Polishing

From sawn to mirror — the grit ladder that brings out a stone's face.

Polishing is just scratching — finer and finer scratches until they're too small to see. The grit ladder goes from 50 to 3000, and skipping a rung is the one mistake you'll never recover from.

The ladder

50–120     grinding, flatting the face
220–400    honing — the scratches start to blur
600–1200   satin to semi-gloss
1500–3000  mirror, only on dense stones

The trick

Change grit only when every scratch from the last one is gone. Water, patience, and a flat lap — polish is 10% skill and 90% refusing to move on too early.

Chisel Carving Stone
From sawn to mirror.