Polishing Casted Jewelry?

Question

After puling the rough cast out of the mold, what is used to polish the metal to a shine? I am talking in specifics to a small necklace heart. I would imagine that a full size buffing wheel would be too big.

Answer 1

I'll assume that you have taken your cast piece and have put it in an ultrasonic to knock any vestiges of the investment off and then put the cast in pickle to take care of any oxidation. I'm also assuming you are taking the time to do any filing necessary to prepare your cast for polishing.

The best possible polish you can achieve will be by doing your polishing on a bench motor polisher--yes, the big ones. No matter how hard you try, you will not achieve the same level of polish with a flex-shaft or a tumbler. The size of the cast piece should have no bearing on your ability to polish it using a bench polisher.

That said, you can get polishing accessories for a flex-shaft that you can use. Most professionals use these polishing accessories to polish those very small areas that just cannot be reached using any of the polishing accessories on a bench polisher.

A vibrating tumbler using mixed-shape stainless steel shot is a good way to polish chains--much safer than a bench polisher--and to do a pre-polish on your cast jewelry. I often run my casts through the vibratory tumbler for a short while to clean them up a little prior to doing my finishing work and polishing.

Answer 2

You can get small felt buffing wheels that work on your rotary tool. They work just like the big guys. You use the same polishing agent you normally would. I get most of my stuff from riogrande.com. Another possibility is to use a tumbler. You can get an inexspensive one at Harbor Frieght and get the correct shot at rio grande.