Reply To: jacot vs pivot polisher

[david pierce]

Tmac,
The pivot polisher has a runner and pulley on one end and a flag on the other. The flag has a small hole that the pivot rides in and the pivot is reduced with a cutting action usually with a jasper stone. If the stone is not held perfectly level, the finished pivot will reflect the angle at which the stone was held. The Jacot tool also has a runner and pulley but on the tail end there is a grooved fixture that holds the pivot and a guide system that keeps the tool level. The pivot reduction takes place with more of a burnishing action which occures in the groove. The pivot polisher is a simpler tool but it is more difficult to end up with a true cylinder. The Jacot tool is more complex and it is difficult to find one with the proper runners at a low price. There are a lot of Jacot tools for sale at what looks like a bargin but they always seem to be missing the tooling to make it a working tool. A good pivot polisher can be had for about $59.00 but a Jacot tool that you can actually use will be around $400.00.
david