I bought some carbide rods (1/8" x 1.5") from eBay
that appeared to be polished, but under 30x magnification
they were quite rough.

But I was able to get a nice mirror polish on carbide rods
with this set of diamond paste polish from eBay

http://cgi.ebay.com/12-pcs-5gram-Diamond-polishing-lapping-paste-compound_W0QQitemZ180262758807QQcmdZ

I started with the 10 micron polish and worked down to the
0.5 micron polish.

Polish was applied to a paper towel, and a hand drill was
used to rotate the rod against the towel for about 30
seconds for each polish.  A black residue gives an
indication that the polish is actually working.

Under 30x magnification the polished rod shows a
mirror finish with only a few isolated pits left.  Since the
diamond polish kit goes up to 40 microns, it may
be possible to get rid of all the pits by using the
full range of polishes or by longer polishing.

I plan to use an 1/8"sapphire ball against two of the rods
for an improved Lehman pivot.

Dave



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