BUFF, AND BUFFING. A buff is used in the daguerreotype pro cess, for polishing the silver plate, and in the glass processes, for polishing the glass plate. In the former process, it may be either a hand-buff or a buffing-lathe. The hand-buff' is made of a piece of deal about sixteen inches long and five inches wide, having.a handle at one end, and covered with velveteen, the fine ribs of which are laid acro88 the buff'. The buffing-lathe is a wheel in the shape of the frustrum of a cone, the axis of which is the axis of rotation, covered with wash-leather or doe-skin, and turned by the foot. Hand-buffs are generally kept in pairs, face to face, to prevent particles of dust from settling on the velveteen. The hand-buff used for polishing glass plates, has a handle on the back, like a blacking brush, the front being padded, and covered with wash-leather.
To use the buffing-lathe, the wheel is put into rapid motion by means of the treadle worked by the foot, and the plate held against the leather. In using the hand-buff, the operator puts an old kid
glove on the right hand, takes the handle of the buff in the left, rests the end of it on the edge of a table, and lays the face of the plate on the velveteen ; then, putting the fingers of the right hand on the ba,ck of the plate, he rubs it briskly backwards and forwards until it has received a sufficient polish ; the plate being turned occasionally diagonally, and cross ways, on the buff, and consider able pressure being employed.
A glass plate should first be rubbed dry with a cambric handker chief, then laid on a pad of paper, and rubbed in every direction with the buff, until the dew from the breath condenses on it in an even sheet, without exhibiting marks or patches.
'rhe plate, whether metal or glass, should be polished immediately before use, and the dean surface should on no account be touched with the fingers.