Re: OWLA observations and rouge

[Dan Wenz <djwenz@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 12 Mar 1996, Patrick Boeckstijns wrote:
Snip
> 
> A few months back a few people mentionned "rouge" to polish lenses.
> Were can you get it ? How do you use it ? Is it suitable to remove scratches
> from a lenscoating ? Can it remove the damaged coating all togeather ? Can
> lenses be recoated ? 
Snip

I've used rouge about 1000 years ago to polish a telescope mirror. The 
material supposedly caused the Pyrex surface to flow ever so slightly, to 
cover the (very) small scratches remaining from fine-grinding. I would 
think that on soft glass faster polishing would take place. The polishing 
was done on a pitch lap, which also flowed to conform to the mirror's surface.
I would hesitate to use any kind of polishing compound on a (soft) lens, 
especially a coated one, for fear of removing the coating and/or very 
slightly changing the lens' figure. Does anyone have more recent experience 
with the material? Cerium oxide is (was ?) also used as a faster polishing 
material than rouge.


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