Leather vs Felt?

[peruano]

I believe one guiding light is the polish being used.
Cerium oxide is used with lots of water - felt holds that water better than leather.
Cromium oxide is used as a paste, and while used damp, the water is not as abundant and leather works best. 
And of course, it would be better if you did not mix polishes on a single pad if you can devise a way to swap discs or the pads on them.  tom 

[lopacki]

Danny / lopacki, is that motor you're using from a PDQ Gem Drill ? How does the Dremel speed control work with it ?  I have both the PDQ drill, and their little 3" saw. I need a good speed control for them. The old sewing machine foot control that came with them gets hot on the foot after a few minutes of use.

Don,
That is similar to the PDQ motor, this set up is the first I had for wood polishing as I needed to be able to control the speed of the motor I tried plugging it into the Dremel control which worked fine the only problem the motor being 1/15th HP it would slow down as soon as you started to polish.

 After making a move about 14years ago when I set up a carving bench in the house so I could play with fire agate while I had no shop. I purchased a Foredom bench lathe and found that I should have bought one of these little jewels many years before I did. If I were you and you have the funds buy a Foredom K3340 bench lathe kit, it comes with pretty much all you need to be in business. If I have time later today I will go out to the studio and take an image of my set up with a wood wheel mounted.

All my best .......... Danny

[jakesrocks]

Thanks for the Info Danny. I've started a museum of sorts, of small vintage lapidary machines. I seldom use any of them, but want them all in working condition if possible. Gonna be bidding on another small machine later today. If I win it, I'll restore it to working condition and put it on the shelf along with the other machines.

Don