Thread: Polyethylene buffing tent

I've been setting up a workshop for restoring razors. The only available space is a big laundry room that doubles as a storage area and also has book shelves lining the walls. So, how to use a buffer without getting buffing dust all over everything?

Four retractable walls of 6 mil polyethylene:















The polyethylene sheets are attached at the bottom to wooden poles. Axels with eye hooks are attached to the ends of the poles, and ropes are attached to the hooks. The ropes are routed through eye hooks at the top of the sheet. To raise the sheet, one pulls on the end of the rope. The principle is more or less like that of a sail on a sailboat.

Strips of Velcro along the edges hold the sheets together when the walls are let down.

It will be close inside the plastic walls. I'll wear a respirator and behind the buffer place a cardboard box with the hose of a dust collector attached to it. Also, taking a tip from another thread, I got a square floor fan and taped a furnace air filter to the back. The fan will help cool off the work space and also trap the dust that the dust collector doesn't catch.

Lot of work to set up the plastic tent, but I'm glad I did it. I spent a few hours last night hand-sanding a razor, using wine corks as backing pieces, and this morning felt incipient tendonitis in arm and hand. I'll limit the hand-sanding.

Joe