Polising amber is necessary when one wants to see whatever inclusions it may have – for example, the fossilized ancient animals. Although these animals lived tens of millions of years ago, the amber preserved their shapes in the finest, life-like detail. The finer the polishing is, the better vision of the fossil is obtainable.
Polishing the amber includes two tasks:
1) To hold the sample to be polished in a desired position without squeezing it (the amber may be brittle);
2) Remove the amber from the sample in several iterations, each time applying a finer abrasive.
The task is complicated by
- the initial sample having an irregular shape;
- ideally, the rectangular parallelepiped should be its final shape;
- amber is not tolerant to any significant heating, and none would tolerate temperature over 70 degrees Celsius;
- the amber should remain clear from any sugar or the other food substrate suitable for the microorganismal growth.
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