3. Polishing

The horn is first polished by vigorously rubbing it with extra-fine sandpaper that has first been coated with mineral oil or soap, either manually or with a sanding machine.

A better shine is obtained by vigorously rubbing the horn by hand with a soap-impregnated chamois leather sprinkled with rice-husk powder, which is an excellent abrasive because of its microscopic silica grains. Commercial metal polishes in paste or liquid may also be used.

Polishing by hand, like trimming, is a time-consuming and tedious operation. It can be considerably shortened by using a sanding machine with polishing pads (figure V.3) or felt pads mounted on a bench sanding lathe (figure V.4). For machine polishing, the polishing and felt pads should be impregnated with soap, rice husk powder or metal polish.

Figure V.3: Sanding machine with polishing pad

Figure V.4: Sanding lathe with felt pads