A really stupid question about chocolate

[BOD]

We always hear about how one can use chocolate to polish a tin lid to a mirror like surface.

Well I have a pair of reading spectacles that have been scratched in a couple of places, not deeply but enough to blur my vision slightly and annoy me.

If chocolate works on tins will it work on a glass lens?

I don't want to make them worse which is why I am asking.

If it doesn't make it better thats not a problem, I can eat the remaining chocolate

 

[Too Much Kit To Carry]

Hey BOD,

Have fun with the chocoloate

I also believe that there was a product called Jewler's Rouge <?> a polishing paste that might work on fine scratches?

Don't know where on earth I've got that idea from - prolly watching The Antiques Roadshow as a kid

Phil.

 

[Silverback]

My uncle worked for Rank Film Laboratories restoring old film footage. He used to use jewellers rouge to get the scratches out of the old film and I recall him using it to remove the scratches from my watch when I was a nipper. If memory serves it is a two part process - the first is a rub with a super fine wet/dry paper which gives a cloudy finish then the rouge paste is used to polish it back to perfect clarity

 

[anthonyyy]

I don't want to make them worse which is why I am asking.

I have a pair of cheapo reading glasses that are badly scratched, I'll give it a go and see if it works.

By the way, is there a big difference in scratch resistance between glasses you buy off the shelf in a pharmacy and prescription lenses? I presume there must be.

 

[Silverback]

I have a pair of cheapo reading glasses that are badly scratched, I'll give it a go and see if it works.

By the way, is there a big difference in scratch resistance between glasses you buy off the shelf in a pharmacy and prescription lenses? I presume there must be.

Definitely - it is most definitely a case of you get what you pay for!

 

[Eric_Methven]

If you can't get hold of jeweler's rouge, you could try toothpase (a mild abraisive), or Autosol (chrome cleaning paste) from any car repair shop. Be aware that lenses are not always the same though. Many modern lenses are made from a plastic compound and may react differently to those made from ground and polished glass.

Eric

 

[Toddy]

If the scratches are in the coating it's possible that carnate paste will also remove them. This is a pink paste sold in chemists for buffing nails. It's a very, very fine grade abrasive. Comes in little tubs. I've used it before now to polish a buffalo horn carving, and it shines like ebony.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Hoodoo]

I've used jewelers rouge many times to polish the crystal on my watch. Do be careful with buffing wheels though. I remember once many years ago using a buffing wheel on a dremel tool, loaded with rouge, to polish the crystal of a Seiko watch. I must have melted it or something. Ate right through the crystal.

A clean piece of leather mounted on a small block, and impregnated with jewelers rouge will do a great job on a watch crystal. I also tried this on a pair of glasses but the problem was not scratches but the anti glare coating was coming off, so polishing it didn't help. But I'd bet it would work on scratches, although Eric's caveat makes sense.

 

[oldsoldier]

I've used toothpaste on watch faces before, & it works fine. As far as glasses, not sure, but I'd assume it would work the same.

 

[Hoodoo]

Toothpaste and jeweler's rouge often have the same polishing compound, crushed diatoms.

 

[troyka]

buy some new from £15 http://www.glassesdirect.co.uk/release_000/

 

[billycan]

I tried polishing the bottom of a can to make a parabolic reflector and the choclate started going soft before it did anything.
In the past i have used brasso on my watch face to remove scratches, does a great job, just a little on a soft cloth...

 

[Roving Rich]

Yeah, I spent a couple of days tring to polish a can with chocolate, and after numrous bars of different types of chocolate, I decided that it was a myth and eating the chocolate would be your best option in all situations. Mints didn't work either. Toothpaste was by far the best or Tcut/autosol.
I second the Jewelers rouge suggesteion, I heard of a man who spent 8 years hand making a lens for an astro telescope, to prove it could be done using jewelers rouge.
My experience is that it is very gental stuff. Gold is very soft, so it has to be, so it will take a while to get the scratches out and do no real harm. Just be prepared for it to take a while.

Cheers
Rich

 

[cyclist]

I tried polishing the bottom of a can to make a parabolic reflector and the choclate started going soft before it did anything.
In the past i have used brasso on my watch face to remove scratches, does a great job, just a little on a soft cloth...

use the cheapest chocolade you can find, the type that feels like eating sand - probably due to huge sugar crystals

Btw, I wouldn´t try to polish glases myself with chocolate or toothpaste. Too much to go wrong, remember we´re talking about eyes.
If it would be that easy there´s no point in buying glases, just get a piece of glas and start beinmg a DIY lens maker

 

[Eric_Methven]

use the cheapest chocolade you can find, the type that feels like eating sand - probably due to huge sugar crystals

Btw, I wouldn´t try to polish glases myself with chocolate or toothpaste. Too much to go wrong, remember we´re talking about eyes.
If it would be that easy there´s no point in buying glases, just get a piece of glas and start beinmg a DIY lens maker

Ah, but we're talking about removing scratches and blemishes from an existing prescription profile. Polishing won't alter the profile. DIY lens making is a whole 'nother ball game.

Eric

 

[ilan]

T^hink you wil find that it will be impossible to get all but the finest scratches out as you will alter the profile of the lense and put a distortion on it. try silver polish .dont forget a scratch is normaly quite a deep cut in the lense surface so you need to remove quite a lot of material all over the lense otherwise you will just polish a wide groove in the lense surface .

 

[Bardster]

There's a few people around who swear by this stuff http://www.polywatch.de/english/polywatch_anwendung.htm
it can be got here http://www.timefactors.co.uk/stuff.htm in the UK