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Thread: Greaseless polishing compound?

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    Skeptical Member Gasman's Avatar
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    Default Greaseless polishing compound?

    I want to buy some of this polishing compound as i hear lots of you use it for restoration. I have a Dremel and picked up some buffing pads for it. Thinking ill need to buy better ones as these are thin little cotton pads.

    Anyway, i was at Harbor Freight the other day and seen they have 3 different color clay like polishing compounds. Has anyone used these? Are they worth buying? Or should i just buy the huge bags (3lbs) of the stuff? The H.F. stuff dont list grits.

    And if i was to buy the real deal stuff, what grits should i be buying? I hope to buy a real bench buffer in the future but id rather have one that is both buffer and grinder. And i guess i need a variable speed? Well, this is in the future. Right now im wondering about the compounds. Thanks for any help.
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    At this point in time... gssixgun's Avatar
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    Greaseless will not work on a Dremel very well, Dremels work with speed and have little if any Torque..

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    Senior Member blabbermouth RezDog's Avatar
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    Caswell is good place to get grit and polishing cakes, as well as information on polishing and wheels. I cannot imagine using the same machine to buff and grind. As far as dremels go, that is a tough call. As Glen said they are most often made for speed. There are more expensive models that have some serious torque. Personally I like my Dremel with a hand held flex shaft and a foot pedal. I use it with an engravers block to hold the blade. I don't use greaseless with my dremel, but I do use it with my buffer. There is a learning curve with all power tools. Go slow and hopefully no people or blades will be injured.
    It's not what you know, it's who you take fishing!

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    Skeptical Member Gasman's Avatar
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    My problem is room. I can set up up device on my bench but to have a buffer and a grinder im just out of room. I'll scrap.the dremmal idea i guess. Id rather do this the right way. Now if i could have a buffer or grinder that i could put on the bench and remove when done with it. This might work. But something spinning like this needs to be bolted down. Something to think about for sure.

    I seenbthe Castwell buffers. 3/4 horse, 3450rpm. Is that the speed you all buff at? Sounds a bit fast to me. I thought you would want to be able to slow it down.
    Last edited by Gasman; 02-14-2017 at 08:25 AM.
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    Senior Member blabbermouth RezDog's Avatar
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    They are all very useful, I'm not sure what I would go with if I could only have one. There are ways in a limited space bench to swap out tools on the bench without doing unbolting them. My first tool shed was 10x12. I'm not sure if I have a lot more space now. The building is much bigger but I have bigger tools and more tools. When you have less space it simply means you have to be more innovative.
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    Skeptical Member Gasman's Avatar
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    Sense i have a feeling that buffing could get messy, im now thinking a stand made for it out the back door of my garage. I could bolt it down on the bird bath but i bet the wife would throw a fit. It wouldnt hold a buffer but the idea makes me laugh.

    I got some figur8ng to do about all this. I want to be able to polish up a blade to remove rust and bring out a nice finish but if i only do this 4 or 6 times a year...
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    It's just Sharpening, right?
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    KN4HJP sqzbxr's Avatar
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    It's not a cheap option, but this is what I use: Foredom M.BL Bench Lathe. It has variable speed, and for polishing two screws and wingnuts are more than sufficient to hold it to the bench - so it's easy to move when space is needed. I use 3" buffs for hollow grinds, 4" wheels for wedges and scales. You can get a cable drive attachment so you can run a handpiece off it as well. I also use the drill press fixture with the flex shaft and handpiece because of the variable speed and high torque.

    It beats the hell out of a Dremel in every way.
    "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats." -H. L. Mencken

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    Senior Member blabbermouth
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    Most of the Baldor’s,(top of the line), run at 1700, Harbor Freight sells a 6 inch buffer that many of us have that sell for around 30 bucks, and runs at 3400 rpm. I have both and a no name buffer, that also runs at 3400. All 3 perform exactly the same. Baldor’s are about 10 times the cost of a HF.

    Use 4 inch wheels and you will be fine. HF sells a cast iron stand, on sale for about $30, that I have thought about picking up, but I always seem to need, to put something down near the buffer, so I use a workbench.

    I cover it and the back stop in cardboard and just vacuum the mess, (polishing dust). I made a splatter guard from a cereal box that contains, the spin off, when loading the wheels, there is a post on it somewhere, there are tons of buffing post.

    As said Castwell is the go to for supplies. I mostly use 600 and 400 greaseless, though I have all the grits, I do use various greased compounds. Do buy quality wheels.

    Name brand quality compounds are not much more, so I buy the name brand, and they come in larger sticks so are really cheaper, in the long run.

    As said there is a learning curve, so be careful. I remove the edge off any blade with a diamond file, that I work on, especially buffing.
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    illegitimum non carborundum Utopian's Avatar
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    For buffing, you are better off with 1700 rpm. The 3400 rpm buffers are too fast unless you use small wheels. Caswell also sells a 1200 rpm buffer.

    Make sure that you read the buffing safety information page on the Caswell site. Please study and understand the concept of the safe and danger zones.

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    At this point in time... gssixgun's Avatar
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    Caswells has all the info right there in their Faq sheets

    RPM is only a small part of the Equation,, the important part is what is called SFPM the polishing compounds have a recommended SFPM also

    We tend to use smaller wheels for razors to get into the hollows a 4" wheel is the largest I use personally, so you have to start figuring SFPM
    Be cognizant that going too slow on polishing compounds does nothing good to the steel Greaseless is a different formula..



    Surface Feet Per Minute
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