I was reading that glass shops use cerium oxide to remove fine scratches from glass. Has anyone tried this on glass pocket watch crystals?

Mike

Yes. If the scratches are not deep it will work well. If you can feel the scratch with a fingernail, you won't get it out. You make a paste with the cerium oxide with water. You can use a small wood dowel and put the paste on the end. It will not be quick, but patience will be rewarded.

If you are working with a flat crystal you can use a small piece of plate glass in place of the wood dowel. Make your paste on the plate glass and have at it.

Roger

Thanks Roger.

I will give it a shot.

Mike

I use a cerium oxide paste that I load on the face of a piece of pithwood. Then use that to wet polish the glass. Mainly I do this when there is a haze from a "burn" on the glass from the label adhesives. The advantage (as I see it) using the pithwood is that the pressure of polishing is more evenly distributed over the glass surface thus reducing the possibility of breaking them.

Mike

I still have a moderate amount of Cerium Oxide for glass polishing. If you need some, drop me an e-mail at bruce dot cunha At charter dot net.

Ok David, I can look it up on the internet, but have to ask. What is pithwood?

Hey Bruce

Just thought I would let you know that the oxide you gave me I have now shared with members in Italy & the UK.

Thanks again for making it available to us.

Tom

Thanks everyone for the info.

I have a watch comming in the mail that I will try this on.

Bruce yes I would like to buy some Cerium Oxide.

Dave would you mind selling me some pithwood?

Mike

Bruce, I'll second Tom's thanks for the cerium oxide, I'm one of the UK recipients of some of it.
Not used it yet, but plenty of gear lined up to play with.

Many thanks again to you both!

John

FWIW

Marty, my watch wizard gave me some cerenium oxide and also something called tripoli polish for fine tuning.

Both need water to make a paste and are time consuming but patience is rewarded.

happy hunting