BENCHTIPS: Polishing tips with the Gold Polishing Guru - Stephen Goldsmith
As part of our Benchtips series, I was joined by the Gold Polishing Guru, Stephen Goldsmith, for his top tips on polishing your jewellery and achieving a perfect finish.. You can watch the replay here and skip to the question you want the answer to
You can watch the whole masterclass or take a look below to see if there are any specific questions that you have. These are time-stamped below so you can skip straight to the answer.
0:45 - Stephen’s introduction and how he became a polisher
5:05 - What are the best attachments for polishing?
8:42 - What are the different stages of polishing and what compounds should you use?
17:21 - What is the best way to avoid firescale and how do you deal with it?
19:25 - What products do you recommend for working with gold? Is it the same as silver?
24:22 - Take a look at Stephen’s book!
28:28 - Any tips on creating a mixed finish on pieces? How can you create a satin finish?
34:35 - What can you use to tape off areas?
35:35 - What are your tips on removing excess polishing compound? What if you can’t use an ultrasonic - if you’ve used certain stones etc?
39:27 - What’s the best way to achieve a flawless finish on a flat piece?
45:20 - Do polishing compounds go off?
46:30 - What is the best way to polish indents without removing too much metal?
49:25 - What should we know about Luxi? What is the equivalent to tripoli/rouge?
53:25 - Should you wash micromesh?
54:58 - What should you use in a barrel polisher?
58:40 - How can you get a good finish on textured pieces?
1:03:00 - Connect with Stephen on Instagram, either @goldpolishingguru or @goldpolisher
HS Walsh have a collection of products recommended by Stephen, you can find them here:
If you would like to learn more about how to achieve a beautiful finish to your jewellery, you could take our Polishing and Finishing course. Jessica Rose shares her favourite tools and techniques for finishing jewellery.
Want to hear more from Stephen? He was a guest on our podcast, sharing top tips and stories from his varied career.
