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Ray-CA
Member
Sorry, I thought you were talking about Fordite
PatrickR
Member
I have found black ebonite to be the most challenging to get a perfect finish on. It is unforgiving but once done right its look is exceptional. my technique is to sand dry, start with 360 grit working up through all of he Zona papers and be sure not to leave any of the previous grits scratches (unlike most materials where you can get by with leaving some) alternating radial and longitude helps to see the scratch pattern. Inspect the finish with a strong angled light helps to see how it's progressing. Follow this either with buffing or liquid polishing. I have been experimenting with sanding less, sanding only longitudinal, 320 , green zona, grey Zona and then buff with a 45 mesh and a 5 mesh finish with plast X polish. This is showing promise and is much faster.
Threading - not sure what you mean by softening? I polish the threads with sewing thread and liquid polish. Draw the thread back and forth in a sawing motion untill you get a squeaky clean sound. I find ebonite is the easiest material to thread and very forgiving just me sure to lubricate it liberally ( I use mineral oil )