Polishing my own glass/mirror edges.

[Traveller]

Hi All.

I am looking for advice on how best to polish the edges of glass and mirror myself without causing any damage/scratching to the surfaces and backing, especially on the mirror. (A manual method is preferred.)

The glass/mirror is very small; this is the reason the glass merchant cannot do the polishing, so it's a task I'm going to have to do myself.

Will it look and feel anything like factory polished glass?

Thanks.

 

[Symptoms]

Traveller - a water stone or oil stone (the type used for sharpening plane blades & chisels), or diamond sharpening stone/pad. A polished edge on a mirror is matt. Any decent glazier should be able to polish the edge of even a small bit of mirrror - my local guy uses an old powered grindstone (3 feet dia) which runs really slowly in a water trough (the oldies out there will have used this type of tackle for tool grinding).

A trick my local glazier once showed me for making a glass edge 'safe' was to run a bit of flint pebble along the edge ... he used to keep a bit beside his collection of glass cutters; the pebble had a flat face which is the bit he used. Worked a treat.

 

[Traveller]

Thanks for the reply, Symptoms.

I was hoping the answer would just be some sort of sandpaper!

Well, strictly speaking, I think they could have done it, but I think he implied that it would not be worth the cost if they did it.

The glass will be handled with bare hands frequently, so it must be safe to hold.

I've added your suggestions to my list of things to search for on my next shopping trip.

Thanks.