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Hi Sheldon, 1st Question, Why would you not want to use Glass, it is the proven Medium, though, Mid to late 1900's, astro Mirrors & Tools were also made from Steel, Ceramic Tiles, and prob a few other appropiate mediums in them days ?
BTW, Making the tool, well, that is usually another blank piece of glass anyway, & it comforms to shape as you rough, med & fine grind the mirror blank, Easy its all in the process !
Next, is the need of the Pollishing Lap, Which youll need to hunt down the materials for, normally from the same supplier as the astro mirror Optical quality abrrasives were resourced, with detructions : )
Laps, as far as I know can be made from two mediums, A) Bitumin, which was the more common material for amatures in the late 1900's, and it works fine. B) The newer 'Tropical Lap' made from Resin & something else, memory fails, as its been a while !
Mind you, that these methods are probably most useful for mirrors upto 12-14 inches at a pinch, 18, 20 or even 30" may involve other techniques Im unaware of as I have only made upto a size 12 , ,
I assume you prob know all this, and prob looking at a new method, which, I doubt I could help on that.
Just covering Bases, & hope this has been useful ?
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