheap whetstone and green compound on cardboard would be a better choice? I also read that the back of a coffee cup is almost like a 1000 grit stone, but I assume the actual whetstone will just work a lot better?

Thanks for all the info.

I actually got it from Amazon as well 😂😂

I’ve never used jewelry coating in the past, but I ordered this one: Eternal Jewelry Coating

It’s a pretty tiny bottle, but you don’t use much to coat jewelry or even hardware on bags. I actually just put some on the hardware of a Dior Saddlebag I got off of the BST. So I’ll see how that holds up since I use it quite often.

edit: I know Protectaclear has been talked about on this subreddit before. That one seemed too complicated to use IMO so I tried out the Eternal one instead haha. I’m still not 100% sure if it really works but all the reviews seemed to say positive things about it.

Ooo, that's hard rubber. Do not submerge in water. In fact, don't get the outside wet at all. It'll cause the rubber to discolor and turn brown.

If it doesn't have a lever (I'm guessing not), it's an eyedropper filler, so the section probably unscrews from the barrel. You're probably okay putting the section/nib in water to dissolve old ink. To flush the inside of the barrel, use an eyedropper to fill it with water, plug the top with your thumb, and shake. Dump and repeat until the ink is gone.

As for polishing the metal parts, I like to use a Sunshine Cloth. Go gentle! It may only be a thin gold plating over brass.

Pens of this age are more museum pieces than useful tools. But they're certainly cool!

If you have a dremel tool, there are buffer pads and rouge (sp? and need coffee) you can buy at any hardware store also a sunshine cloth works well.
http://www.amazon.com/Sunshine%C2%AE-Polishing-Cloths-Sterling-Jewelry/dp/B004ILV1B4

You can use to buff out the spots. In a pinch Tabasco works, just dab on the spot and let it sit for a few minutes. If you are going to use the pan for decoration only, after you polish it up use a tad bit of johnson pastewax to keep it from oxidizing.
(Jewerly craftperson works in copper)

Edit: looks like hard water stains from the pic but it is hard to tell. How long did you let it sit in vinegar?

Edit again: I hope these pots don't have a lacquer coating. I don't think they do but if they do forget everything I posted. :)

Contact the manufacturer

I clean my own jewelry with this polish and double layer cloths.

I got an heirloom platinum ring resized at Symmetry three years ago. They were honest with me about time frame and gave me a discount in the end. I would recommend them to anyone based on my experience, though I know others may not have had the same.

Nope! It’s also called a pin polisher. You use steel shot inside with a polishing solution or soap and water (solution works way better) and once on, everything inside spins at a high speed polishing the metal. It works way faster than a regular tumbler and way better. Done in minutes instead of hours or days. magnetic tumbler

It says Sunshine on the bags and I bought it from Amazon, specifically this seller.

i just found this one on amazon, though it seems pretty hit or miss based on some of the reviews. may the search continue!

If you store your earrings in a plastic bead box, you can get anti-tarnish paper strips that work pretty well, just tear a piece for each spot. They come in handy for me for storing sterling findings without them tarnishing quickly. http://www.amazon.com/3M-Anti-Tarnish-Paper-Tabs-Square/dp/B009YKA106/ref=sr_1_1?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1453444910&sr=1-1&keywords=anti+tarnish+strips

You can actually get anti-tarnish plastic bags as well, the small zip ones but they have a coating on them.

Actually nice gloves that happen to be white (with black grippies though):

https://defeet.com/collections/gloves/products/duraglove-et-white-w-black-grippies

Some cheap white gloves:
https://www.amazon.com/Hagerty-15900-Jewelry-Handling-Non-Treated/dp/B001A0SHOU/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_241_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=71DXGEAZHH1R1FN7R9QM

>Yeah a lower quality diamond is about $75? Thats okay:)

https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Powder-000-Grit-0-0-5microns/dp/B00I5AS0C2/r

10g (50 carats) of diamond for $20.

You can buy little paper squares that prevent tarnish if you keep the bracelet in a box or bag when it's not being worn: https://www.amazon.com/3M-Anti-Tarnish-Paper-Tabs-Square/dp/B009YKA106/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_229_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=72MY2DC9WGD71PRJN01J

As for chemical corrosion, you shouldn't have to worry about that unless it's a mixed metal piece that is spending a lot of time in salt water, leading to galvanic corrosion.

Steel shot blasting/tumbling media

https://www.mediablast.com/blog/2016/04/28/which-abrasive-to-use/

https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Tumbling-Jewelers-Tumbler-Finishing/dp/B012BDUC4C

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Actually rouge powder used for polishing.

$3.95

A double layer polishing cloth does wonders. One layer has a buffing compound embedded (rouge) and the other is for buffing it out.

https://www.amazon.com/Jewelry-Double-Layered-Polishing-Cloth/dp/B00FX7KHEY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1481403910&sr=8-4&keywords=polishing+cloth+rouge

Get a decent sized brass brush, pop the grip deck off, squirt bottle of soapy water, squirt it down, brushy brushy, spray nozzle it off, let dry, then shred it with your prostik

Kent 7pcs 5 gram Water Based... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0714CM24R?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Cant order from amazon?

A strop with no compound is really only going to debur your edge, it will do virtually no polishing. A cheap bar of white or green compound, shouldn't cost you more than $5 at a home improvement/hardware store will help.

Something like this, http://www.amazon.com/Green-Rouge-Polishing-Buffing-Compound/dp/B003K7U0J6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1375053829&sr=8-3&keywords=green+compound

Obviously, the finer you can go with your hones, the less work you are going to have to do with the strop. Also, be careful with your technique as careless stropping will polish not only your bevel but your cutting edge and round it off.

Damn a polishing compound. This right here will return any brass back to a factory polish

yeah i polished them after bending using a felt wheel on an angle grinder and this stuff

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003K7U0J6/ref=ppx\_yo\_dt\_b\_asin\_title\_o05\_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I do worry about galvanic corrosion a little bit. It looks like stainless won't be nearly as bad as aluminum. I'll just have to keep an eye out for signs of corrosion.

this will work or you can go to a sporting goods store or a gun store and ask about steel shot, hell if you go to a local gun store (not a big name chain) they might give you a handful for free instead of you having to buy a 10 lb bag lol

As far as I know, and this thread seems to agree, the answer is no. However, one of the cheapest ways to break things into really tiny particles is ball milling. All you need is a nalgene bottle (what we use in the lab), some milling media and a rotary mill. Put the stuff in, turn the machine on, tiny particles are formed. The trickiest part is cleaning the powder off the milling media, but reductions are not that difficult.

EDIT: Aw man, autowikibot and pricezombie on the same post, can we get them to fight?

Silver polishing cloths will be fine. The chemical used won't damage the stone, they'll just take off the oxidation. Here's a quick link.

It won't brighten the silver up to a mirror finish, but depending on how long you've had this, you might consider getting the shank of the ring repolished at a jewelry store and the stone checked for any damage.