You may be able to buy some rubber cylinders impregnated with polishing grit and mounted on 1/8" shanks, as the rubber extends past the end of the shank you could turn down a short length to your chosen diameter.

From memory colours are brown, green and blue which identify the different grades of abrasive.

Emgee

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Perhaps you could share a link to that article, Chris

… Then we might be able to comment on his materials, tools, and technique.

MichaelG.

So your sources are secret

… I’ve suddenly lost interest

MichaelG.

Actually that doesn't make sense. Zero rake is used for brass because it grabs (though actually I use my Diamond tool on hard brass and have never has a problem). Felt is fibrous and soft and you would need to cut through the wool fibres so need a very sharp tool. Anyway the whole idea seems silly to me for the reason that Michael gives. You need to polish the sliding surface but keep sharp and crisp edges. I think a soft metao like zinc is usually used so a suitable abrasive embeds into the surface. Aluminium would probably do the job as well.

From p42 :

Hard Felt Cylinder Bobs:

To polish, the hard felt cylinder bobs illustrated above are used for the two final polishing steps

(1 st brown tripoli and 2nd red rouge). They worked great. […]

….

The turning tool is illustrated on p41, and I admit that I am surprised.

Unfortunately, however, I can find no specification for his ‘hard felt’ so feel unable to comment any further.

MichaelG.

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Ref: for the convenience of others

http://oldetymesclockandpocketwatch.com/assets/LEVERS_with_bent_strip_recoil_Website_Version.pdf

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Edit: These Questions and Answers may be of interest:

https://www.feltbobs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=page&id=11

… especially Q2

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 26/10/2020 16:32:15

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But it did at least let me see that:

1. He is discussing bent-strip pallets
2. He only uses the bobs for the two final stages of polishing
3. The lathe tool, although zero rake, is not round-nosed

So I am a little more relaxed about the idea now !

MichaelG.

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Edit: If only we had a McMaster-Carr outlet in the UK …

https://www.mcmaster.com/felt-bobs/

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 26/10/2020 16:47:42

Havn't read the article yet but imagining a larger felt bob as used for car part polishing I would try to slice it from the end using a craft knife blade sloped down at a steep angle – like you might try and cut a paper circle on a faceplate. Ie just cutting not normal turning.

Try here Michael:- MSC Industrial supplies

regards