Polishing Acrylic

[Hauser]

Hi Guys,

I'm having trouble getting my Acrylic stems to shine like my vulcanite stems. Do you do anything different for polishing Acrylic vs. vulcanite? I've restored all my vulcanite stems but my acrylic one never seem to shine as well as the vulcanite.

Thanks for your replies.

[alexanderfrese]

So what’s your »usual« treatment?

Alex

[marks]

Here's what I do when making a stem.

Sand through 1200 grit
Buff with white compound
dry buff with flannel
Buff with tan ultrafine compound
dry buff with flannel

The tan compound you can get from Grizzly Imports. It makes the acrylic look wet. I think there are a couple of other posts on the board regarding buffing. A search should bring them up.

Also, to give credit where credit is due, Pipemaker pointed me in the direction of the tan compound.

[Hauser]

Marks,

Thanks for your reply! I will try the tan compound.


alexanderfrese,

I should have clarified. I don't make pipes, just polish them for myself and a few friends. Usually with a vulcanite bit, depending on condition, I'll start with Tripoli, move to the white, then to the carnuba.

[alexanderfrese]

Funny, that's what I do at the moment. More revamping pipes than making. I am just researching ressources and tools for making them. As for the carnauba, you don't use it on the stems, don't you? I have found one ore two »how-to« webistes that mentioned the use of carnauba on stems, which surely is unnecessary, not to say wrong. But I think you meant to use it on the bowl.

As for the polishing you mentioned, this should be fine to bring the shine to a mouthpiece. If you polish acrylic that has some bite marks, this won't be enough. They are smaller on acrylic, and since the material is harder, you have to sand them down with paper. Even that is harder to do than on vulcanite.

I do use something comparable to the brown tripoli and white compound, and the flat unmarked areas of acrylic usually have the same shine in the end.

Alex