Thread: yellow treated buffing wheels

Ok so the other day I picked up two spiral 4" buffing wheels at lowes. One was a yellow buffing wheel and the other was white. The yellow one is very firm, yet the white one feels ridiculously soft. I've bought 6" spiral wheels before and they were pretty firm, much harder than this small white one. Is this just because they're cheap crap? And does anyone have any experience with these yellow wheels? i kinda like the firmness. Thanks for your time. Blake

Blake, I have bought both of those myself from Lowes. I found the yellow works best with the higher grit polishing compounds (black, brown) and the softer white wheels worked best with the lower grits (Green, red rouge). The firmer wheel generated a lot more heat, but polished faster (more pressure allowed) while the white worked best for final polishing.

Either wheel worked just fine on my bench grinder (3500 rpm) and I get great results from either of them. The firmer wheel did generate a LOT more heat, so I use them sparingly and only on the razors that I had to sand the crap out of to get to the pits, or on razors that I had to leave the pitting due to them being too deep to sand out.

I hope that helps you decide what to do with them. Just be careful on the yellow wheels and don't over heat a blade.

Good luck brother!!

M

The yellows also work well with greaseless. I'd still try to find a 1750 buffer - Lowes, etc., has 1750/3600 two speeds for around $75.

Ok cool, thanks guys, i'm trying to find some greaseless compound used now to try out, I don't need the whole big tubes, so i'll keep using these for now and just watch the heat

Just a quick word with regard to the greaseless stuff. If you happen to work off the back of your truck like I do, don't store your greaseless inside said truck. Otherwise, you will find a nice 45 dollar rainbow of wax all over your project lumber in a totally unsalvageable soup. lol. Perhaps it should go without saying, but...