Diamond Hand Pads

["pipistrelle" <pipistrelle@zzzzzzzzzzzz>]

Deb,

For Ancaster Hard White I've found there's not much point in going beyond
400 grit. If the stone's from the bottom of the bed it's harder and will
take a better polish but I still only go down to 800 grit. Ancaster
Weatherbed takes a good polish, it's much harder than the Hard White. Again
I only polish down to around 800 grit.

I've not used Portland but Hopton Wood is a similar stone - I generally go
down to around 800 grit on this as well. I've not noticed any real
difference going down to finer grits.

I don't generally use the diamond pads, I tend to use J-Flex abrasives,
these are cloth-backed aluminium oxide abrasives. And are available from
Tiranti or from Craft Supplies (they're my local wood turning suppliers).
The main problem I've found with the diamond pads is that they're not very
flexible so you can't use them on concave surfaces or in narrow/hard to
reach spots.

http://www.tiranti.co.uk/data/ASP/showsubdivision.asp?SubDivisionID=96&SubDivision=Abrasive+Cloth
http://www.craft-supplies.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdCat.cgi/J===Flex,2,,,Finishing_Materials

Alternative suppliers for diamond pads are Pisani, Harbro and Crawshaws.

http://www.pisani.co.uk/
http://www.harbrosupplies.com
http://www.crawshaws.co.uk/intro.htm

Hope this helps,
Bruce