Thread: Greaseless polishing compound?

Originally Posted by Oustoura

i saw their site but they don't have anymore the stock for 600 and 400 grits. it will be 1 year soon, they say "waiting stock from supplier".

Well then I'm out of ideas. Unless you want to bite the bullet and order from the States. There are several places that sell the Satin Glow Greaseless (no Caswell doesn't manufacture them)

Good hunting mate

Then, I use one of these things to keep my wheels clean of metal swarf. I forget what it's called but it's a thick hard sticky rubbery bar.

Originally Posted by Aerdvaark

Then, I use one of these things to keep my wheels clean of metal swarf. I forget what it's called but it's a thick hard sticky rubbery bar.

It's an abrasive disk and belt cleaner

Folks, not sure if this question deserves its own thread or not...

I was looking at picking up some greaseless compound and one of the first search results was for a series of Norton non-woven buffing wheels that apparently come with the abrasive in them. They are marketing these as replacing the need for greaseless compound. They are called unified/convolute wheels.

Has anyone heard of or used these before? I'm guessing that these are going to be for heavier applications than for blade restoration and polishing.

Norton non-woven buffing wheels

I just checked the pricing and size/ styles of wheels available. IMHO they are a possibility in a foundry or auto-body shop but way out of line for those of us that are hobbyists. The costs are such that a full drawer of Greaseless and buffs would be of less cost than some of them.
JMO
~Richard

Originally Posted by Geezer

I just checked the pricing and size/ styles of wheels available. IMHO they are a possibility in a foundry or auto-body shop but way out of line for those of us that are hobbyists. The costs are such that a full drawer of Greaseless and buffs would be of less cost than some of them.
JMO
~Richard

Well that saved me a lot of time.

I haven't read the whole thread, so apologies on duplicate information. Until getting a bench buffer, I used a dremel with the greaseless bars, Mothers and 3M Marine. It works well, though takes a long time, which is not a problem if you aren't trying to move through quantity.

Someone mentioned that they don't have much torque, which is true. Though that isn't a problem if you don't press hard, which is why it takes longer.

The think you do have to watch for with the dremel is leaving it for too long in any one place. It can burn if you do this due to the speed. A bench buffer is maybe 3000 rpm. The slowest speed on my Dremel is 5,000 rpm.

Regarding the greaseless blocks, those have become my preferred material. I have a bench buffer which makes quick work of things. You don't buy them by grit. You buy them by color. Different manufacturers use different colors for different things, so I buy from a source that provides guidelines for each color.

In general, black is most abrasive, then brown, then the next lightest color. At the other end, white is usually the least abrasive. The maker I use has four colors. Black, brown, pink and white. I use brown on horn, finishing with pink. Far and away, I use pink the most for straight razor scales.

Something very important if using a bench buffer. That thing will grab whatever you are polishing and send it flying. For this reason, I always use the blue, low stickiness painters tape to cover the razor edge. Really don't want to cut a finger off.

Also, that blue tape is really good for covering gold or other ornamental things that are electroplated onto the blade. A buffing wheel will remove that gold electroplate in a New York minute.

Below is the pic showing how I learned my lesson about a buffing wheel and gold electroplating. The tang of the blade all had gold filagree. You can see the line denoting where I polished and ended. I had it where the polishing stopped at just the right spot, then learning that the buffing wheel has to go in the same direction as the tape or it will pull it off.

The 'Greaseless' from Formax only comes in Two Colors!

60 grit through 320 is a dark reddish.

400 and 600 is black.

Here's a link that might help:

Greaseless Polishing Compounds

What is being called 'greasless' and is in many colors isn't greaseless at all! Those are 'Polishing Compounds" and are an entirely different product. These leave a 'film'. A film I don't care to work with.

The Formax which is a true greaseless product leaves no such film.

I hope this clarifies the confusion.

The best treatis on polishing and buffing compounds I have found is:
article/buffing-and-polishing-materials/
A quote from there:
"Composition, or Compound – The material applied to the face of a buffing wheel to enable you to obtain the finish you desire. It consists of abrasives, which do the work, held in suspension by wax or grease, which acts as a binder to hold the abrasive to the buff."
~Richard