[ATM] Mirror stuck on pitch lap

[James Sturtevant]

I have always had good luck simply soaking lap and mirror in a bucket - 
overnight is good. The more forceful approach of spraying with a hose sounds 
good too. But, there is a way to avoid the whole problem. Just place a sheet 
of wet baking parchment between the lap and the mirror when pressing.

Some will object that the thickness of the parchment (about .002") means 
that the lap and mirror are not in perfect contact. True, but a few minutes 
of pressing without the parchment will take care of the small discrepancy. 
Besides, I have always been puzzled by the traditional injunction to 
maintain perfect contact between lap and mirror. Unless the mirror is a 
perfect plane or sphere (and if it is, why are you still polishing?) the 
moment the lap is moved even a fraction of an inch away from the position in 
which it was pressed, it is no longer a perfect match for the mirror 
surface.

An additional benefit of parchment pressing is that the parchment has a 
fibrous texture that is pressed into the lap - a kind of 
ultra-micro-faceting.

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