Buff scratch out of stone?

Does anyone know the best way to buff a scratch out of a piece of apatite
that is mounted in a bezel? I have some basic equipment and supplies, but
no rock-polising equipment. thanks!

On Fri, 19 Mar 2004 03:30:01 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "Robin"
wrote:

Does anyone know the best way to buff a scratch out of a piece of apatite
that is mounted in a bezel? I have some basic equipment and supplies, but
no rock-polising equipment. thanks!


Depends on how deep the scratch is. If it's slight, then it's not hard. Take
a small felt wheel, soak in water, then apply some serium oxide or tin oxide,
and running the wheel at a slow speed, and adding a little water any time it
seems to be getting at all dry (but it does not need to be soaking wet. Just
wet enough so it keeps cool, and the compound is a paste, not a sopping mess).
Keep changing the direction so as not to get drag lines. Minor scratches will
come out. If you've got some 14000 diamond compound, that can be used dry on
the same type of felt wheel (in both cases, I'm thinking flex shaft work here,
not on a big buff) and will be a little easier. Or, if you happen to have some
of the aluminum oxide based platinum polishing compounds such as what Gesswien
carries for platinum polishing, then the finer grades of these will also polish
soft stones.

Peter

"Robin" wrote in message
...
Does anyone know the best way to buff a scratch out of a piece of apatite
that is mounted in a bezel? I have some basic equipment and supplies, but
no rock-polising equipment. thanks!

[I'd say dig it out and replace it with something harder, unless it has some
sort of sentimental value. You're not going to have very good luck trying to
polish it in the bezel, and once you've got it out of there, you might as
well put in something that won't scratch so easily next time; at least a 6
on the Mohs scale (apatite is 5). Apatite is really too soft to use in
jewelry - you can scratch with a knife. Even if you manage to get it
polished, it will soon be scratched again in normal wear.]

Andrew Werby
www.unitedartworks.com

If the scratch is a little to deep to polish out in the way suggested then
you might try using a 600 grit diamond file on it. The file should cost you
about four bucks. Then red rouge or even jewelers rouge on a flannel stick
or whatever could do the final polish.

You need a light hand to use the file and you might want to tape over the
mounting and the rest of the stone so as not to damage them. This method
works for me on turquoise.

"Robin" wrote in message
...
Does anyone know the best way to buff a scratch out of a piece of apatite
that is mounted in a bezel? I have some basic equipment and supplies, but
no rock-polising equipment. thanks!