Cleaning required between different polishing compounds?

[DemonSlayer]

I bought various polishing compounds to help me in my quest to attain a factory mirror finish. Theres usually 4 steps required to polish stainless steel to a mirror finish.

Each of these compounds requires a particular type of mop and from what I read, its best to use one mop for one compound.

The question I have is; is cleaning either via an ultrasonic, or soap and water necessary between switching compounds and mops? I've read several polishing guides and they don't mention cleaning between the polishing steps, but I was thinking, won't the residue from the previous step (made up of a paste of compound used and fragments of steel) then transfer onto the new mop and then consequently onto the new compound when you re-apply more compound on the wheel? This is sort of like mixing the compounds isn't it?

The only thing the guide mentions about cleaning is, once you've completely finished, apply some Vienna Lime to a soft cloth and wipe the object, this removes all the grease and excess compound.

[freddy333]

You should change your cleaning media & wipe off the part when changing polishes, but I see no reason to clean the parts between each polishing stage.

For whatever it is worth, to polish stainless steel, I use a Dremel (running at the slowest speed) with green rouge on a soft cloth wheel (these do not usually come with standard polishing kits & must be purchased separately). (Unless the part is badly pitted or deeply scratched (use sandpaper or emory for that), I have never had to use anything else.) After polishing, I then run the part through the ultrasonic to remove all of the rouge that gets into crevices & lug holes.

All of these have all been heavily modded & then polished as above

(Brushed sections of cases/bracelets re-finished with a Bergeon 5444 polishing pad)

[DemonSlayer]

Thanks Freddy, I'm going to give it a go soon and post my results. BTW nice Daytona's Which one is your favourite?

[freddy333]

Which one is your favourite?

Generally, all of the above. This 1 has been sighted on my wrist today

[Shundi]

Freddy I think you need another Daytona...if something happens to one of them you might not have a full week's worth!!

[freddy333]

My thoughts exactly & I am working on it.

[DemonSlayer]

A little update; I had a quick go at polishing the underside of the hinge on the latest Oyster bracelet clasp, this is a highly mirrored finish, but it has hairline marks all over it, it picks these up very easily...

The results were unlike anything I've experienced before. I believe the key to achieving a highly mirrored finish is definitely in the compounds and the wheels used. Of course skill comes into it, but when using a dremel tool to do the polishing, theres a lot of room for practice I purchased all my wheels and compounds from a UK vendor, who sells high quality polishing products/acessories and is apparantly one of the largest UK dealers in these products, and the items are well priced I think, more on that later..

The steps:

As there wasn't any deep marks on this area, I skipped stage 1 (grey compound- a cutting compound). I then proceeded onto stage 2 with green compound (known to some as green rouge) with its suitable wheel. This has medium cut and medium gloss. This alone produced results much better than any of the Mothers mag, brasso, cape cod polishes I've tried, even when those were used with a dremel, they still produced small hairline marks which are visible in strong light.

I then wiped off, what little black residue there was with a soft cloth, then proceeded to stage 3, and attached another wheel and used blue compound. This compound has less cut and more gloss than green. This got me very close to flawless mirror finish. I could have left it here and been happy with the results.

I then wiped off any black residue (very little) and then proceeded onto the final stage. I attached the appropriate wheel and used pink compound. This compound is used purely for finishing, it has very little cut, and very high gloss. When finished, I believe the end result was a finish equal to that of factory mirror finish.

A few things I noticed/comments:

-I don't know exactly how long I should be polishing for with each compound (I'm still at very beginner level when it comes to polishing). I went by what results I could see after finishing polishing with a particular compound.

-When I touched the rouge for about a second, not much would coat the wheel. I'm not sure if I should be touching it for longer for more coverage, but polishing sites all say to use little and often, as this leaves less grease on the object. There was very little grease on the object. Freddy how long do you touch the rouge for? Is there a lot of green compound on the wheel when you polish?

-The softer wheels used for the blue compound and pink compound would get very little compound on them when touched to the compounds. They still did appear to work however, and all 3 wheels had black marks on them.

-All the polishing sites recommend to change the angle used from the previous polishing step to "erase" any lines left. This helps to achieve a factory finish.

-The guides don't mention to wipe or wash any residue left from the previous compound, but I had a soft cloth handy and wiped any black residue left from the compound before proceeding onto the next compound. I don't know if this affects the polishing quality or not, but I didn't seem to experience any difference.

These compounds helped me achieve the best results by far when it comes to polishing. I've tried a lot of others, Brasso, Silvo, Mothers Mag & Alu, Cape Cod, other paste polishes but the green compound alone beat all of these! I believe they're also good value for money, I have no idea how long these will last, or how many bracelets they can do, but buying larger bars work out cheaper in the long run, and the results speak for themselves.

If any EU members are interested which vendor I purchased all the stuff from, please PM me and I'll be happy to give the info and details on the products. The above is a rough guide on a small experiment, but I'm going to do a bracelet soon and I will be making a detailed guide (as soon as I get more time ) Hope you found the above info useful.

[mjmurphy926]

I use a Dremel (running at the slowest speed) with green rouge on a soft cloth wheel (these do not usually come with standard polishing kits & must be purchased separately).

Freddy,

Do you have a source for the cloth wheels? I haven't been able to find any that are satisfactory.

Thanks,

Mike

[Rolexman]

Jeez DS.... this polishing is becoming sort of a life calling for you huh?

Looking foward to your guide

[krpster]

Thanks for the info DS. I've been tinkering around with my clasp to see what I could accomplish but have not been satisfied yet. Now I just have to get my hands on these compounds Looking forward to the detailed guide!

[DemonSlayer]

Jeez DS.... this polishing is becoming sort of a life calling for you huh?

Looking foward to your guide

Thanks for the info DS. I've been tinkering around with my clasp to see what I could accomplish but have not been satisfied yet. Now I just have to get my hands on these compounds Looking forward to the detailed guide!

Lol Rolexman, yeah I would say that polishing is now one of my hobbies I think its because I love seeing the before and after restoration pictures on gen websites, and I want to learn to be able to do that with my own watches + I enjoy it

Krpster, if you need any help with compounds let me know. It can be very confusing because there's many companies out there selling compounds, and theres many compounds. Theres other compounds apart from the green, blue and pink which can be used to polish steel, but I just stuck with the guide from the UK supplier and it worked. Not all compounds out there are good quality. The ones I bought are very well priced and they seem very good quality. I had to do a lot of reading to learn which compounds I really need, and about polishing in general ie. steps involved etc.

I'll start working on the guide once I get a break from studying (damn exams!)

[freddy333]

Freddy how long do you touch the rouge for? Is there a lot of green compound on the wheel when you polish?

-The softer wheels used for the blue compound and pink compound would get very little compound on them when touched to the compounds. They still did appear to work however, and all 3 wheels had black marks on them.

If you ask 3 people how they polish, you will likely get 3 variations on a theme.

I completely coat the cloth wheel with green rouge & re-coat every few minutes. (If I am working on gold, I usually follow the green with blue rouge, but, for steel, green is all I use or require to produce a factory-like finish.) Run the dremel at its slowest speed & do not use force. Just hold the dremel firmly over the area you are working on & the weight of the tool should apply the correct amount of pressure. The rouge does all the work. One hint I will also pass along is to keep the polishing wheel moving. Heat can build up on the metal surface if you hover over the same spot too long (more than 5-6 seconds), which can 'blue' the metal. Bluing is a good thing when it is done on purpose, but you do not want to end up with bluish, pitted spots on the sides or caseback of your watch. If you keep the wheel moving, you should not have any problems.

Freddy,

Do you have a source for the cloth wheels? I haven't been able to find any that are satisfactory.

Thanks,

Mike

Sears (I usually buy them out as I use alot of them) or any hardware store (brick or online) that sells Dremels. Make sure you get the cloth wheel, under $4. There are a number of polishing wheels made out of felt & other materials, but the polishing wheel you want will contain the word 'cloth' on the package.

[krpster]

Krpster, if you need any help with compounds let me know. It can be very confusing because there's many companies out there selling compounds, and theres many compounds. Theres other compounds apart from the green, blue and pink which can be used to polish steel, but I just stuck with the guide from the UK supplier and it worked. Not all compounds out there are good quality. The ones I bought are very well priced and they seem very good quality. I had to do a lot of reading to learn which compounds I really need, and about polishing in general ie. steps involved etc.

I'll start working on the guide once I get a break from studying (damn exams!)

Thanks. I talked with a freind of mine and he suggested a good place locally for me to pick up the various compounds. I'll give them a look and see how it goes.

Good luck on your exams!