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Been here in the quiet of the morning, lapping a set of ferrules. I have been doing it by hand with small pieces of 1000 and 1200 grit sandpaper, checking often.  Here is the problem I am encountering. The ferrules are tight and difficult to assemble, but, if I put a trace amount of lubricant on them, they slide in perfectly, but are extremely difficult to disassemble. I am concerned about lapping them anymore because I do not want them to be loose since right now they technically fit. Also, is there anything to do to help get a silky smooth assembly? They seem to not assemble that smoothly. Advice?  (Paul McRoberts)

It sounds like you may have a burr on the inside of the female.  When I have has that situation, I have wrapped a bit of fine steel wool  around a bit of  bamboo (I use a section of scrap tip), lubricated it with WD-40 and spun it inside the female (I used the drill or lathe to spin it).  I then clean the female and this fit has smoothed out.  (Bill Lamberson)

With regard to sticking ferrules - I've yet to polish any of mine, I seem to remember a bamboo rod I had that the ferrule fit was second to none I've ever seen - slid to and fro like silk - I believe the male was polished. I suppose there's a way to polish the female as well, anyone having experience with these things.  (John Silveira)

I have tried a variety of tools - fine grit sandpaper, diamond file for fingernails, EZ Lap Files, and a Grobet Lapping file. I can highly recommend the quality of the ferrule fit I got with the Grobet lapping file - definitely superior fit to the other tools and works so well in conjunction with low speed rotation in a lathe. The Grobet files are available from several sources - got mine from Sporting Enterprises.  (Frank Paul)

I concur with Frank.  I recently picked up a set of Grobet files from Jeff Wagner just before this year's Grayrock Gathering, the #4, #6 and #8. I've used them a few times since, and now wonder how I ever got along without them.  Great material removal control, don't have to worry about not lapping flat since the files are about 1/2" wide, and the #8 file followed up with steel wool is giving me my best ferrule fit yet.  No financial interest yada yada yada.  Great product.  (Mark Wendt)

I just got the #8 one on the recommendation from Bailey Woods. I used ivory soap as a lubricant on one side of the file for the final finish, and just went with a little cutting fluid on the other. It went very well and much better than using the other techniques.  (Frank Paul)

I'll give the ivory soap a try too.  Another little trick I picked up from one of the metal working mailing lists is to use a piece of hardwood to clean out the tailings from filing in the grooves rather than a file card.  The long time machinists feel that the metal bristles on the file card or brush will ultimately dull the file teeth.  You need to use a hard piece of wood, like oak, to clean the tailings out of the file grooves but it works pretty well.  (Mark Wendt)

I use a piece of bamboo...  (Chad Wigham)

Good idea.  I was thinking along the same lines after I sent my post to Frank.  I've always got spare sections laying around after planing strips.  (Mark Wendt)

I think machinists rub the file on a piece of chalk before use.  (Neil Savage)

I've found that not just any chalk will work well.  Use "railroad chalk" for best results.  (Wally McMurray)

Well, someone has to be the first...

What on earth is railroad chalk?  (Larry Blan)

Where would one purchase that kind of chalk?  I've never heard of it before.  (Mark Wendt)

Well...it kinda' looks like the chalk that kids use to mark-up the sidewalks: 4" long, 15/16" base, and slightly tapered from there. It's pretty  cheap: about 20 cents a stick.  The bad news: I've never see it offered in less than gross quantities (144).

So why mention it in the first place?

I have a few pieces that I'd be happy to share (see me offsite). But I think many HSM's (home shop machinists) might also have a few extras.  It's available from Enco, MSC, etc., as I say, in ridiculous quantities (I guess unless you're a railroad).

There is another dodge to the pinning (clogging of files): keep the metal part (handles on files are no joke) submerged in some kind of cutting oil.

As you can imagine, both methods are messy.

A cleaner solution: get yourself a soft (that is small diameter bristles) stainless steel straight wire brush (file cards are worthless) and scrub out the swarf frequently while filing.

I like the last the best.

Sorry to be so wordy, but the road to satisfactory results with a file was a long one for me.  I hope I've helped somebody.  (Wally McMurray)

In rereading my posting about "railroad chalk", et. al., I sound very much like I discovered this all by myself.  This is not true, and (without permission) I will give credit where it is due: chalking of files is a very old technique that found its way to me via Guy Lautard, a very companionable fellow who has published a number of books, plans and other fun stuff for machining  metal workers, a considerable number of whom don't make a living at it.

"The Machinist's Bedside Reader", in Vols. 1,2,& 3, are generally available wherever  end mills are sold, an make a great read if you like making metal chips.  I've no commercial interest in Guy's products, indeed, haven't talked with him for years (though I saw his name on a recent Corbet Lake list; I missed my chance to meet him in person as he was unable to attend).

I have invented a number of fabulously clever techniques over the years only to find out that nearly everyone has been doing it that way (or a better way) for years.  In the case of filing techniques, I didn't even come close to reinventing it, and my scrap box is fully  of gouged brass, steel, and aluminum.

By the by, one thing that I have not seen anywhere that may prove beneficial is this:  fire up the belt sander and carefully round-off the sharp longitudinal edges of your files. These, too, have a nasty way of increasing the scrap pile.  (Wally McMurray)

I've used an old piece the lumber yard sold for chalk lines before they came in a wind-up thing with chalk powder inside.  Don't know if it's still available though.  It used to come in sticks, then later in hemispheres (more or less.)  (Neil Savage)

I have a problem connected to the Ferrule Fitting.

I have used for some year the Grobet files 6 and 8 size and I am enthusiast of this little tools.  But, without Chalk, oil or Ivory soap or other files protector, now in some part my files are occluded by residues of nickel-silver. I have tried to remove the NS using a metallic brush - bronze or copper - but the final effect is poor.

Any suggestions?  (Marco Giardina)

Ouch.  Those small bits are a bear to get out (as in fine files).  I have heard of acid being used to sharpen files, but suspect that you'll will be left with a rusty, if hardened,  piece of metal.  Unless someone has a real solution, I'd suggest starting anew with a fresh file.   (Wally McMurray)

I don't know if the files in question are toothed files, or diamond files. If they have teeth, take a small piece of flat metal, either aluminum or brass and scrape the file along the cutting teeth. As you do this the soft metal will develop small ridges that will scrape out all the little bits of swarf. The piece of metal I use is about 1/2" x 4" x .032"  (Mark Shamburg)

If that'll work on #8 Grobet, that's a gem of a tip!  Makes intuitive sense.  (Wally McMurray)

I've done a similar thing using short pieces of scrap bamboo. I hold the bamboo like a pencil, and push the end grain along the direction that the teeth are cut in.  the hard 'boo fibers clean out the teeth, but are soft enough not to damage them.  (Chris Obuchowski)

I clean my Grobet files in a glass bead cabinet, using very fine glass beads. At around 100 PSI. This works  really well. This is the way Bailey Wood cleans his files. This is the only way I have  found to really clean the nickel silver out of them.  (Dave LeClair)

Well, after the Dave LeClair suggestion I have discovered close to my shop a sand blaster service for metal parts, and now I have in my hands a like new couple of Grobet files. Thank you Dave.

In the future  I will protect better my precious files. (Marco Giardina)

I'm glad I could be of help  to you. But, don't use sand to blast them, you want to use fine glass beads. These will clean the file, without hurting it.  (Dave LeClair)

That's what I have always used, and it works very well. I'd have to play with a cheaper file with the Ivory... I'd hate to rust one of those files!  (Larry Blan)

You might get a chuckle out of this, but the recommended way of "resharpening" files is to let them sit outside in the rain for a day or so and get a thin film of rust on them.  The oxidation is supposed to re-tooth the file.  (Mark Wendt)

Buy a new file....(Don Schneider)

Just on things that sound strange but work when I got my diesel motor gen setup reconditioned the bloke doing it had a drum of molasses and water in it that he dumped in rusted and siezed nuts and bolts for a few weeks.

He reckoned it to be the best thing in the world for freeing them up. Seemed to work too.  (Tony Young)

Here's a link talking about it. Course, it might only work on Fords.  (Mark Wendt)

The feed store stocks molasses for either.

I've never used it, but a lot of the restorers swear by it. There are some pretty amazing pics out there, including parts that were submerged halfway. The line at the surface of the molasses looks like it was drawn on, no creep or capillary type effect, just rust on one side and steel on the other.  (Larry Blan)

The old bloke who told me about it sold me on it. His workshop was of the old school, you know 60 years of accumulated stuff. He specialized in rebuilding diesel engines used to pump pretty corrosive bore water in sheep stations in Western Australia so he was dealing with gear that was not looked after that's for sure.

While I was talking to him he was removing parts from something that I'd have dumped in a scrap metal bin and tossing them into the molasses. He showed me parts taken out of the molasses after soaking in it for whatever period of time that he said looked at least as bad what he was tossing in to begin with and they did indeed look like they were fresh out of the box. Pretty impressive.   (Tony Young)

I have always rubbed chalk into my files.  An old trick I learned in metal shop in JR. High.  (Bret Reiter)

Caught a burr on the inside of a female ferrule. My solution was to keep going, get the male stuck, get impatient and end up wrecking the whole ferrule. Not recommended.

Has anyone else had this problem? How do you solve this?  (Steve Trauthwein)

Yeah, I've done it. Quite the pisser, isn't it? I use a male lap and 1000 grit garnet lapping compound on the inside of the female. It doesn't take much to get rid of the burr.

You can also take a small metal rod, wood, etc., split it to hold a small with of sandpaper, wrap the sandpaper around the bar until you had a snug fit inside the female, then turn it by hand until smooth.

The way to avoid such a thing in the first place is don't force the ferrules while they are still tight. Go only as deep as they will comfortably go, then remove and sand some more on the male.  (Martin-Darrell)

Had something happen yesterday I've never experienced before, and still can't quite pinpoint the problem.

While fitting a set of # 15's on a Guide Special, running the male in the lathe on a steel rod, with 1500 paper, the inside of the female was scratching the male ferrule to pieces. Not sure what happened, or what piece was responsible, but something happened the scratched the pieces. I've never encountered this ever. Has anyone ever had this happen? and what do you think caused it?  (Jerry Andrews)

I had it happen once. I believe it was some detritus from the fitting process. Trashed my ferrules and they were fitted to the rod.  (Steve Trauthwein)

I had it happen to me also, I think it was a burr inside the female, I'm very careful to clean everything before trying the fit and I always round the edge of the male first. The same methods have caused me no problems until this last rod,  but I got the ferrules about a year ago.  (John Channer)

I've had this happen several times, and it always come from my being too aggressive with the fitting of the ferrules, i.e., I force them too soon. Even when they sometimes are just so close, actually going together, but just a bit too tight, there seems to be a gall of some sort which raises in the female, and from that point on the ferrules will not go together even up to the point they once did. So, I take 1000 wet/dry on a stick, and carefully ream the inside of the female. I haven't had to trash a set of ferrules yet.  (Martin-Darrell)

What kind of "stick"?  I know you too well to think that this is something imprecise?  (Harry Boyd)

Actually, I do have some of those cute little inside laps, but not in every size, so I take a very imprecise wooden dowel, saw a kerf in the end, put the paper in the kerf, and wrap it around the stick until I have a good fit, then rotate away inside the female. Sometimes it takes more than one  piece  of  sandpaper,  but  not  usually.  (Martin-Darrell)

I think you guys have the right idea.  I've just recently started making my own ferrules and one might think a good sharp reamer would make the inside of the female smooth enough to allow the fitting of the male, ain't necessarily so IMHO. I've found that cleaning the female after reaming is 'most' important and then polishing and cleaning before trying to fit the male will usually produce a good result. The sharp end of the male should be rounded off and the fit should not be 'forced'.  (Don Greife)

I think sometimes there's a little loose solder left over from affixing the moisture plug on the female.  That solder bouncing around causes all kinds of problems.  I know others say it's not correct to do so, but I always polish out the inside of the female ferrule, first with steel wool and finally with red rouge on a cotton buff.  Clean well with alcohol, then start trying to fit the male to the female.  (Harry Boyd)

Have had similar problems when fitting ferrules in that the female causes one or more large scratches along the male.  Final solution for me was to use a tapered wooden dowel in the mouth of the female as a grinder.  Used abrasive grit and/or steel wool to hand polish out a slight interior radius at the opening, which has worked for me.  My suspicion is either contamination from the ferrule making process or already in the ferrule material.  (Richard Tyree)

I was working for a couple of hours fitting a ferrule and was just starting to make some progress using a fine Swiss file.   The male was just starting to fit and slid in easily about halfway home.   Then when I went to separate the sections, they were surprisingly stuck.   I gave several tugs and finally the sections separated.   So why the "stuckness"?   The male was deeply scratched, like etched.   The scratches are ca .01 wide.   The only explanation I can come up with is that I forgot to remove any burr at the cap end of the male created when filing, and it was a burr that lead to the "stuckness" and the scratches.   I tried to remove some of the damage to the inside of the female with very fine paper, but so far no luck (5 micron grit).   I'm guessing it will not be possible to fix and I'll need to replace the ferrule on both the butt and tip I was working on.    Has anyone  ever had this problem?  Any other explanation I'm missing?   It's totally new to me, but then I seem to have a knack for finding new problems to solve.

Is the ferrule likely to come off with heat without damaging the blank?   (Glued with Duro "Extra Time" Epoxy which sets in about an hour.)   It's a nice rod so far and I would hate to burn or otherwise ruin it at this point.   Or, would I be better off mounting the sections in the lathe and machining off the ferrules?  (Bob Milardo)

Don't pull those ferrules off yet!!!

I had occasion last week to revamp a female to fit a male, and found a method which seemed to work okay, though it took awhile.  First, try the bullet shaped felt bob on your Dremel tool with some polishing compound (you do have a Dremel, huh?  everyone should).  If that smoothes it down enough, great.

If not, in the lathe turn a wooden dowel to fit the female as though it were the male slide.  Now saw a slit in the portion of the dowel that fits into the opening so that it looks like the end of a Tinker-Toy dowel with a longer slot.  Then custom cut a small piece of 800-1500 grit paper to fit in the slot and wrap around the dowel.  The slot holds the paper in place.  You can use that to lap the female, removing the scratches.

Finally, if the dowel with a slit won't hold the paper, the coat the wooden dowel itself with some polishing compound.  Though I used the diamond paste I use for sharpening, I feel sure that Finesse-it would work.  Force the dowel to fit tight by using small pieces of sandpaper inside the slit as shims.

One of these methods will work, and save you the trouble and expense of replacing a set of ferrules.  (Harry Boyd)

What am I missing here? Are there advantages to fitting ferrules after they are mounted on the rod sections? I have always fitted the ferrules before mounting. Just in case of an error, it's easier to correct or replace.  (David Dziadosz)

Fitting ferrules after mounting gives you the real advantage of having something to grab onto to pull them apart. Also, ferrules that seem to fit good before mounting are always (in my book anyway) to loose once they are mounted.  (Marty DeSapio)

You are absolutely right Marty.  (Ralph Moon)

I relieve the sharp corner on the female opening and the male end.  Started doing this a few rods back and it seems to eliminate galling.  (Ted Knott)

I've been doing this for years on the male. Was easy enough to roll it a few times @ a 45 degree angle on a medium Arkansas.

The female got a lot easier when I purchased a polishing kit from Gesswein Jewelry supplies. It has a series of about 1/8" * 1" long polishing rubbers that fit a mandrel on the Dremel. Works well on the inside edge of the female.  (Don Anderson)

In addition to what Harry said, go into the archives, we had a big discussion a while back on the topic of galling, which is the likely source of the problem. One of the tricks that came out of the discussion is to join/take apart a problem ferrule numerous time using WD 40 as a lubricant. Do not spray WD40 anywhere near a rod, spray on a cloth and apply to the male. As you work the sections, you will find that a gray slurry forms, and the galling stops. Clean the ferrules well. WD 40 will really mess up a varnish job if it is on the sections beforehand, so use extreme care care to avoid contamination. Don't get it on your hands, etc, etc.  (Tom Smithwick)

It is often possible to clean up the inside of the female ferrule using a swatch of 0000 steel wool, appropriate sized blob, twisted onto a mandrel (I use old steel burrs for this job).  The whole thing looks kind of like a big Q-tip when the steel wool is screwed on.  I mount it in the drill and just insert it into the female and polish it back and forth.  I have an old electric dental drill with a foot switch control and speeds variable from very slow to 40000 rpm, and that is absolutely ideal, but I am sure any drill would cope nicely.

And yes, the ferrule will come off OK with heat, and shouldn't cause any problem.  You don't actually need all that much heat.  DON'T POINT IT AT YOUR FACE, as sometimes they come off at a hell of a bloody rate!  AMHIK.  (Peter McKean)

As Tom, Harry and others suggested it was a galling problem, or at least that now makes the most sense to me.   Polishing the inside of the female with a very fine paper wrapped around a dowel with WD 40 as a lubricate worked fine.  It took some patient lapping but did remove the burr created when the two parts stuck.   The male however was too far gone and I had to replace it.   (Bob Milardo)

I went through just what is happening to you. Ferrules fitting fine - then galling.  I never had this happen before. Had built about 100 rods than then ferrule galling appears. Beat the galling thing for now. I'm positive that another gremlin will appear in another part of the building process. Just waiting.

I use a Q tip with a couple of drops of WD40 on the tip. I swab the female only making sure I don't get any on the cane or other parts of the rod. After polishing the male a tad [ I wipe off the WD40 with a lint free paper towel and then trial fit, I swab out the female with the clean end of the Q tip. It's amazing the amount of black junk that comes out. I continue to swap the female and polish the male till I get a fit. I then clean both female and male to shiny. The fit is usually "right on".  (Don Anderson)

I always just clean out the female with denatured alcohol.  No chance of silicon from WD40 getting anywhere near the rods.  I also clean out the portion of the ferrule where the bamboo is inserted with denatured.  Just a little quirk of mine.  I don't want to take any chances of machining oils and glues not liking each other.

**Knock on wood**  No problems so far.  (Joe Byrd)

Would using the 3M product Perfect It be safer than WD40 to clean out the inside of the female ferrule?  Then you wouldn't have to worry about contamination of the section.  I know that when I use it to polish ferrules that I am making it takes off a lot of black stuff from the ferrule.  (Tom Peters)

Is there anything necessarily wrong with having this black stuff in one's ferrule?  I've on two occasions removed it and then had ferrules that don't fit as well afterward?  Isn't it just patination?  (Joe West)

One thing you can do to help protect the cane from WD40 is to use masking tape.  Start at the ferrule end, and wind long spirals up it and the shaft for several inches.  You still want to avoid any kind of mess, but at least you don't need to worry so much about small, local contamination issues.  (Bill Harms)

Another thing you can do is use 3 in One Oil, or any decent light oil.  I've used 3-in-1 on dozens of  ferrules with no problems yet.   That avoids  the supposed  silicone that  is allegedly  in WD-40.  (Harry Boyd)

I looked at the MSDS on the WD40 web site, and I don't see silicone mentioned.  Is it in one of the compounds and just not listed separately? What chemistry I had is 40 years in the past.  (Neil Savage)

If I recall correctly WD 40 has a list of proprietary ingredients. Silicone maybe among them.

I like the 3 in 1 oil idea + kerosene may work as well.

I use Saran wrap spiraled up the blank. Plus a touch of masking tape at the ferrule  wrap to protect things. I don't finish the ferrule lapping for about a month after the ferrule is mounted & final varnish coats are done on the rod. Cane gains dimension somewhat and the ferrule may expand due to moisture changes in the cane.  I'm extra careful not to get any abrasives into the female ferrule to prevent the type of galling mentioned earlier.  I had a bad experience some time ago when I was lazy, split the rod in 2 and put it ferrules down on the seat of the truck. Somehow a small piece of sand made it up the female. The ferrule went together fine, taking it apart was another story.  (Don Anderson)

Leonard would boil the ferrules in water and baking soda mix. until all the bubbles (air) were removed from the inside of the ferrules. 10-15 minutes boiling time. after, rinse the ferrules in warm water and wipe clean. make sure that the edge on the male slide is clean hit it with a ferrule file. also check the out side lip of the female ferrule. Payne ferrules were swaged with a internal taper on the female and male slide.  (Hal Bacon)

I have been messing with the rod that will not be made. Anything that can go wrong, went wrong. Having messed up the first set of ferrules, I vowed to make the second set perfect. But it was not to be. As I lapped the male, it simply would not fit. It would go on, and then stick for no apparent reason. This went on and on, with numerous trips upstairs for two handed assistance, and at one point I put the butt in a vise. Then of course there was pulling the ferrule off entirely, but that will not be mentioned again. Reglued and let it sit.

Later, I got out my magnifiers, and looked at the male. It had some strange deep gouges that were pretty uniform around the diameter. Did an inspection of the inside of the female, and found bits of metal sticking out that were messing up the fit. So I did what you should never do - I got a piece of steel wool on my Dremel, and polished the inside of the female. The male went right on, and came off with a nice pop. Go figure. And this was one of the high-end ferrules to boot. My arms are sore from yanking on the thing all night.

The real lesson here is never throw a blank in the trash, and then fish it out. The rod remembers and you pay.  (Jeff Schaeffer)

I voiced a similar complaint several months ago, and have also heard from a few other fellows who encountered this same problem with ferrule fit.  I never got the issue resolved, but I'm pretty certain that the galling is not caused by improper mounting or lapping techniques.  I believe the problem is in the alloys themselves.

I don't know who the actual manufacturers of nickel silver tubing (or rod) may be, but I strongly suspect that quality control is the problem. Certainly these manufacturers  do  not  have  our ferrule-fitting interests in mind when the batches of nickel silver are made and drawn.  I'd be willing to bet almost anything that the "formula" varies widely from batch to batch, as well as the actual process of drawing the material out to the various sizes.

I know little-or-nothing about metallurgy, but I do know that the quality of the alloy affects how the material will machine, or accept a lapped surface. I'm wondering if it's possible that an inferior nickel silver alloy can contain minute areas (molecules, even) that become casehardened as the surface is worked, causing the galling that we sometimes experience.

In any case, I've also heard others resolve the situation as you have done, Jeff, by doing a final honing with steel wool saturated with a fine, gun oil.

Jury's still out.  (Bill Harms)

I think the lesson actually is :

And I promise to remind myself I said that next time I am in a hurry and cut corners.

The fourth line is never, ever, assume anything.   (Robin Haywood)

I am trying to fit the ferrules on Rod #4 and have run into a problem not previously encountered.  I have fit the first tip to the butt and fear that there is a burr inside the female ferrule, since the male ferrule shows scores along its length where the burr is cutting into it.  I don't have any suitable hones or reamers to polish this out; is there any other way of dealing with it and is this a common problem?  I cleaned the inside of the female thoroughly before beginning and think I was following all of the proper procedures.  (Ray Wright)

If you haven't fitted the ferrules yet, you can wrap wet-dry sand paper around a drill bit that gives you a good fit and lightly burnish the inside of the female.  Be careful not to ma ke the interior oval rather than round.  You just want to get rid of the imperfection.  I'd start with 400 - 600 grit and work to 1000.  Clean the interior well when you are done.  Remember that there isn’t much room for material removal there.

Somebody  will  now  explain  why  this  answer  is   totally wrong-headed and provide the one true solution.  (Brian Creek)

First try to find the burr. You can do this by using a dubbing needle and running it inside the female ferrule. If the burr is large enough You will feel it with the needle. Then you can work in that area with a piece of fine sandpaper glued to a length of dowel. Work it in and out of that area being careful not to over do it. Keep checking till the fit is smooth. I just did that on a ferrule on old rod this morning that I am cleaning up for a friend. Finish polishing the inside with 0000 steel wool. Wipe out with a Q Tip and solvent.

If you can't feel the burr. work around the inside of the ferrule checking the fit often.  (Tony Spezio)

I usually find the burr along the lip of the female ferrule. I usually go around the lip of the ferrule slowly drawing the sandpaper out as I rotate the ferrule, being careful not to scuff the inside of the ferrule. I buff the inside of all my ferrule anymore with 0000 around a cotton swab.  (Timothy Troester)

I decided to start fitting the second tip, since it was unscarred. I put a reference dot on both the tip and butt ferrule so I would assemble the sections the same each time. It quickly became apparent where the burrs were. Yes, burrs, about 5 of them. Use high magnification and strong light. I then wrapped a drill bit with 600 grit paper and worked it in and out as Tony suggested, checking frequently. When I could no longer see the burrs I buffed with steel wool and cleaned with a Q-tip and solvent and finished fitting.  This is the first time I have used this manufacturer's ferrule, may have to go back to the other guys. My tip for the day, put a reference dot on your ferrules when fitting, assemble at the dots each time and if you have a burr it will be easier to locate and correct. (Ray Wright)

I find this an occasional hazard with all makers' ferrules, but fortunately pretty rare.

I deal with it by twisting a big loose splodge of OOOO steel wool around a fine bit in my Dremel and working it into the female and giving it a good polish.  No problems so far with this technique.  (Peter McKean)