Are you looking for a way to polish stones for jewelry? You think gemstones are the best but don’t know how to polish them properly. This is the place for you. Here are the top tips to polish gems stone cutting machine. Regardless of the stage you are in your rock or gem-cutting process; stone polishing is the final step that can either make or break your entire work. Don’t worry! These eight tips are from Tom Benham and Kay Benham, jewelry-making and lapidary experts. You’re halfway to polishing stones, well!

Start working sequentially, from the coarsest to the finest grit. Do not be tempted to skip a determination to save some time. To remove scratches caused by previous decisions, moving through finer and finer grits is essential. The scratches must become smaller with each resolution until they are no longer visible. We have found that significant scratches will appear if you skip a particular spirit.

It will be hard to believe where those scratches came from. They were always there, but you didn’t sand it off when you should have. If you skip a particular grit and discover deep scratches, you need to go back three to four nerves to get rid of them. It is always quicker to do it correctly the first time than to make shortcuts that could damage the stone you are working on.

The final step is polishing. There are many polishing and stone-polishing pad combinations. We prefer to use a soft leather pad, a thin paste of Holy Cow Stone Polishing compound, and water. The stone begins to pull against the surface when the place is dry. To prevent heat buildup, we keep the pad’s speed low.

Regarding lapidary work, remember that cleanliness is as essential as Godliness. We clean the stone and wash our hands after each grit change in stone polishing. This prevents cross-contamination. We clean out our machines thoroughly after every session to avoid cross-contamination when grinding through different grit levels. Polishing compounds and wheels must be stored in sealed plastic containers when not used.

When it comes to stone polishing, your eyes are the essential tool—your feedback loop. Believe your eyes if they tell you something isn’t quite right on the surface. Stop! Before you continue, identify the problem and plan the steps to fix it. This is the motto of a successful lapidary. To get the best results, it is essential to take time and be very attentive during polishing.

Your pre-polishing is probably the problem, not your polishing. Scratches will always appear regardless of how well you polish your gemstones if you don’t pre-polished all the damage from coarse grinding. It’s incredible how much gem material must be removed to remove any “healed cracks” left from a grinding lap that was perhaps too coarse.

Ceramic laps can be very effective, but they are also highly controversial. Eastern, a Michigan-based company that has since gone out of business, discovered that ceramic laps could scratch because of the hardness of the compound used. This material was initially used to polish computer chips. The company modified the mix to make it more porous and soft so that diamonds could nest within the divots.