A Client recently wrote to me about sanding a small silver cross pendant which was making deep scratches from sanding. They wanted to know how to get rid of the scratches faster and prevent getting parts of it thiner than other parts?
ANSWER..!
STOP...
Firstly you should NEVER sand gold or silver. Jewelers use a very fine (like wet and dry) paper for the initial smoothing or shaping process to get rid of rough edges.
Once that is done they polish scratches out using a black/grey 'Tripoli' polish on a polishing machine (looks like a bench grinder).
This takes the first level of scatches away.
Then they use a red polish called 'Jewelers Rouge' to give the final finish.
Between each step they would clean in a liquid solution to get rid of the residual polish before moving on to the next step.
Please do not use sandpaper, as this will eventually destroy your item by wearing it thinner.
These two polishes come in a large 'Cake' block, like an old fashioned bar of soap and can be purchased at jewelry supply stores or even some good hardware shops.
But by the time you paid for all these - together with machines and mops etc - it's easier and far less costly to give it to your local jeweler and have them professionally clean it up for you.
There is also an excellent article on cleaning your jewelry at home at the Antique Jewelry website at this address: Antique Jewelry of the 20th Century
This should help.
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