Re: Dag Questions Comments

Looks like that link I sent for the patent has timed out.
Here's the search page: *http://tinyurl.com/jkjq5
*The patent number is 12560.
>
>> Phillip Murphy wrote:
>
>>> "Something to keep in mind, the Daguerreotype was perfected in the
>>> 1850's;
>>> few modern plates have ever matched what was accomplished at that
>>> time. "
>>>
>> Jonathan wrote:
>> Do you have a source on this? All you have to do is look at the work
>> of Irving Pobboravsky, Jerry Spagnoli, Mike Robinson, John Hurlock,
>> Ken Nelson, et. al. to see that the quality is superior or equivalent
>> to the 19th century.
> "I suppose the best source for your answer would be to ask Irving,
> Jerry, Mike, John, Ken &tc, if they feel that they
> have matched what the Daguerreotypists achieved in the 1850's. I
> would be very interested to hear the
> individual answers that you get. I am a great admirer of each of their
> work."
>>
>>> "Having said that, a modern convenience for polishing your plates is to
>>> use a random orbit sander. You can sew pieces of padded buckskin to
>>> the
>>> detachable discs and replace them as needed for different polishing
>>> compounds. Have some on hand for rottenstone and others for lampblack
>>> or rouge. You'll want a mask and good ventilation. Finish your plates
>>> with hand buffing using fine cotton velvet and or brain tanned
>>> deerskin."
>>>
>> Jonathan wrote:
>> Have you tried this? I've always been told that you should have fine
>> polish lines (if any at all) along one axis only so that the light
>> falls evenly on the finished plate.
>
> Absolutely, the idea was first suggested to me by a Daguerreotypist in
> New Jersey,
> Antonio Romano. I later spoke with Canadian Daguerreotypist Mike
> Robinson about
> his own technique of using a Makita random orbit sander for polishing
> plates. I think
> it was Lowes where I bought one.
>
> Of course the idea isn't a new one; there was a patent for using a
> rotating pad back in
> 1855.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/nouzk
>
> Here's a quote from the abstract of the Shive patent:
>
> "The nature of my invention consists in providing a machine for polishing
> daguerreotype plates and other like surfaces requiring the finest polish,
> adapted to cause either the plate or the polishing pad to move in
> constantly changing circles, the one piece against the other, or, in
> other
> words, the one to gyrate or whirl around against the other, so as to
> continually
> change by circular motions the relative position of every point of
> contact
> between the two surfaces.
> In preparing daguerreotype plates for receiving the picture, the more
> perfect the
> polish the more perfect will be the heliographic effect, and
> experience has
> fully demonstrated that in procuring the polish required on the
> surface of the
> plate there is no motion that can be given to the pad comparable in
> its effects
> to a gyrating one; but this motion has heretofore required to be
> effected by
> hand, and is consequently dependent upon the skill or manual dexterity
> of the
> operator, and is always attended with the expenditure of much time and
> labor.
> To obviate these objections, and at the same time enable the most
> inexperienced
> operator to produce the most perfect polish upon the surface of such
> plates is
> the object effected by the use of my invention. "
>
> Jonathan, you are correct in wanting the very finest buffing lines to
> move in
> parallel to each other across the length of the plate. Depending on if
> the plate is
> used for landscape or portrait, you'll want to turn your plate
> accordingly in
> the final finest light buffing. (This is where the hand buff comes in.)
> One can accomplish this with the softest brain tanned
> buckskin that has not been smoked and has the slightest amount of
> lampblack
> in it. It helps if the buff has been "broken in" from use a few times.
>
> The effect is not so much that the viewing light falls evenly on the
> finished plate,
> as much as the appearance of the fine buff lines is reflected away
> from the
> observer when looking from the appropriate viewing angle to the image.
> You might hear this final buffing technique called "laying the grain".
>
> all the best,
>
> Phillip
>
Received on 08/22/06-10:25:51 PM Z