Platinum polishing

this may not be an easy question to answer in words but here
goes nothing - I’ve seem what platinum can be polished to and i
am useing the gesswin (4) polishing compounds and can not seem to
get the same results, is there some trick i don’t relise

Question are you using a flex shaft or a polishing motor? if it
is the flex shaft it will never work. You need 2 fresh new 4"
stitched yellow buffs. 1-trip 1-rouge. Try using the brown trip
and the green round bar rouge. Clean throughly between trip and
rouge steps. Trip on your rouge buffs gums up you finished
product. And don’t load up your rouge buff at one time use a
little often. Take your time and you should get a wonderful shine
on your platinum

Hi Michael:

Polishing Platinum requires a slightly different technique and
several more steps, than polishing gold or silver. The Gesswein
Platinum polishing compound you mentioned is among the finest
modern compounds in the world. If you get disappointing results,
check and compare your technique to the following :

After your pieces have been finished to a 600 finish with sand
paper or a unitized wheel, be sure to burnish away any porosity
that may be present with a highly polished tungsten burnisher.
Now use the gray compound with a hard felt, a yellow stitched
buff and/or brushes, to bring the finish to the 800 level. Now it
is important to wash the jewelry, as well as your hands. Using a
dedicated set of felt wheels, brushes and stitched buffs ( I
still recommend the yellow at this level) you use compound two, a
white rouge, and bring the finish up to the 1500 grade level. At
this point you check for porosity and burnish again if needed.
Again wash both the jewelry and your hands, so you don’t cross
contaminate your buffs. With the third white rouge you bring the
piece to a 4000 level. At this point , there should be no
scratches visible to the eye. Remember each level required
dedicated wheels. The final polish is achieved using the carrot
color rouge, which gives Platinum the luster it is famous for.

Platinum does not give you short cuts. If you don’t get the
results, you may have compromised your wheels and really aren’t
getting an 8000 finish at the final stage. Be sure to use the
wheels you dedicate to Platinum only for Platinum. If your buff
has small particles of gold or other metal on it. it will not
give you the desired results. Platinum takes extra care, but will
reward you with a beautiful finish.

If you have additional questions about Platinum, don’t hesitate to call
on me.
PLATINUM GUILD INTERNATIONAL USA
Jurgen J. Maerz, Manager of Technical Education, JA Certified Master
Jeweler
(714) 760-8279, jmaerz@earthlink.net

Polishing platinum pieces will usually be dependent on the
hardness of the alloy it is made with. Look up the “ALLOY INFO”
on our Web Page at http://home.att.net/~techform/ and you ca see
the different hardnesses involved with the predominent alloys
used with platinum. There is also some info on sizing in the
“Q&A” link. Hope this helps

Tim