A great deal of misunderstanding exists as to the effects of steel ball burnishing on the surface quality of "as cast" gold and silver jewelry. This presentation will explore in detail the use of three types of finishing equipment (vibratory, disc finishers and roll burnishers) and focus on the resulting smoothness, hardness and depth of hardness, as well as visual perception of finish resulting from usage of these systems. There will be an in-depth review on how surface finish is affected when "as cast" pieces are prepared through a wet cut-down procedure before employing the use of vibratory, disc finishing or roll burnishing equipment for the ball burnishing process. Finally, the presentation will touch on the benefits and drawbacks of using a burnishing compound prior to final hand buffing.

Author: Steven Alviti