Polishing is the bane of the daguerreotype process, but the importance of the final polish cannot be overstated. Polish affects plate speed and also the depth, tone and overall quality of the final image. If an image is dull and lifeless, it is more than likely due to a poor polish. Put another way, polish is to daguerreotypes like altitude is to airplanes: not enough is not good enough.

A tabletop buffing unit with dust collector can cost $300 and up. A much less expensive approach is to modify a standard 6” work-shop bench grinder. Any will do, including cheap imports. The best solution is made from a 5” bench grinder. Black & Decker and Skill and others make them. The 5” has a smaller diameter motor yet has the same horse power and same rpm as the 6.” However, the 5” provides more room to buff side-to-side and this is important for easier working. Just take the grinding wheels and their housings off and add left and right tapered spindles available from Rio Grande. For even more clearance, mount the whole thing up-side down on a bench or off a wall.

The offal of buffing is gooky grime that, depending on how much polishing you do, can create a real mess. Much of this can be contained in a make-shift catch box. Using a respirator with a particle filter will keep this out of your nostrils and lungs. The best solution is a power collector if you do a lot of polishing.

Many different buff materials and sizes are available. For our purposes, 6” diameter, soft muslin and/or cotton flannel are best. There are also stitched and non-stitched. Stitched buffs are stiffer than non-stitched and the more stitches, the stiffer. During the first stage of polishing, a non-stitched muslin or stitched cotton flannel work best because more pressure is needed. The remaining steps should be done with a non-stitched cotton flannel or with a hand buff. Hand buffs can be made simply with a board with some padding stapled to it and over that either chamois, silk velvet, or cotton flannel. Powdered rouge in very light amounts is sprinkled onto the hand buff and rubbed in with a clean object. Having two hand buffs, one with rouge and one clean for a final hand buff is a good idea.

For raw copper, even though it may be ground and polished, tripoli, Fabuluster, and rouge in stick form is a good combination. Tripoli is too abrasive for silver under normal conditions and so Fabuluster and rouge is what I use. Some use rouge only with a coarser buff for the initial polish. Rottenstone and pumice can also be used. Buffing wheels old and new.

Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of us all?

A slight amount of buffing will create a mirror surface and peering into it and seeing yourself will be encouraging. However, being shiny is illusory and not a gauge of a good polish. This progress can be judged with a bright light and a black background (a ceiling, wall, or card). Hold the plate toward the black background with the light at a low angle and eye level to the side of the plate. All the scratches and imperfections can be easily seen. The perfect polish is one where all these imperfections are erased. Several steps or stages are required and at each stage on the buffing wheel, polish only in one direction. To check the progress, rotate the plate 90 degrees so the light is in line with the buffing--you shouldn’t see any scratches. If you do, you should continue the step you are on. Each stage in buffing should take place 90 degrees from the previous one, the idea being the deeper scratches are erased and new, finer scratches are applied. Plan to spend 10-20 minutes on each plate.