Who's refiguring your mirror?

I posted this under DOBS in error. Will probably get more traffic here.

I'm thinking about having my 18" Nova mirror refigured. I can't seem to get get tight star images. If after I have it looked at by some experienced observers at the next Cherry Springs Star party and they agree that the mirror is the culprit, then I need to decide who to trust with the job. Has anyone had experience with having their mirror refigured, or even looked through a friend's 'scope and seen the results of a particular person's work? I want to get an idea of who to use if the time arises. Thanks in advance.

Mark J Klimkiewicz

Hi Mark.

This is my own personal bias (you'll get others), but I like James Mulherin at OMI. One of his mirrors is in one of my Obsessions. The reason I went with him is because he is very accessible via e-mail and phone. I corresponded with him a lot before I purchased a mirror, and he was always happy to answer my questions. The guy knows a lot and is obsessive about getting things done right. I met him at Okie-Tex a few years ago, great guy.

As I recall, when James took over at OMI, there were some issues with mirrors that had been sold by the company before he came along. James refigured the mirrors at his cost. He uses scientifically verifyable methods for determining the figure of his mirrors, like laser interferometry.

Anyway, when it comes time to recoat or refigure any of my mirrors, he's my guy.