Felt Wheels, what's the upside?

Patrice Lemée

Patrice Lemée

Joined
Aug 13, 2002
Messages
5,703
I see Steve R. Johnson uses them in his video about sub-hilt fighters.

I need to rethink my buffing station (I hate the speedy crappy grinder/made into a buffer I have). I will rethink wheels too, maybe bigger, so I was looking at those felt wheels at the same time.

Thanks for your help.

Pad
 
I have 2 1/2 wide 8" wheels on one of my buffers and I love it, I use my coursed grit on it and it will do some polishing. It will also do some heating so be careful when working near the edge. I have been thinking more and more of making a variable speed buffer station.
 
I would love to have a variable speed buffer with a couple sizes of felt wheels. One 5" for the tight hollows I am fond of and about a 12" for the 14" hollow grinds. I bet the felt wheels would be so much safer than a cotton buff that grabs the knife and stabs the top of your shoe. My buffer runs at 3600 rpm and polishes stag and ivory if I already have it to about 1200-2000 grit in only a couple seconds but it scares the heck out me to do on a finished knife.A buffer with variable speed would/could save an ER trip.
 
Jim & Bruce , what hardness of felt wheels are you using ? I used a hard felt wheel yrs. back and was not comfortable with it while buffing . I use a medium felt wheel for stropping the edge and removing the burr . Works great without buffing out the satin finish .
 
I know you guys are trying to help but Geez! Now just HAVE to make it a variable speed setup.:rolleyes:;)

I am curious about the hardness as well, didn't think of that.

Thanks

Pad
 
I have both two hard felt and three cotton wheels on variable speed grinders set up for buffing stations. (You can see two of the four stations in the tour of my shop on my website linked to my signature.)

I find they work great for corners and to take out a single scratch and then to the soft buff in the same grit polish to "blend" the polish even. They also work great for polishing the spine of a knife.

You need to be much more careful with them in regard to heat. They heat the metal very fast.
 
Pad, if you mean Steve's sub-hilt video (which is GREAT) then the buffs that he uses are the yellow, fairly loose wheels that Pops sells. And Steve runs a 3600 rpm buffer.

If you go over to the custom knife directory forums, Steve has his very own forum and this was a topic over there.
 
I find the hard felt buffs great for removing that one scratch you didn't see plus it makes a great power strop to give you that shiny shaving sharp edge, I have two one 2" wide but the 1/2" one seems to work best as a strop.

Richard
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top