facet wiping

[roho]

Hello,  I am a relatively new faceter from Vancouver Canada.  I have been faceting for just over 2 years and have completed 34 stones.  I am very happy with the results so far.  I do, however, have several questions for the forum. 
my first question has to do with wiping the facets to check how the polishing is going.  I am polishing primarily with 50\k diamond on BATT lap (after application of a little lamp oil to the lap.  this is working very well for most of my stones.   however, I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to decide if I have scratches remaining or if what I am seeing on the facet is little spots of debris from the material that I use to clean the facet.  I am currently using shop towels for this purpose but I have tried tissue paper, leather,and cloth designed for cleaning glasses.
I am wondering what others are using to wipe the facets,  any other wisdom on this issue would be also welcome

thanks so much
(my other questions to follow later)

[Blash]

Welcome to the forum roho, you'll find that its an excellent place full of information and wonderful people. I use ear buds and tissues mostly, very rarely do I have any issues with them leaving debris on the facet. Good luck with your faceting adventures 

[scratchie]

I find that if I am using an oil as a lubricant I can see the surface of the facet better if I gently wipe it with a little alcohol on a swab and then clean it with a very soft old cotton cloth. The alcohol will remove any oil.
John

[roho]

Thank-you Blash and Scratchie,
i appreciate your replies.

Scratchie,  i have been using some acetone at times on my cloth - i will search for some cotton cloth and give that a try.

Blash, i am not familiar with the term ear buds?  can you explain

[REXL]

Acetone tends to leave a very fine film, wipe over with alcohol (what we call methylated spirits) after the acetone.

REXL

[roho]

thanks REXL. i will try that

Blash - i think your "ear buds" are what we would call Q-tip swabs?  i had not thought of using that, will give it a try.

thanks all

[MakkyBrown]

I'm trying to reduce the huge amount of tissue/paper towel/toilet paper I go through, I'm thinking of using a cloth just for 100k and washing it periodically. I've also just put a 50/50 mix metho/water in a spray bottle to try.

Cheers
Andrew

[rubytin]

I use the window & glass wipes you get from the supermarket. They're lint free and great to get the final clean before entering your stone for competition. For run-of-mill I use toilet paper and methylated spirits to remove oil film whilst prepolish/polishing.

[Gem Ranger]

Welcome Roho,

For me its three key elements - cheap single ply toilet paper, a good head loupe and finding the dark / light interchange reflection of the globe.
The single ply is inexpensive and doesn't leave streaks (as it doesn't have moisturizer), the head loupe gives you a better look at the facet in question, and the reflection is key to illuminating the scratches. For this think about what it takes to show up cat hair scratches on your car and try to replicate the light source and viewing angles accordingly.

Cheers,
GR

[Kingsolomon]

I use tissues but now have started using chamois . If you get too much oil on it though .. It's starts putting it back on. So need to replace each stone .im trying get away from little white pieces everywhere..hope there is a better solution

[Rusted]

I have used all of them, tissues are a bit fluffy, cheap toilet paper is OK, kitchen paper towel is quite good (Aldi brand), scraps of soft leather, scraps of cotton sheets, shirts or hankies.

I use WD40 it doesn't stink as much as some other oils

[MakkyBrown]

I have used all of them, tissues are a bit fluffy, cheap toilet paper is OK, kitchen paper towel is quite good (Aldi brand), scraps of soft leather, scraps of cotton sheets, shirts or hankies.

I use WD40 it doesn't stink as much as some other oils

Lol, Rusted you wouldn't believe the complaints I've been getting about WD40 stinking , I don't even notice it, thus the swap to my metho/water mix that seems to be working ok.

[Aussie Sapphire]

We used to use alcohol on a chamois or similar when we were doing photography and every little tiny thing shows up.


I reckon WD40 is too smelly.  Inox is a lot nicer.  Snakeoil even better.


cheers Leah

[Lefty]

Home brand kitchen paper towels here   I find that toilet paper breaks up into little shreds too easily.

[FlashGP]

I've been using 3 ply Ikea paper napkins cut into 2 inch squares and folded twice.  They leave less lint than toilet paper.  I hear the bits of tissue can build up in the faceting machine and become grinding pads for the precision parts.

For cleaning before a competition, try Lense Tissue from the camera bag and Isopropyl Alcohol (the main constituent in glasses cleaners). 

regards