[Jewelry making - Article 00139] - Re: [Orchid] Getting even contours

[Neilthejeweler]

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>     how do you keep a rounded? or domed contour free of flat spots,
>     even, & symetrical? 

    Take for example a simple round wire component. A basket setting
    maybe. If you polish parallel to the length of the wire you will
    definitely flatten the surface you are polishing.(because the buff
    tends to hit only the highspot of the wire) If you polish at right
    angle or even some other angle, you keep a 'point' to the wire. You
    are polishing up towards the crown. I discovered this when doing body
    work on cars. Basically you follow the crown of the curve and not its
    long axis. 

    I much prefer a brush for this as opposed to any cloth wheel. 

    In cases of larger curved areas, a shank perhaps, the same idea
    works but you need to polish with a systematic approach and a cloth
    wheel. Let's take a cast wedding band. On a tapered wooden mandrel
    polish at 90 degrees to the band. Evenly rotate the mandrel as you
    buff. Change the contact point relative to the curvature, after each
    full rotation of the mandrel. Change to 60 or 45 degrees. Again, you
    are polishing toward the crown. This also works with more aggressive
    abrasives. 

    After you polish at an angle you can polish along the long axis just
    to blend things a bit more.
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