I’ve got a flexible shaft which I’ve been using, along with a little rouge, to polish these jump rings and touch up other silver pieces. But, I’ve never been very satisfied with the results - just not shinny enough. So, I decided to try a polishing kit available from Rio Grande for $8.95 that’s made up of various types of mounted silicone wheels and cylinders. The kit includes one of each grade from coarse to ultra-high shine.
After receiving the kit, I had one immediate problem: my flexible shaft end was too large for the polishing pieces. It was close, really close, but I couldn’t get it to fit as tight as it should. However, I was dying to use these polishers and soon realized that though it wasn’t as tight a fit as I would have liked, it didn’t fall out when I turned on the shaft. So, I decided to go ahead and give it go.
Finally, the jump rings on my fused glass pendants were nice and shiny. I know a real polishing wheel would be much better, but for nine dollars, I was happy with the results. Of course, this was before I realized the tips on the polishing pieces were disintegrating at a very fast pace. As you can see from the picture, I’ve used up 4 pieces already. I did manage to polish a good 3-4 dozen pendants, but I realized this was only a temporary solution to my problem.
So, if you just have an occasional need to polish, then I think this kit might be a good choice for a jewelry hobbyist. Also, if you want to give these silicon polishers a try, this kit is handy because they let you try so many different grades. However, if you have a lot of hand polishing to do, I would either consider getting a polishing wheel, or like myself, continue the search for an economical way to use a flexible shaft to polish small pieces like fused glass pendants.
