Bowl Buffs

Re: Bowl Buffs

George Balock

I’m not sure what you’re asking here Roger. I use the Beall buffs which get softer as you move from Tripoli to Wax. The Tripoli buff tends to get more pressure than the wax or white diamond buffs do. I hope that answers your question.

Re: Bowl Buffs

john lucas

typed a nice long reply this morning and it isn't here. Don't know what happened. I don't use much pressure or speed. I started with 8" wheels and burned through the finish on a few pieces and ruined them. I switched to 4" wheels and run them on the lathe at about 2000 rpm or less. I don't apply much abrasive, just a swipe or two. My wheels don't look anywhere near as brown as most peoples that I see. I use moderate pressure with the tripoli and a little harder with the white diamond. I find it's kind of like sandpaper. You want the abrasive to do the work.

That being said I watched a video of guys buffing guitars at the Gibson factory. They were using probably 15" wheels running pretty darned fast and put their body weight behind it. Of course they are probably using a commercial brand lacquer or maybe some other kind of finish. I do find that I can apply much more pressure on Polyeurethane finishes than lacquer although I don't really need to.

Re: Bowl Buffs *LINK*

Doc Green

My thoughts on buffing are given in this article:

http://www.docgreenwoodturner.com/buffing.html#

The amount of pressure you can apply depends on the type of finish you are buffing. For lacquer, I hardly apply any pressure for fear of melting the finish. Just place the surface of the workpiece in contact with the wheel. For polyurethane, you can apply more because it's not as prone to melting and streaking.

However . . . applying more pressure does not necessarily make the process more effective.

Here are directions for making a mandrel that allows you to mount a buffing wheel or bowl buff on your lathe:

http://www.docgreenwoodturner.com/lathebuffing.html


Doc's Website

Not much pressure

Re: Bowl Buffs

Dick Hines

Doc, you write these articals better than the inft that comes from to company's that make the product.

Re: Bowl Buffs

mikeee12345

Nitrocellulose was the most common finish used on guitars and a large number of musicians still prefer the nitrocellulose finish over some of the newer polymer finishes claiming the sound is better with the older type finish. A harder finish usually provides for a better resonance/sound response of the instrument. The only negative aspect of the older finish was thermal shock when exposed to radical temperature changes. Winter months traveling with instruments in a cold environment could have problems when you brought the cold instrument into a warm building and opened the carrying case and exposing the cold instrument to the warm inside room temperatures.