polishing (Q900)

The process of putting a heightened shine on the surface of a material by rubbing it with a smooth stone or metal tool. This may be done to a covering skin, usually leather, by a variety of means, including polishing with a hot iron with or without a prior coating of egg-glaire and plating between polished plates. Paper, especially that used in the area of the eastern Mediterranean, was often polished with a smooth stone as a preparation for writing, and the cut edges of bookblocks were almost always polished with one of a variety of materials, including stone, metal and the teeth of horses.