Polishing Ivory

[Stéphane Collin]

Thanks Sarah, thanks Joseph !

Such a nice input about this thread.  Thanks to all.  If my next job is 
not better, then I unsubscribe immediately.

Stéphane Collin.

Joseph Garrett a écrit :

>Sarah said: "Again, I have no specific experience with regard to ivories
>(yet), so I'm
>only discussing general polishing techniques.  I suspect Joe Garrett knows
>more than any of us about polishing ivories.  Has he responded yet?"
>
>Peace,
>
>Sarah,
>I will now!<G>: I only "sand" to 600 grit and let the buffer do the final
>scratch removal. That, in itself is a lot of work. To go to finer grits is
>just plain NON Productive. (kind of like the "diminishing returns" you get
>when trying to "fine tune" a PSO.) Good buffing compounds are essential.
>Plus, you need to have TWO Buffing wheels. One that has the "cutting
>compound" on it and the other with the "polishing compound". In order to
>understand the differences of buffing compounds, one needs to access a
>Plastics website or company. They can tell you all you need to know about
>"buffing/polishing". Also Metal Polishing/Jewelry sites are useful. I have a
>double ended, (ie shaft sticking out of each side of the electric motor),
>motor with a sewn 6" buffling wheel, on the left, with the "cutting
>compound" on it. The right hand wheel is an UN-sewn wheel. Both are cotton.
>The right wheel has a very fine buffing compound, (stick), that I get from a
>company in Portland, called MultiCraft. They are a big Plastics company and
>probably have a web site. The compound color is a pale blue and is very
>fine. I use it for the final finish on plastic as well.
>The difference between Plastic and Ivory Buffing, is that you can use a
>whole lot more pressure on the wheel than with plastic.
>As for the technique of sanding/polishing first one direcion and then
>90degrees for the next grit, is not a good idea, IMHO. It would work just
>fine on new Ivory, but with the older Ivory, there is invariably "divots".
>If you sand this way, in order to remove, completely the "divots", you'll
>wind up with extremely thin Ivory, that will easily chip! When slightly
>sanding worn Ivory, I use a flat surface with a piece of thick action cloth
>on it. This will allow the sandpaper to conform to the actual "shape" of the
>keytop and the "divots" will be evenly sanded with the rest of the surface.
>This is a real touchy technique that takes finess.
>I hope all this helps.
>Best Regards,
>
>Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)
>Captain, Tool Police
>Squares Are I
>
>
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