Polishing paper is a product manufactured by 3M (yes, the same company known for post-it notes). The paper comes in various grits and is designed to produce a polish on metals including silver, bronze, brass, copper, and gold. It is available from numerous vendors who also sell metals, metal clay, and other related metal products such as Rio Grande, Cool Tools, and Metal Clay Supply to name a few.


The paper comes in the follow grits and colors: 400 grit/dark green; 600 grit/gray; 1200 grit/blue; 4000 grit/pink; 6000 grit mint; and 8000 pale green. It can be used on all types of metal from sheet to fired metal clay. You start with the largest grit (400) and continue to work up through the other grits, making sure not to skip any, until you get the shine you want. The higher the grit, the higher the shine you can create.

I have used polishing paper on fired silver clay as well as sterling silver sheet. The silver clay, of course, does shine up a little more quickly because it is fine silver, but with enough time and elbow grease, I was able to create a high shine on the sterling sheet and even copper sheet as well. When using the polishing paper, make sure to move it around in either a circular or a figure-eight pattern to help polish it evenly avoid making lines or scratches across the metal piece.

Of course, you will get much faster results with a polishing wheel, but when you just have a small piece to polish or do not have access to a polish wheel, polishing paper is a wonderful, inexpensive alternative.