For anyone that wants to give polishing a shot without putting cups at risk try this. Go by your local Lowes or Home Depot and buy some copper plumbing fittings. You can practice sanding, buffing and even see what happens when it gets hot and flies out of your hand at the buffing wheel all while your cups are safe in the next room. Now I doubt anyone wants polished plumbing but if you find its not your thing to polish metal then its money well spent. If it does well and you get the practice you can move on to those cups.

Great idea doublelift... that is if anyone thinks it is really worth it. I deliberated over the satin finish RNT 11 Medonaza combo cups and the polished. The price difference is huge. I thought with all my 'inexperience' I could keep the satin finish (with a little elbow grease) looking pretty close to the polished. After listening to some of the folk here on the Café I have now reconsidered. I think the polished look is better left to those who know what they are doing. Today I attempted to place my order for a set of the polished cups. I only got a voice mail so I will try again later.

This is a good idea. Copper plumbing fittings may be a bit costly, though. If you can get a short section of 1 1/2 inch pipe, then you can practice with it quite a bit. It might make sense to get some copper planters. Those are good to practice on. Use emery cloth to rough the surface, then polish the surface clean.

You might want to check on the price of the polishing equipment while you are at it.

Your Dremel tool is not going to do the job.

Bill is right Dremels aren't up to the task, consider it a detail tool.

Lowes and Home depot both have bench grinders that will take the cloth buffing wheels. They also carry the buffing wheels and compound. Keep in mind the size they carry isn't as big or powerfull as full size industrial stuff. But you can have a pretty usefull polishing rig going for under $100.00. If you are only going to do it once it may not be worth it for the investment and learning curve.
Don't forget protective gloves that have a good grip.

You don't need a lot of power. However, you will need to do some things to a bench grinder to make it workable. The protective shields on a bench grinder are unnecessary when polishing. These shields are there to prevent sparks and chunks of grinder wheel from going every which way in your workshop.

This grinder looks like it would do the job just fine, if you can get the covers off the ends.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/di......er=39797

The grinder needs to be mounted in such a way that you don't have anything directly under the wheels.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/di......ber=3184 shows how.

Get four sets of buffing wheels.
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/di......er=46261

The reasons
1) two wheels together gives a much better polishing surface
2) you don't want to mix polishing compounds on the same wheel.

You can get polishing compounds from Harbor Freight or from a jeweler's supply house. You can probably make do with the brown polishing compound and the white compound for most of the cups in most collections. Stainless steel requires more aggressive compounds, but you probably won't have to polish those anyway.

Wear an old shirt, so you don't have to worry about getting your clean clothes dirty. Also wear a particle mask and eye protection. Or wear a face shield, which most woodturners use. You don't want the tiny fragments of compound, dust and jeweler's buff to get into your lungs. They can be deadly.

Gloves are a special subject. Some people swear by them, others AT them. They can protect your hands. They can also get caught in the machinery if you aren't careful.

Double lift - what a great idea!

wandboy - I had exactly the same idea nad came to exactly the same conclusion!

Bill - Where on earth do you store all this detailed information you give out? Would I be right in saying that your head goes all the way to the top of the inside of that cup and houses a brain the size of a planet?

Bri

Actually, I've made a lot of my own props, so I learned a lot of workshop skills. I am not as experienced at this as some, but I've learned from the mistakes of others.

One of my good friends is very ill right now, because of the dust and debris he inhaled while polishing metal.

This sickness have anything to do with Jake getting sick?

Put it this way Keith, I don't recall a single phone conversation where Jake does NOT give me a lecture on ventilation, protective masks, eye protection and other safety tips!

Mick

Yet another reason to leave it in the hands of skilled metal workers.

I just finish a little wood cutting in the garage and the table saw was next to the garage opening, therefore plenty of ventilation for me. That polishing stuff sounds too scary for me.

I have the satin cups. Now you guys have me thinking about polishing them (after practicing on some tubing). A question: after using the polishing compounds is there any use for a liquid protectant to keep away tarnish?
Bob

Use Renaissance Wax. Use google to find it.

Thanks Bill,
Turns out my wife already has Renaissance Wax at home so I guess that is the easy part of all of this.
Bob