FINISHING AND POLISHING
POLISHING ON THE LATHE
Each piece goes through finishing steps on the lathe 3-4 different times requiring a washout between each polishing step to prevent contamination of the compounds.
Sanding can require up to 3 different wheel grades, and I use at least 2 different polishing compound grades.
In this photo, the crosses have been oxidized (chemically blackened) before the final high polish step with the finest grade of polishing compound.
(The clean hands are a giveaway that these photos were a mockup of the actual process...I had the camera in one hand and the jewelry or tool in the other...I work alone, necessitating I be the cameraman too)