The Rose Lap
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It is possible to increase the polishing speed by painting the pitch lap with hot beeswax. Beeswax is available at hobby stores or candle making stores. At one time mirror makers used honeycomb to polish out their mirrors. Once a lap has been painted with beeswax and then eventually pressed and trimmed you no longer have a lap that polishes at the same speed over its entire surface. This is bad news for someone trying to do the final bit of correction on their mirror. Some people carefully scrape the surface of their pitch lap with a razor blade and press again before final polishing. |
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Polishing the rose lap center over center it is easy to see how ripples might be produced near the mirror edge. I am reasonably sure there is a way to use the rose lap properly but I gave up on it before discovering the secret. If you know how let me know! |