Hi experts, the table of my garnet looks bad. I polished it with copper lap. Pre 6K, then 40K diamond paste. Not good end result, do you have any recommendations?
That is a pretty heavily included rock… not sure if the polish has failed or its just inclusions coming through… the 6k should have pretty much got you a mirror finish with some “haze” - what did you use before?
Also I would honestly turn that into a Cab I think it would look good and would minimise the effect of the inclusions!
Garnet is tough to polish because of its hardness variation and undercutting. Jumping from 6K straight to 40K on copper can leave scratches. Try an intermediate pre-polish (8K–14K), then finish on a tin or ceramic lap with alumina or cerium - garnets usually take a better shine with oxides than diamond.