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Hi all, The technique is not perfect but works. I had not really intended to send the email to all of Arch-met...but that is what I get when I hit reply before finishing my first cup of coffee! Since it is "out of the bag".... The theory was bringing the polisher to the sample, rather than the other way, and be quick and affordable. It was designed for determining if a blade was made of crucible steel or ordinary steel. The process is best done using a desk mounted magnifying lens. Basically, I just use a dremel rotary tool with adjustable speed and the dremel drill press. Both are relatively inexpensive. There are thousands of dremel accessories...mainly for crafts. I have a selection of bullet shaped silica and alumina grinders/polishers, with a tip about 2 mm in diameter, to remove corrosion. I then use the felt bullet or other shaped felt accessories with the same diameter. Sometimes I carve them if so they are even smaller. I then apply lubricant and a bit of diamond paste to the tip. Between grit, I clean the residue with acetone on a cotton skewer. The drill press allows me to precisely place the felt tip in the same location and just touch the surface for just a few second, repeating if necessary. It also allows me to sample in less obvious places and take multiple samples across an object. Controlled etching is an issue. Basically I just apply the etchant to a cotton skewer or at the end of lens tissue, and have another one with solvent ready. It does leave a small (2 mm) shiny mark on the surface. I then move to the microscope and the polished sections fills the microscope field of view. To see the result scroll through http://www.vikingsword.com/ethsword/beallcollection.pdf If anyone has suggestions where I could publish this method (perhaps as a note), with photographs. I would be interested as that was my original intent. Any thought are appreciated! All the best, Ann