The problem of picking up metal seems to improve (at least temporarily) if I add more diamond. At this point I am more worried about the scratching. Is it possible that the lap just needs breaking in? I have only ever polished with cerium oxide ultra laps after pre polishing on a very worn 1200 grit Crystalite, so I am not really even sure what a pre-polish with 3000 should look like. Will the facets be mirror-like at all or still pretty frosty? I had two facets that didn’t show the big scratches as much as an overall frostiness.
I have been shying away from the WD 40 due to the fumes and the fact that I am set up inside near my kids. Maybe I will look into the trombone oil or the Gearloose product. I have heard others have had luck with baby oil though, so I might not give up on it just yet. Thanks for the help!