Retaining fine detail when polishing stone

[Bill Brayman <blb@zzzzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Tim,
Regarding your issue (polishing technique always seems to undo much of
my painstaking detail work) I just discovered that shaving or scraping
with a razor lets me carefully control the form and leave a very smooth
surface. I am not very experienced polishing soft stone so the next
step after shaving may or may not benefit from shaving. However,
shaving leaves a very fine texture, almost a polish if your edge is
really, really sharp. Also you can shape the shaving surface. Then I
suppose you could try gluing small pieces of 400 or 600 grit sandpaper
on sticks to help control your stroke in crevices. Another thing to try
is a soft felt tip on a dremmel, fordham, or die grinder with fine grit
applied. The theory is that the felt conforms to the contour and thus
will reduce faceting.

Regards,
Bill