GUIDANCE METAL FINISHING

Metal finishes have a way of sparkling life to metallic objects. Modern metal finish is not just about adding powder paint to a metal, but also applying intricate thin layer finish to ensure maintenance of texture, preservation and even functionality. The texture of a jewelry item. A ring can have more than one finish, such as a combination of shiny and matte finishes to create contrast. The main finish option is almost always the center finish of the ring.

The choices are many–brushing, hammering, diamond cutting, microblasting, and burnishing, to name just a few. Finish may refer to the style of surface texturing on a piece of jewelry. A surface may appear semi-bright to mirrorlike, or it may have some form of brushing, micro-blasting, or other texturing to add style or contrast.

Sand blasting is also termed beadblasting. It’s the process that involves metal pellets, steel shots or sand being forced into a substrate rapidly. Most soft metals are perfect with sandblasted finish. The result is a smooth, clean, attractive yet intricately delicate metal. Most sand-blasting machines are used in metals that need a uniform matte feel.

There are different methods of creating reflective surfaces on precious metals. One is polishing with specialised compounds, called rouges. Rouges vary in coarseness based on the size of the abrasive particles contained in them. The appropriate rouges are applied to specialised wheels and cones at different stages in the finishing process. There are different rouges for gold, silver, and platinum.

A buff metal polishing machine applies a cloth wheel for buffing the product’s surface to produce a smooth, nontextured, classy and sparking finish. Buffing removes very little precious metal from the piece and uses rouges containing extremely fine abrasives. The machine will also smoothen the edges of a product. Since the cloth wheel has high range limits, this polish method is not ideal for delicate items or those that need intricate details. Buffing may produce a highly reflective mirror-like finish or even a duller, semi-bright finish, depending on the manufacturer’s intent.

Brushed metal finishing is a clever way of creating uniformity in an otherwise imperfect surface. The polishing machine smoothens the exterior of an item by creating a uniform, parallel grain textured surface. Sometimes a wire brush or an abrasive belt can also be used to round up the ends and make them aligned to the grain.

The range of metal finishing methods to choose from is wide. Apart from the three mentioned above, there are also methods like hot blackening, powder coating, metal grinding and metal plating. The choice of finish on the metal depends on metal properties, like hardness level, the speed of finishing and the cost.

Another method of creating a reflective surface is to tumble pieces in specialised media containing some form of lubricant, such as water and detergent. The tumbling media may range from metal balls to walnut shells that continually rub against and flatten the surface of the precious metal, increasing its lustre. For the brighter surface it is recommended to keep pieces longer period of time in tumbler. The tumbler shakes the pieces in a circular motion and its also considered a form of mechanical burnishing.

Hand burnishing produces a highly reflective finish by using a variety of specialised tools to compress and flatten the surface of the precious metal. A lubricant is always required when burnishing. While time consuming and labor intensive, hand burnishing does not remove any of the precious metal from the jewelry and can produce a very striking effect.