Here’s a quick reminder that composite laps sometimes require resurfacing / scoring. While some composite laps are more prone to becoming glazed than others, remember that when polishing stones, you’re rubbing a polishing compound between two surfaces. The polishing compound is designed to polish the gemstone – and it has a comparatively tiny surface area – so the stone polishes faster.
But, most laps will inevitably become polished as well. That lowers the friction coefficient and removes imperfections in the lap surface where balled-up polish and swarf can retreat away from the gem surface while you’re polishing. This means BOTH slower polishing AND more scratches.
When your composite laps begin to look shiny – and especially when that coincides with noticing a slowing-down of polishing and/or an increase in scratching issues – it’s time to strip the swarf-mud off the lap, and maybe also to recondition the surface. This video shows how: