Watch This BEFORE You Buy A Buffer: Are They Useful?

alrighty guys welcome back I recently

purchased a buffer for my shop and this

machine took me a while to find and

required a significant amount of

research into buying process so I

figured I'd do a quick tool review right

at the front it needs to be said that

the buffer is hailed as the most

dangerous tool in a knife maker shop

there have been numerous accounts of

knife makers being killed when using a

buffer by the wheel grabbing the knife

they were working on and slinging it

around into their chest for this reason

some makers have taken the precaution of

wearing chain mail and building guards

around the buffers personally I only

plan on using this machine on handles

and fittings but just be aware that it

can be dangerous this Powertec 8-inch

buffer was the cheapest unit I was able

to find that had my desired parameters

the first of these parameters was the

speed many buffers come in at a high 3

450 RPMs however this one comes in at

1750 RPMs which depending on who you

talk to is the most sufficient speed

from knife making and is safer I found

so far that this speed is plenty fast

for my application the other features I

was looking for was eight inch buffing

wheels and longer shafts which this

machine satisfies some other features of

this machine include a 5 8 of an inch

shaft and a one-half horsepower motor in

measures 23 inches from end to end and

the two mounting holes have a diameter

of 0.43 inches the shafts come out to

around five and a half inches from the

body of the machine the base measures 9

inches by seven and three quarters of an

inch with rubber feet at all four

corners it came with some wheels in the

box which was pretty nice to get me

started there are multiple buffing wheel

construction methods which yield

different polishing results from what I

found online the suggestion is to use

loose cotton muslin wheels for buffing

handles if you want slightly more

structure in your wheel you can use a

spiral sewn muslin wheel which is what

came with the machine how far the

stitching goes out on the wheel will

also determine the stiffness or softness

of the feel when buffing and is varied

by the manufacturer changing wheels is

pretty straightforward on the right

shaft there is a set of flats for your

backing wrench which will allow you to

remove the nut on the end then your

wheel will just slide off the ability to

change out wheels quickly is nice since

I use different polishing compounds and

wheels when polishing wood versus

polishing metal fittings as a side note

I generally store the wheels wrapped in

plastic so that they don't get

contaminated with other shop dust and

potentially higher grit compounds while

we're flirting with the topic of

compounds I'll note that I've been using

two different compounds in my shot I'll

use the green buffing compound for metal

fittings and the white compound for a

handle material both manufactured by

Maverick

at this point in the review I think it

may be helpful to go through my standard

operating procedure for finishing a

handle I start off by rough shaping my

handle on the 2 by 72 belt grinder with

a 60 grit belt and then finish on the

grinder with a 120 grit belt on the hand

sanding bench I start off with 320 grit

Rhino wet sandpaper then step up the 600

grit 1000 grit and finally 1200 grit

paper at this point I head on over to

the buffer I load up the wheel with some

white compound and start buffing the

handle on metal fittings I generally

sand them up to either 600 or a thousand

grit and then hit them with the green

Compound on the buffer

so far these progressions have done a

great job for me but note that I'm new

to buffing so I may make some tweaks to

the process in future builds

after watching some Macau Royers videos

I really wanted to try out a Scotch

Brite wheel on my buffer from what I

understand these wheels were designed

for a general polishing and deburring of

metal parts and like Scotch Brite belts

they can speed up the finishing process

greatly

in the past I've used Scotch Brite belts

on my blade bevels before Stone washing

full tank knives and I found that they

are great for achieving a consistent and

smooth finish

the wheels from Scotch Brite are pretty

expensive so I figured I'd try out one

of the knockoff versions on Amazon which

had pretty good reviews

the version I ordered came in at 320

grit with a 200 millimeter diameter a 25

millimeter width and a 20 millimeter

Center hole this hole is obviously too

large for the 5 8 of an inch shaft on

the buffer however at this price point

we can't be too picky I chucked up a

piece of aluminum in my lathe and got

the work turning down a bushing this

bushing fit great in the wheel and I'll

probably end up making another one since

I also ordered a 240 grit version of

this wheel I'm still in the testing

phase with these wheels so make sure to

stay tuned to the channel to see my

results so far it seems like a handy

wheel to leave on one side of the buffer

since I find myself using it for General

deburring in my shop on the metal

finishing side I've had success bringing

up the pieces I'm working with to a hand

sanded finish of 600 grit and then using

this wheel to get a satin finish on the

piece

all right so after all that it's safe to

say that I'm really happy to have a

proper buffer in my shop if you found

this video helpful in making your

decision please consider using my

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I'll catch y'all on the flip side

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[Applause]

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