Band polishing

[fnord]

I've got a number of old estates with silver repair bands. How do you all protect the briar when your bands need to be polished? Medical tape, as a buffer, leaves a gummy residue and I'm leery of removing the bands so I can restore the luster.

 

[gmwolford]

I'll be interested to see the replies here but I seem to recall reading that blue painters tape and masking tape were viable options.

 

[fnord]

Beauty, Greg. I never even thought of blue tape.
I love this place....

 

[crpntr1]

Blue tape for heavy duty stuff, if its just tarnished some I.e. a little black..I've got a jewelry polishing cloth that doesn't need any solutions and doesn't harm the wood
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000FIS5U4

 

[bigvan]

I've always just used jewelry/silver polish and never needed to tape off the shank.

 

[ssjones]

I'm with bigvan, just hand polish with something for jewelry.

If the band is more than just oxidized, I'd do it on a machine with some white diamond rouge. I probably would tape off the briar for that work.

 

[cajunguy]

I use masking tape or tightly wrap a cloth around the wood when I'm buffing the band. It depends on what is at hand.

 

[keith929]

Like Chris I use a dry jewelry polishing cloth. The blue painters tape sounds like a great idea if you are going to be using a buffing wheel.

 

[kabong30]

I just use a little toothpaste and a cloth, the toothpaste comes right off if you get a little on the wood.

 

[fnord]

Thanks, kids, I appreciate the feedback. Good ideas one and all.

 

[waznyf]

Useful though the tape method might be, I could not stick tape on my pipe. I too have a pipe with a band that needs to be shined and I will end up using jewelry polish.

 

[philobeddoe]

I never use tape , I use Silvo and try to be as precise as poss. this has always worked for me.

 

[john218]

I picked up a two pack of Cape Cod Cloth at the local hardware store after seeing it highly recommended on the internet. It works great on silver bands. It's currently on sale on Amazon for $4.29. There's also a tin with 12 cloths for $13.86 on Amazon, but two should last a long time. I wipe it dry with a soft cloth after using it.