Buffing Wheel Requirements ?

[William Young]

I have a 3/8 variable speed drill that goes from0 to 2700 rpm. However the lock-on button will only engage at full speed. I have a grinding/buffing mandrel that fits the chuck and the drill clamps nicely into my vice with rubber covered jaw protecters (sp?).
So I would like to know if this is a satifactory speed for a buffing wheel or should I choose a drill with a lesser speed.
Also, I have a grinding wheel for it but no buffing wheel. Is there any paticular type of buffing wheel that I should be looking at for use with the HUt white stick for dressing it with?
I am going to the city tomorrow morning (tuesday) and will be looking for a satifactory buffing wheel to fit the drill mandrel.
W.Y.

 

[tipusnr]

WOW! Now your sounding like another me!! I would definitely ask someone at the store about it if you don't get a definitive reply from others here. Most drills will take a lot of abuse and I have used them for a LOT of things they weren't designed for. I've reamed with them, used them for a stationary sander, even chucked in a rounding over bit one time for a makeshift freehand router in pine. I'm not saying that was smart but I didn't hurt me or the drill.

A couple of things to consider. The drill will only support one side of the wheel which will mean some degree of play or flex in the shaft is possible when putting the pen to the wheel. I don't think this is a big deal for pens but wouldn't transfer that idea to bigger projects.

You'll want a cloth or cotton wheel for the rosin (polish/wax) but it needs to be fairly stiff. Remember, most buffing wheels made for hand drills are designed for automotive finishes and use the face, not the edge, as the buffing surface. The smaller the better as larger is floppier and faster (your drill is plenty fast now).

The key will be a light touch and control. Too much speed can burn the finish and rip the pen out of your hands. BE CAREFUL!!!!

Any other ideas gang? He's gonna have around $50.00 invested in this unless Canada is a lot cheaper than around here. For that money is there a better answer?

 

[William Young]

Fifty $$ US just for a buffing wheel ? ? ? Ouch ! !
I already have the drill and mandrel thingy. Works great for sharpening lawn mower blades ;-)
I ordered that high speed drill years ago especially for drilling holes using a Kreg pocket hole jig. I have since found out that the speed they recommended is not at all necessary and I was hoping it would be satisfactory for buffing as well.[:I]

The mandrel actually came with a grinding wheel, a wire brush wheel and a white , fairly stiff felt wheel. They are all about 3" diameter and the part that fits in the drill is approx 1/4" and the enlarged threaded part is for the hole in the centre of the wheels . The hole in the centre of the wheels are the same diameter as on my 6" bench grinder.

If I can only find 6" cotton buffing wheels, would that be a better option and mount it on my lower speed bench grinder in place of the coarse stone on one side?
The other side has the fine white stone that I use for sharpening turning tools.
W.Y.

 

[timdaleiden]

Originally posted by William Young
<br />I have a 3/8 variable speed drill that goes from0 to 2700 rpm. However the lock-on button will only engage at full speed.

You can easily lock the desired speed of your drill with a mini bar clamp with rubber grips. They are very inexpensive.

When I do buffing, I just stick the collet of the buffing wheel in my drill press.

 

[William Young]

Tim;
Well salt me down and call me peanuts. Why didn't I think of that. With my 16 speed heavy duty drill press I could choose whatever speed works best.
W.Y.

 

[Charlie in Garfield]

Hi Bill,
When I finish the sanding on a pen,I just put the wax on while it is on the lathe.I then take a old terry cloth towel to polish.Works for me, but I think I'm going to try some other finishes.
Just Charlie

 

[William Young]

Yes Charlie. I understand what you are saying. I also do what I hope to be the final finish right on the lathe. But this thread is more or less in reference to another topic here where I explained about the finish dissapearing shortly after the pen was assembled on a yew wood pen that I made so I am looking for a method of finishing after the fact when that happens. Having lots of fun experimenting with my new found hobby and there sure is a lot of helpfull people and information here.
W.Y.

 

[timdaleiden]

Originally posted by William Young
<br />Tim;
Well salt me down and call me peanuts. Why didn't I think of that. With my 16 speed heavy duty drill press I could choose whatever speed works best.
W.Y.

It took me a week or so to realize that this would work well. I started by putting it in a jacobs chuck on my lathe, but the MT didn't hold this very well. When I bought up the live center to hold it in place, it started digging into the collet. I looked across my shop and saw the drill press, and [:0]

 

[Paul Downes]

Bill, Hut crystal coat is the product I use for the final polish. It can be found with the HUT waxes from most of the suppliers. I use old towels to buff out my pens. I just crank up the speed and pinch the pen with a strip of towel until it gets hot. Watch those fingers!

 

[William Young]

OK Paul, I have searched a few of the supply sites again.
Are you calling the Crystal finish as being the same as the PK-FP2 white high gloss HUTT bar? I have not found a product yet that goes by the name "crystal" finish. Perhaps a link to it if it is other than the white bar?
I also friction apply it only I have been using paper towel and I know what you mean about almost burnt fingers. I apply the finish at least three times with friction polishing each time. Does that sound about right? Now that I have the white high gloss bar I am applying the brown once or twice first followed by a couple applications with the white one.
W.Y.

 

[tipusnr]

Woodcraft.com sells HUT Crystal Coat. Product #141049. Berea Hardwoods also carries it in their catalog.

 

[William Young]

Thanks Bill;
I have never dealt with those two companies yet so I was not familiar with the procuct. I now bookmarked both of them. Now that I see it and it says it is a shellac/wax mixture in liquid form, is that not what the Hutt sticks are only in solid form? Do you feel that it is worthwhile to have it compared to the solid version? Is there a noticeable differce in the gloss it produces compared to the white bar or is it just easier to apply ? Do you feel the finish would stand up better than the white bar?
Lots of questions but that's how rookies like me learn things.
W.Y.

 

[fiver]

The hut bars are Beeswax based, and the finish will dull quicker with them.

A friction polish like Crystal Coat IMHO is much much better then the hut bars.

 

[woodman928]

The Hut Crystal Coat says it has Shellac and natural waxes in it thats reading it off the bottle. I got mine from Grizzly. The website for Crystal Coat (as taken from the bottle) is www.hutproducts.com

 

[William Young]

Thanks for the info on polishes. I checked with my particular supplier and Hut Crystal coat was temporarily out of stock so I ordered Mylands Hi-Build Friction Polish because I have also heard about excellent results with that product as well . Hope I made a good decision.
http://www.tools-for-woodworking.com/browseproducts/Mylands-High-Build-Friction-Polish.HTML

Oh yes, while I'm here, I just got back from the city with two 5" cotton buffing wheels for use on my drill press as a driving source. They cost $5.99 each at my nearest Canadian Tire store.

For my American freinds that are not familiar with Canadian Tire stores, ,.. , they are not just a tire store but a full line department store with emphases on automotive products, housewares, tools, electronics, camping goods, etc etc ... you name it....

So I took the centre band out of the yew pen that the finish mysteriously dissapeared on and carefully taped off the other metal parts . Then held the white Hut bar against the spinning wheel to "melt" some finish into it and then buffed the pen to an amazingly high gloss.
Then I took a Bocote pen that had a very nice satin finish only from a brown Hut polish and applied the same white bar method to it on the buffing wheel but this time I purposely did not tape the metal parts. I buffed the entire pen as an experiment to see what might happen to the 24K plating. I was even able to get it to cover competely under the clip by going in from each side. Figured the most I could loose would be the external parts of a $1.70 pen kit.
Everything came up as shiny as glass so I am going to keep this one for my own personal pen. Not only because I love the grain pattern of bacote but I want to see how long the plating will last after subjecting it to a high speed spinning buffing wheel while applying a polish to it.
W.Y.

 

[tipusnr]

Good job. Another case of not knowing until you try. Thanks for keeping us posted.