How to make amber stone How to polish amber stone by hand

1. First, make preparations for polishing the amber rough stone: compare the amber rough stone to be polished with a flashlight to see if there is a big penetrating crack. If not, the next step can be polished. If you don't have a flashlight at home, you can visually inspect it in the sun. If the color of amber rough stone is too dark, you can break it with your hand slightly, and you can enter the next step without breaking it. I chose a piece of amber rough stone that is difficult to grind as a demonstration. This amber rough stone is very dark in color, with honey floating on its skin, which is extremely hard. There are many plant spores in the skin, and there are many small natural cracks in it. If you can master the grinding method of this amber rough stone, it will be easy to grind other amber rough stones in the future.

2. File off the skin of amber rough stone with a steel file. When filing, pay attention to the plant spores and seeds on the epidermis. If the plant spores and seeds are small, you can file them off directly. If the plant spores and seeds are large, you should try not to grind them and try not to expose the plants. The amber plant I demonstrated runs through the amber, so a few points are exposed. The more you grind it, the more it will be exposed. Don't grind it any more. After the epidermis is worn off, observe the current shape of the amber rough stone, and outline the shape you want to polish in your mind. Generally, it will be polished into a circle, a drop shape, an ellipse, and a special shape can be made to follow the shape (that is, it can be rounded according to the original shape), which can minimize the wear of the rough stone (please feel free to local tyrants). Then, use a steel file to slowly grind off the corners that need to be ground. When grinding, pay attention to wetting the amber stone with water at any time.

3. After the initial shape is polished, carefully polish the amber rough skin with 6-mesh sandpaper. Wet amber rough stone and sand with water at the same time, and carry out wet grinding (do not dry grinding, although dry grinding does not consume sand, but the grinding marks are too thick to be polished later) until amber rough stone is more round. When grinding, pay attention to keep the amber stone wet with water and clean it at any time. This process focuses on patience. Make sure that there are no bumps on the surface of the polished amber stone before proceeding to the next step, otherwise many tiny dents will be found after polishing, and it is likely to be reworked again.

4, continue to use 1 mesh sand grinding, method as above. After polishing, amber is smoother. At this time, it is necessary to carefully look at the light to see if there are any flaws, check whether there are surface irregularities, whether plant spores and seeds are exposed to the surface (as far as possible), and whether the epidermis is completely worn off. Repeatedly confirm that there is no amber, and then prepare for polishing.

5. Polishing is not skillful, but patience is equally important. Use 2-mesh, 3-mesh and 5-mesh sandpaper to polish slowly, and also use wet grinding method. It is suggested that the sandpaper be divided into small pieces in advance, which is convenient for polishing and can save paper (the higher the mesh number, the more expensive the sandpaper). Don't worry, grind slowly, and look at the effect of the light while grinding. With the increase of the mesh number of sandpaper, the surface of amber rough stone will become smoother and smoother, and the polishing step will be completed when there are no scratches at all angles when looking at the light.

6. The last step of polishing is to wrap amber with cotton cloth and rub it back and forth in circles. After a period of time, amber becomes translucent, especially the surface changes greatly, and the amber can be seen through light. The amber I demonstrated is too dark, so you can only see the inside by the flashlight. At this time, amber has completely changed from a stone to a beautiful ornament.

7. Oiling this step depends on personal hobbies. Oiling can make amber more transparent and beautiful, but some friends think that oiling will change the smell and color of amber. This is how I judge whether to oil amber: if the color of amber is dark, you can apply olive oil, which is also a kind of nourishment and protection for amber. If the color is light, it is not necessary. Frequent oiling will really change the color a little. As for the taste, Burmese amber is too old, basically tasteless, and oiling does not have much influence (except for friends who are not used to the smell of oil). After finishing the oil, continue to grind with cotton cloth, and amber will soon become more translucent, especially in the sun or light, which will have a soft luster and be quite beautiful. In this way, the whole grinding and polishing process is completed!