QUICKTEST, How to polish scratches

POLISHES

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Removing scratches in glass and plastics

There is another article explaining how to remove tarnish from silver without using a polish:
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This is how scratches are removed in a windscreen factory. Use a polishing motor on its slowest speed. Use a large cotton mop. While the mop is spinning apply by holding the block of rouge against it. The rouge is very soft, it will come off easily, there is no need to mix it with anything. If the scratch is deep enough to feel with your fingernail it is too deep to remove by polishing. I assume that if this method works on glass car windscreens it will also work on ordinary windows and on shop counters and on glass watch 'crystals' (it won't have any effect at all on sapphire 'crystals').

I tried to remove a myriad of fine scratches from a car mirror without a polishing motor. After 6 or 7mns of very hard rubbing with a soft cloth (having heavily smeared it with rouge) I came to the conclusion that it wasn't making the slightest difference and I gave up. That is not to say it might not have worked if I had kept rubbing for several minutes more…but I don't have the patience…and the mirror remains scratched.

There are other uses for rouge. It is the compound used in makeup for making the face red. It can be mixed with isinglass and applied to the insides of iron rings (piston rings) in the engines of old cars to take up the imperfections of the ring (though this method is not used in modern cars). If you know of any other uses for rouge, please email me.

For acrylics and other very soft plastics try scratch remover. This works well on soft plastics such as acrylics. Typical items made of soft plastics are: many 'watch crystals', most display stands, simple handheld magnifying lenses, some very cheap reading spectacles and sunglasses. Scratch remover will not work on hard plastics such as polycarbonate (or any lens described as 'scratch-resistant').

There are many hundreds of different types of plastic, if you don't know if your plastic is 'soft' or 'hard', try it and see. If the plastic is too hard, the sratch remover will have no effect. If the plastic is very soft, it will probably work. But do take care. Do not risk damaging expensive items, especially lenses. The basic rule is: if you have a choice between throwing the item away or trying to remove the scratches, then try the scratch remover, you've nothing to lose, otherwise don't risk it, especially with lenses (you could remove coatings).

To use, mix with water to form a paste the consistency of double cream, apply with a small felt mop on a miniature polishing motor, go carefully - you are only polishing a scratch not drilling for oil. This is the powder used in the aircraft industry for polishing the acrylic canopies of aircraft. As with the rouge, it will only work on fine scratches.

For cleaning jewellery (gold and silver) IN A WORKSHOP:
- use a soft cotton mop on a polishing motor (e.g. 6 inch mop), as it's spinning press the stick of rouge against it until the mop turns red, then press the jewellery against the mop. Any crevices, especially the backs of stones, will become dark red from the rouge. This is normal. Wash out in an ultra sonic cleaner and dry by throwing it into a big bowl of hot sawdust (e.g. an enamel bowl full of sawdust on a gas or electric heating ring).

For cleaning jewellery (gold and silver) IN THE HOME:
- use a soft cloth, smear on the rouge (using either the rouge block or rouge powder, then polish using a cotton polishing cloth or, better still, polishing mittens. For the inside of a ring use several strands of linen thread, tie one end to an immovable object, smear with rouge, slide the strands inside the ring, pull taught, rub the ring up and down. Any crevices, especially the backs of stones, will become dark red from the rouge. This is normal. Wash the item in hot soapy water, cleaning the backs of the stones with a soft toothbrush, then leave to dry on tissue, give it final shine with a gold polishing cloth.

For cleaning jewellery (any soft metal...not steel or chrome), ALTERNATIVE METHOD:
- use polishing sticks, starting with a course grade to remove bad scratches (you should do this anyway, before you start polishing with a polishing compound), then work your way through the grades to the finest, then vigorous rub with a gold polishing cloth. This is good for flat items (since the polishing sticks won't get into fine spaces); this good as a 'quick-fix' for removing the stains caused by testing acids (you are not aiming to polish the item 'as new', merely to remove a stain); polishing sticks will not give the brilliant jewellers-rouge shine.

To remove tarnish (blackening) from silver there is a special chemical, and we have a silver cleaning cloth that is impregnated with this chemical.

We also sell a selection of 'professional polishing compounds. I call them 'professional' for two reasons.

Firstly, they are extensively used in workshops ('polishing shops') in the jewellery trade.

Secondly, by saying they are for 'professional' use I assume the user has a polishing motor and a selection of polishing mops and has experience of polishing (or maybe wants a wider choice of polishes); or wants to try these out to see if they are better than what he uses already. My point is - do not telephone or email to ask, "How do I use polishes?" (that would be like buying set of spanners from Halfords then telephoning them to ask how you repair a car), these polishes are strictly for professionals who know how to polish metal.

They are water-based and are therefore 'clean' unlike jewellers rouge which stains everything red and has to be continuously washed off.

For the sake of comparing the grades, jewellers rouge is somewhere between the 'red' and 'blue' grades below.

GREY, £5.00 per block. ref.luxi-gr
Extra course grade for badly scratched hard metals (including steel) but not for soft metals (including gold, silver and copper). It is also good for polishing badly scratched platinum a notoriously difficult metal to work with. But don't use this for general work, this is for rough castings and badly corroded antiques.

YELLOW, £6.00 ref.luxi-yel
Course grade, scratch-remover for 'hard' metals such as copper alloys of brass and bronze. Also good for the final polish on platinum. If you decide to make up a 'set' of polishes for general use, forget about 'grey', get this one (yellow) and the two listed below.

BLUE, £5.50 ref. luxi-blu
Medium grade, will remove scratches on gold and silver and is good for the final polish on harder metals; will also remove fine scratches in glass (a clean alternative to rouge). If you want a 'general' polish without having to bother with any of the other grades, go for this one.

RED, £9.00 ref.luxi-red
Similar to rouge, for the final polish on gold and silver. Should also remove very fine scuffs (though not scratches) in glass. If you have jewellery that really is perfectly clean and shiny, but just hasn't got that 'as new' look, then use this one.