Polishing Pad Comparison
Today I sat down to start gathering polishing materials. I have temporarily deferred the hand vs wheel vs orbital polishing debate because hand polishing doesn’t require an expensive tool. Hand polishing it is. I am also going with the idea that I will learn more by starting with slow hand polishing. At least that is what I am telling myself. :)
I will say that I was fascinated by one item I saw on a lapidary site – called an Automatic Vibrating Lap it looks like a way to get an unattended orbital polish. Another advantage is that a separate “pan” could be used with each polish type avoiding cross contamination. Barring a sudden influx of $400-$500 dollars into my life however, that experiment will have to wait a while.
Today’s exercise is to compare disposable polishing pads.
I decided to look at the Webril Pads that are mentioned in Irving Pobboravsky’s article “The Daguerreotype Plate As Seen By a Contemporary Daguerreian Artist” that is published in the “reprint” from the Daguerreian Society. I compared them with “PEC Pads” a lens cleaning pad I am familiar with from photography.
Both pads are 4″x4″ and advertised as lint free and soft. Webril pads are 100% cotton, PEC Pads do not say what they are made of. It looks like either one will work for manual polishing if you want a disposable pad.
In the 100 pack size PEC pads are very slightly cheaper, working out to just under 12 cents per pad while the Webril wipes are just over 13 cents per pad. PEC continues cheaper in case quantities (1200 Pads) with PEC being a little over 7 cents per pad and Webril coming in at 9.4 cents per pad. All prices in USD. Looks like the PEC pad takes the lead for the moment based on price. I will see how well it stands up to wet goop and rubbing. More on that later.
Suppliers include: ArtStuff.Net and Climax Photo.
Next stop – polishing grits. All you old hands feel free to chime in any time…
Daguerreotype Process | andy | August 10, 2008
automatic vibrating lap, daguerreotype, daguerreotype process, Plate preparation, Plates, Suppliers
Hmmm – I am realizing from the folding instructions in the Pobboravsky article that he must be using a pad larger than 4″x4″. Perhaps the 8″x8″ Webril wipes? PEC pads are also available 9″x9″. Oh well – small pads to start — to fit my small plates. :)
Though it fills me with desire I’m not convinced that the vibrating lap polisher would get you to a mirror finish. I suppose that if you were patient enough and went through enough different kinds of media…
What intrigued me about the whole thing (besides the “hardware desire” we both seem to share) is the glass like surfaces these things produce on rock. Of course I have no experience with this or with traditional plate polishing yet, so it is difficult to make any comparison.
About how long does it take you to polish a 4×5 plate now using your preferred methods and assuming everything goes reasonably well? For comparison purposes, include the time you spend on the copper polishing and the time you spend on the silver polishing.
I plan to write to the lapidary company this weekend and see if they have an opinion about polishing metal with their machines. If you respond I can include your time estimate for comparison.
Hey Andy
Hard to advise on polishing as we all develop our own ways that suit us individually, also some stick with the way they do it, not cause of conviction, but that starting over with a new polishing technique is just to much angst to bear.
With my polishing procedure I start with 3M tri-m-ite polishing paper in three grades 15, 9 and 3 microns with water, rotating the direction with each strip used. Then with nuvite polishing compound (small amount), white spirits and a small minicraft orbital sander, I polish the plate in a north/south then east west direction (The plate is supported by a sheet of 4mm acrylic and is adhered to it by two 5mm strips on the back of plate near the long edges). The plate block is thus fixed to the orb sander foot and moved over velvet on high density foam. The velvet is 100% cotton velvet, of a variety that has a short nap, sometimes called velveteen. I use it also as small 2 inch squares to clean the plate – white spirits, then with detergent /water and then just velvet/water. Then I use rouge with orbital sander and velvet in a similar way to the nuvite polishing but the strokes only in the direction of the intended horizon of the image. I haven’t found much success with lampblack – its seems to retard the progress I have made, so I do a final buff on clean velvet. My technique is not perfect, sometimes the plates develop speck like pits which are frustrating. Much work, much frustration and occasional awe and wonder… seems to be where it lands me..