Polishing Direction: Your Opinion

[jdanforth]

I was taught to polish so that the image is at a right angle to the polishing lines which is to say, always horizontal. I believe that this is the way in which 19th century daguerreotypes were polished.

The reason, I believe (and correct me if I’m wrong), is that the light would generally come in from the side when exhibited under natural light.

I have taken to polishing my images so that the polishing lines are vertical because my images are almost always exhibited under overhead electric light.

What do you do and why?

[Jon Lewis]

I am rather giddy to be able to talk from experience, not much, but some!

Since my polishing hasn’t reached the level of refinement of others, I have been very aware of the direction of the polish. If I polish in a direction opposite that of the light, it’s very difficult to see the image. Most of the light were I live comes from windows or lamps. As such I make sure my polish lines are horizontal. If I look at the image using light from above, it becomes foggy and hard to see. Viewing the same image at the window or a lamp, the lines nearly disappear.

As you’ve mentioned, galleries generally have vertical lighting. Though those who would buy the images would probably (but not necessarily) view them with horizontal light. Kind of a catch-22 I suppose.

I personally think that daguerreotypes look absolutely amazing in sunlight, much more so than artificial light. When I start selling images, I’ll probably continue to use horizontal line for that reason alone. The dag display at a gallery in town lights them from the bottom and doesn’t show the images in their best light (pun intended). I can’t imagine it’d be that hard to create a display with horizontal lighting (famous last words).

I’m curious what other people take on it is…

[Jon Lewis]

I am rather giddy to be able to talk from experience, not much, but some!

Since my polishing hasn’t reached the level of refinement of others, I have been very aware of the direction of the polish. If I polish in a direction opposite that of the light, it’s very difficult to see the image. Most of the light were I live comes from windows or lamps. As such I make sure my polish lines are horizontal. If I look at the image using light from above, it becomes foggy and hard to see. Viewing the same image at the window or a lamp, the lines nearly disappear.

As you’ve mentioned, galleries generally have vertical lighting. Though those who would buy the images would probably (but not necessarily) view them with horizontal light. Kind of a catch-22 I suppose.

I personally think that daguerreotypes look absolutely amazing in sunlight, much more so than artificial light. When I start selling images, I’ll probably continue to use horizontal line for that reason alone. The dag display at a gallery in town lights them from the bottom and doesn’t show the images in their best light (pun intended). I can’t imagine it’d be that hard to create a display with horizontal lighting (famous last words).

I’m curious what other people take on it is…

[CasedImage]

Its known as “buffing with the horizon” and I’m Jon on this one. My dags now and in the future are about being in cases or passe partout, basically a dag in the hand, rather than on the wall and I think horizontal polishing is best suited to that. In all the dag exhibits I’ve seen I’ve not wished for buffing against the horizon to better view the image.

Generally though I have found if in doubt to err on the side of C19th daguerreian practices as even though often it may not seem obvious but they did things for a reason and with something so uniformly adhered too back then, even more so.

Reason: They made over 40 million in the Daguerreian period, I just don’t think that the modern dag industry will ever surpass the best output from back then as the industry is so small now, it stands to reason.

www.CasedImage.com

[CasedImage]

Its known as “buffing with the horizon” and I’m Jon on this one. My dags now and in the future are about being in cases or passe partout, basically a dag in the hand, rather than on the wall and I think horizontal polishing is best suited to that. In all the dag exhibits I’ve seen I’ve not wished for buffing against the horizon to better view the image.

Generally though I have found if in doubt to err on the side of C19th daguerreian practices as even though often it may not seem obvious but they did things for a reason and with something so uniformly adhered too back then, even more so.

Reason: They made over 40 million in the Daguerreian period, I just don’t think that the modern dag industry will ever surpass the best output from back then as the industry is so small now, it stands to reason.

www.CasedImage.com

[photolytic]

It appears to me that your polishing line decision is pretty much a matter of personal preference. There are those of you who have said that they like the magical transformation that a Dag undergoes when you rotate and tilt it in the light until all the surface imperfections disappear and image suddenly pops right out at you in an almost holographic manner. These Dag makers should stick with unidirectional hand polishing most often found on the Dags of 19th Century itinerant practitioners.

Then there are others, who, contemplating the making of large Dags for gallery exhibition, seek to eliminate as much of these surface lines as possible. In the 19th Century these were the Daguerreotypists who used large steam powered belt polishers. With these devices the time and effort to achieve the best polishing was greatly reduced.

Several modern practitioners choose a Random orbital polisher with variable speed adjustment, such as the Bosch model 3725DEVS. What ever polisher you choose, it must have random orbital motion. A “round” polisher with circular motion won’t do.

The polisher should be set it at the lowest possible operating speed. When polishing dry with powdered rouge you may get some haze after prolonged polishing. This haze will be removed when the plate is subsequently polished with lampblack. Daguerreotype plates thus polished react more evenly to iodine fumes producing a more uniform coating. See the “polishing silver” topic for more details.

Random orbital polishers should be equipped with some sort of sponge applicator pads such as the Bosch model R5013. These pads attach to most 5inch Random orbital polishers via a hook and eye (Velcro) pad on the back. The front is a rigid polyfoam pad which can be covered with soft buckskin or velvet by sewing it to the pad with heavy thread. Some Daguerreotypists use this system for preliminary wet polishing of Dag plates using a series of fine submicron sized alumina powders with liquid carriers such as olive oil or xylene to achieve the best polish. I prefer to use a high speed jeweler’s wheel polisher to remove the deeper scratches. I follow this up with a Random Orbital polish with rouge, and then lampblack, and finally a buff with a clean pad to remove all polishing powders. When the velvet gets too dirty cut it off the pad, throw it out and replace it with new velvet. Velvet is not water washable and you’ll never the grit out. If the pads are soft enough and the polishing agent fine enough there will be no visible lines, therefore no problems viewing your Dags regardless of the angle. If you can see lines, then you need to polish more with a finer polishing agent. If you still see lines, then you may be applying too much pressure on the polisher.

[photolytic]

It appears to me that your polishing line decision is pretty much a matter of personal preference. There are those of you who have said that they like the magical transformation that a Dag undergoes when you rotate and tilt it in the light until all the surface imperfections disappear and image suddenly pops right out at you in an almost holographic manner. These Dag makers should stick with unidirectional hand polishing most often found on the Dags of 19th Century itinerant practitioners.

Then there are others, who, contemplating the making of large Dags for gallery exhibition, seek to eliminate as much of these surface lines as possible. In the 19th Century these were the Daguerreotypists who used large steam powered belt polishers. With these devices the time and effort to achieve the best polishing was greatly reduced.

Several modern practitioners choose a Random orbital polisher with variable speed adjustment, such as the Bosch model 3725DEVS. What ever polisher you choose, it must have random orbital motion. A “round” polisher with circular motion won’t do.

The polisher should be set it at the lowest possible operating speed. When polishing dry with powdered rouge you may get some haze after prolonged polishing. This haze will be removed when the plate is subsequently polished with lampblack. Daguerreotype plates thus polished react more evenly to iodine fumes producing a more uniform coating. See the “polishing silver” topic for more details.

Random orbital polishers should be equipped with some sort of sponge applicator pads such as the Bosch model R5013. These pads attach to most 5inch Random orbital polishers via a hook and eye (Velcro) pad on the back. The front is a rigid polyfoam pad which can be covered with soft buckskin or velvet by sewing it to the pad with heavy thread. Some Daguerreotypists use this system for preliminary wet polishing of Dag plates using a series of fine submicron sized alumina powders with liquid carriers such as olive oil or xylene to achieve the best polish. I prefer to use a high speed jeweler’s wheel polisher to remove the deeper scratches. I follow this up with a Random Orbital polish with rouge, and then lampblack, and finally a buff with a clean pad to remove all polishing powders. When the velvet gets too dirty cut it off the pad, throw it out and replace it with new velvet. Velvet is not water washable and you’ll never the grit out. If the pads are soft enough and the polishing agent fine enough there will be no visible lines, therefore no problems viewing your Dags regardless of the angle. If you can see lines, then you need to polish more with a finer polishing agent. If you still see lines, then you may be applying too much pressure on the polisher.

[drdag]

I hate to say this , but if you polish well, there will be NO polishing lines

[CasedImage]

The majority of 19th century plates show buffing lines to some degree so perhaps the hint of them should not be feared, it seem to didn’t impede them from making fine dags. I must admit I like looking at a Daguerrotype seeing the evidence of the hand of the maker and the fact that it is a Image object not a paper print.

www.CasedImage.com

[jdanforth]

I knew that this would spark a lively discussion! I’m interested, photolytic, in trying your idea with the RO polishing. Where do you get your red and black rouge (lamp black) powders?

I’ve purchased and sifted red and black ferric oxide which has worked well for me but it’s hardly perfect.

[Author]

Posts