Description
Details
When polishing metals, traditionally jewellers would have used Tripoli, a rouge for polishing precious metals. Now, Osborn Dialux offer a whole range of different products for different metals and different finishes.They are a premium polishing compound and a firm favourite for all those looking for a superior finish to their work. They are very popular with jewellers and watch makers the world over.
They come in small bars consisting of a compound which is uniformly blended with abrasive grit. Rather like sandpaper, by varying the size of the particles and the material, you can create different levels of abrasiveness and therefore, different finishes on different materials.
How to Use Polishing Compounds
You can start with an even sanded surface., ensuring you have removed any dents, tool marks, or deep scratches. Next apply a small amount of your chosen Dialux compound to a cloth buffs or your chooses Osborn buffing buffs
Pre-polishers
Pre-polishers are the most abrasive and will remove small scratches left over from your buff stick.
The Yellow Dialux is a pre-polish for softer metals such as Bronze, tin and copper and also for use on plastics. Use this prior to final polishing with Blue Dialux . The yellow also works well with silver and gold.
The Grey Dialux bar is quite aggressive and you’d like that in a pre-polish. It’s great for removing scratches particularly platinum and stainless steel. Follow this up with Green Dialux.
Orange Dialux or Vornex is designed for use on steel and stainless steel as a pre-polisher.
- Go slow. As a pre-polish is more abrasive than the other bars in the Dialux range, keep the speed slow to reduce friction heat
- Once you’ve removed all your sanding marks, clean your piece of work.
- It’s important that you remove all traces of previous polish.
- Keep all your mops separate, don’t allow any cross-contamination, especially on your final finishing mops, or you won’t get the desired effect.
Polish
After your pre-polish, use a polish to achieve a shine.
Within the Dialux range you have a few choices depending on your material.
The White Dialux are great for silver and gold. Also for final polishing on plastics. Blue Dialux is also great for silver and gold.
Use this with a soft mop like a soft, loose, cloth mops .
If you finish off with a soft cotton mop or buff, you may find with silver and gold that the white is sufficient on its own.
Grey Dialux is designed for polishing stainelss steel. It’s useful to have this in your workshop, and even if you don’t specifically work with steel, it’s great for polishing tools such as bench blocks, punches, and hammer faces. Use with a felt wheel
Final Polish: Mirror Finish
So now you’ve pre-polished and polished, and this may be sufficient, but when working with silver and gold jewelry, you really want that extra sparkle.
Black Dialux is widely used by silversmiths and will give a great result on silver. Use it with a very soft cloth buff.
Red Dialux is similar to traditional rouge and is therefore another ideal alternative for silver and gold. Again, using a soft mop
Blue Dialux is a more general finished polish and therefore ideal for non-precious metals such as copper, tin and brass for instance. Use this after pre-polishing with Yellow Dialux
Green Dialux is a final polish designed for hard metals such as steel and platinum. Use after pre-polishing with Grey Dialux .
White Dialux is a general final polish for most metals and plastics
If you prepare your pieces well, then you should only need two or three polishes to get a great finish.