Repairing a chip in rim of crystal goblet

[Knurl]

Pictured is a valuable Waterford crystal goblet with a small chip in the rim.

Note that the chip is on the inner surface of the rim and has not affected the "line" of the rim.

I have a Dremmel with diamond grinding bit but wondered if anyone can advise how to slowly and gently grind and polish the chip away (without destroying the cup).

Obviously it will always be detectable to the mouth but I want it to be usable and safe from cutting anyone's lip.

How good a job could I do...and how?

[Groggy]

I'd be reluctant to use a machine on it (in case it made it worse) and would probably hand sand it since it is so small. Asking a jeweler might reap a tip or two also.

[DavidG]

One of those little, round, hand held, diamond sharpening rods may be the way to go.
Just a very gentle rub to remove the edges.

[Ashore]

Dave a fine diamond hone will do the job these are about 150mm or 6" long
They are also great for touching up router bits
Rgds

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/attachment.php?attachmentid=19437&stc=1&d=1140175296

[cellist]

Hi Knurl...

I have always burnished chips out of drinking glasses with extremely fine grit emery paper (wet and dry...1200 grit). However, I've never tried it on lead crystal. I'd be inclined to suggest that you go to a jeweller- one who does custom engraving- if you're not game to give it a rub. I agree wholeheartedly with Groggy-no machines....at least, not if your not a professional engraver.

Hope that helps.

Michael

[Iain]

How about contacting Waterford for advice, I had a Stuart Crystal glass custom made to replace a broken one in a set, not cheap but they will do a one off if required.
http://www.waterford.ie/default_flash.asp
Look at Crystal care...

[Daddles]

Chuck it at the cat. It won't improve the chip but think of the feeling of satisfaction :D

Richard
(I'd be taking the goblet to a jeweller before doing anything)

[Termite]

Play at being a Russian, fill it up with Vodka, chug it down, throw glass at fireplace. :rolleyes:

[ozwinner]

No no no youse lot.
Pm me you address and I will send out some silicone carbide grits and polishing compound to suit.

For small chips only.

You will need.....
A piece of glass and water.
Start with the courses grit.
Put the grit on the glass with some water and some detergent.
Rub the affected area on the glass until the chip has gone.

The course grit will get rid of the chip, now you need to get rid of the grit marks.

Work throught the grit grades until the scratches are gone.

Next use the polish compound until it is polished.

All stages are done by hand in a figure 8 pattern on the glass.

Easy....:p

Al :)

[ozwinner]

Ok....
I just looked the piccy.

Forget it.

Al :(

[Knurl]

The chip is very small...only 5mm wide on the rim and 3mm down. As the photo shows it's reasonably shallow (say 1mm).


Thank you for the various advice. The piccies of the grinding compounds are too littel to read. Can you post the details and where these can be found.

I'm willing to try some slow abrasive compounds before I put the Dremmel anywhere near the glass.

I guess I'm a tightwad and don't want to pay $300+ to get Waterford to repair it down in Co. Cork, nor my jeweler for about half that! I feel that surely I can at least smoothe it out if I can't make it dissappear completely.

[Groggy]

One thing that may work is a small felt wheel with some green compound mounted in a drill press. Spin slowly on the edge of the wheel running the contact from the inside to the outside. Be careful not to grip too tightly to the stem, it may snap off.

[ozwinner]

Futher to my lapidary advice above, for a small but deep chip I would use a damp cloth with the grit in it.
You wouldnt wont to get too carried away though, or you will scratch more area than is necessary.
This will result in MORE work, which is what you want to try to avoid at all costs.

This job is very achivable, given time and patience.
Im not saying you wont see any remains of the chip, but you can almost eliminate it.

I will try to get the grits away in the next few days David.

Al :)

[ozwinner]

As helpful as the other posters are, I wouldnt use any mechanical means what so ever to do this.
You will have a bad result if you do..

If you have any problems when you get the grits ( maw, where me grits ) just post here.
I have have had numerous years polishing rocks, the last lot I did were all faceted. :cool:

Just for interest....
Here are a few Ive done, ranging from opal to sapphire.


Al :)

[Groggy]

As helpful as the other posters are, I wouldnt use any mechanical means what so ever to do this.
You will have a bad result if you do..Initially I recommended against using a machine too, but thought gentle use on a felt wheel would be ok. I should have stuck to my original instincts I guess.

[ozwinner]

How about contacting Waterford for advice, I had a Stuart Crystal glass custom made to replace a broken one in a set, not cheap but they will do a one off if required.
http://www.waterford.ie/default_flash.asp
Look at Crystal care...

Iain, just out of curiosity is the Waterford signed?
I havent come across any as yet, and I am just wondering.

Al :)

[ozwinner]

Initially I recommended against using a machine too, but thought gentle use on a felt wheel would be ok. I should have stuck to my original instincts I guess.

The problem with mechanical meens.

There may be stress in the object which will be released with vibration, the results are final. :eek:

Heat may also make the stress fracture.

I have an Uranium float bowl centre pice from the 1930-50's.
I bought it knowing it had a damaged base.

No worry thinks I.
Glass sheet, grits, water, hand action only. :rolleyes:

I ground about 3mm off the base to make it level so it would sit nice.
Beautifull,I wouldnt sell her for any ammount of money.

I place her under a UV light to excite the Uranium in her.
She glows the most beautiful green you have ever seen..

Two days later I hear.....click.......
My beatiful Godess had cracked.......:eek:

The UV light produced enough vibration to make stresses in the glass fracture. :mad:

I was devistated.
But I still love her.

You can see the crack in the bottom right.

Al :(

[Groggy]

Al, I was surprised to see your goddess's crack in that photo, you must've been appalled to hear it split like that! :eek:

(ahem)


Originally I was thinking that a 'hard' machine-driven grinding piece on a mandrel may set up a harmonic frequency that would cause the glass to shatter. Later on it occured to me that a felt wheel would not impart vibration to the glass as easily and would in all probability dampen it somewhat. In retrospect you are right, fine crystal should most probably be done by hand unless you have some experience at it.

[ozwinner]

Al, I was surprised to see your goddess's crack in that photo, you must've been appalled to hear it split like that! :eek:

.

I was, I havent seen a Godess so big before.
She is about 12" tall, most others are only about 6" tall.
Maybe she is the Amazon Queen??

Al :D

[ozwinner]

The chip is very small...only 5mm wide on the rim and 3mm down. As the photo shows it's reasonably shallow (say 1mm).


Thank you for the various advice. The piccies of the grinding compounds are too littel to read. Can you post the details and where these can be found.

I'm willing to try some slow abrasive compounds before I put the Dremmel anywhere near the glass.

I guess I'm a tightwad and don't want to pay $300+ to get Waterford to repair it down in Co. Cork, nor my jeweler for about half that! I feel that surely I can at least smoothe it out if I can't make it dissappear completely.

I will send some grit tomorrow.
I will send 220 and 600 grit, and some polish.
The rules are the same as woodwork, start with the courses grit 220, then work your way down the grits, removing the previous grit scratch marks.
The polish is rated at 100,000 grit. :p

Al :)

[redwood]

Why go to all that trouble. just use some clear west system epoxy and smooth it over with the 600 grit and polish:)

[Knurl]

My Waterford, isn't signed. Just has a watermark (sic) saying Waterford under the base.

[Iain]

Iain, just out of curiosity is the Waterford signed?
I havent come across any as yet, and I am just wondering.

Al :)
I have a reasonable amount of Stuart Crystal not Waterford, I put the two on an even level given the quality of the crystal hence my comments.
I had Stuart Crystal make a replacement sherry glass for me.
I have not had anything to do with Waterford and know nothing of signatures but my parents were friends of the Stuart manufacturers in England and had a lot of one off pieces made as gifts which I have inherited.
The Stuart pieces bear a hallmark (on the underside of the base) and some a signature if they are special enough to warrant it.

[Knurl]

I've just received the grit and polishing powder, thank you very much.

When you say add water and detergent, in what ratio? Does it matter and do you need water and detergent or can you get away with just detergent?

In one of your posts Ozwinner you say apply with a cloth. Doesn't that heat up the glass and possibly scratch more than a 200 grade grit will do? I was thinking dipping my index finger in the solution and rubbing it on the chip.

I can see myself rubbing the chip for a few minutes then washing the solution away and inspecting the chip under magnification.

I'm very patient but with a house full of guests this weekend I'm not going to get the time to start this before next week. I'll post results so everyone can see the results.

Hopefully I won't have pictures like the Goddess.

[ozwinner]

I've just received the grit and polishing powder, thank you very much.
.

No problem.:)



When you say add water and detergent, in what ratio? Does it matter and do you need water and detergent or can you get away with just detergent?
.

The detergent is only to break the suface of the water.
As long as the grit is wet/damp.



In one of your posts Ozwinner you say apply with a cloth. Doesn't that heat up the glass and possibly scratch more than a 200 grade grit will do? I was thinking dipping my index finger in the solution and rubbing it on the chip.
.

Always use grits wet or damp, a grit, is a girt, is a grit, damp or dry it will still scratch the grit size.
Although when silicon carbide breaks down it still retains the crystal shape, only smaller.



I can see myself rubbing the chip for a few minutes then washing the solution away and inspecting the chip under magnification.

I'm very patient but with a house full of guests this weekend I'm not going to get the time to start this before next week. I'll post results so everyone can see the results.
.

Cool. :cool:




Hopefully I won't have pictures like the Goddess.

Its always hard to tell if there are any stress fractures inside.
My Goddess was dropped by the previous owner, quite hard too.

Good luck.

Al :)

[Knurl]

Well after 2 months I finally found the 12 hours to work on my lead-crystal glass. Started with Ozwinner's 220 grit in green Palmolive dishwasher solution - less Palmolive more grit! Using an old rag i spent 1 hr patiently working on the chip to no avail. Everything seemed as sharp as ever. I then get out the trusty Dremel and put on a felt pad and soaked it in the Palmolive ("you're soaking in it!"). Very messy business because teh Dremel puts more on the walls of teh shed than on the glass. Discovered that I could use the flat face of the pad and the grit stayed in place.

But still no effect. So I checked out the other wet&dry disks in the Dremel kit and found one that "felt" fine-ish and is marked "XXX" so in it went! Immediate results - I could quickly and carefully grind down the sharp edges and generally smooth out the line of the lip.

I'm thinking that XXX was needed fro Lead Crystal before 220 or 600 (from Ozwinner with thanks) because now I had plenty of places where teh glass had become abraded and the fine grits made some little impact on the surface. I'm thinking I need to try again with 180 to 200 grit before going back to the 220 then 600.

All in all the building foreman looked at it with her discerning eye and said that yes it was now smooth but she wants to cut the lip down right around its circumference. Oh well....I learned something didn't I?