Quote Originally Posted by RezDog View Post
I have all the compounds but buff very little. I still do most of my restores by hand sanding. My rationale is that I have little control on the buffer and can easily blow the lines on a razor. By hand sanding I can come closer to preserving the lines. I'm sure that is in part due to my lack of experience with the buffer. I hand sand to get all the major stuff off, I then do some light buffing in the high grits and polish and then finish with mothers and steel wool, and then just mothers. I have also watched Brad's videos. I have to say that when you watch someone that is very good at a highly skilled task it always looks very easy. As my skills develop I will probably use the buffer a little more. Hand sanding is also easy to do and I can set up for hand sanding anywhere.
I'm glad to get that perspective. I did feel the value of precise focus while hand sanding. One can work around a bit of etching, for example.

One thing I picked up from the Brad Maggard videos was the precise, measured hand movements with which he accomplishes all the different tasks. That no doubt takes practice. I plan to watch the videos again to get more of a feel for it, to help along with actual practice.

Joe