How to Make High Quality Front Surface Mirrors, Using Readily Available Tools and Materials

I am pleased to bring you my latest lab guide: “How to Make High Quality Front Surface Mirrors, Using Readily Available Tools and Materials.”

Clearly, front surface mirrors are superior to conventional back surface mirrors. A front surface mirror—as the name suggests—is a mirror in which the reflective surface is on the top surface of the glass. The mirror coating is extremely thin and susceptible to damage.

Be aware that sometimes, manufacturers will coat front surface mirrors with various coatings to change the mirror's reflective characteristics. Sometimes manufacturers will add an anti-reflective (AR) coating over the delicate mirror layer. My book will not discuss applying AR coatings, however.

The problem with using back surface mirrors for making things like stereo beam splitters, mirror type stereo viewers or kaleidoscope making is image degradation. The glass used to make cheap mirrors usually has a greenish tint and this will often affect the image.

Because a front surface mirror reflects far more light than a back surface mirror, front surface mirrors are ideal for making light reflectors. Front surface mirrors make highly efficient reflectors and reflected images are substantially sharper.
My latest guide will explain how to make your own high-quality front surface mirrors without the need for costly materials, hazardous chemicals or hard to find tools. My simple techniques do not require that you learn to silver glass.

Can you make mirrors equal to high-end lab quality mirrors? Well, no, most likely not. Many front surface mirrors can be costly and frankly, for most users, you do not need expensive mirrors. The final quality depends upon how carefully you work.

When you learn how to make your own mirrors, you do not need to worry about damage; just make another mirror if you have a problem. The process takes surprisingly little time.

I updated my lab guide to teach you how to restore reflex mirrors for SLR cameras as well as a chapter that teaches you the proper way to clean a variety of glass surfaces. There are several time-tested methods of cleaning glass filters, scanner glass as well as front surface mirrors.