Good Wheels for 8" Buffer?

T

The Mighty Ginsu

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Aug 11, 2016
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I bought a nice old buffer today. It's a Baldor 332B. Eight inches, 115V, 1800 RPM.

I want to get some cloth wheels and so on, but I figured there were probably bad brands and good brands. Can anyone recommend a good brand, so I will only have to buy once?

I also want a wire wheel. I guess I should get one in steel and one in brass.

I was thinking someone out there had to be making stropping wheels, and it looks like I'm right, based on Google results. That should be interesting. I've been using a leather strop with diamond spray, and it's wonderful, so one would think a wheel would be quicker and better.

Also, how wide should a base be in order to be sufficiently stable? I really don't want to screw this thing to the floor. It's sitting on a steel pedestal with shelves and a base about 12" square.
 
A leather strop spinning at 1800 RPM would easily burn an edge … and could send a blade flying.

The best wheels are muslin for knife buffing. I like multiple row stitched wheels. Pretty much all brands are the same as far as I know. The higher the ply count, the better. Treated muslin (yellow) wheels are good choices, but untreated work fine, also.

Something like these wheel work:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/8-Inch-Buf...Polish-FREE-SHIPPING-USA-Seller-/222218668409
https://www.amazon.com/Extra-Spiral...s&qid=1561891573&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/SCOTTCHEN-Bu...s&qid=1561891681&s=gateway&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1

You can stack two to four wheels on the arbor to get a wider buff.

You want to only use a wheel for one grit compound. I use black (coarse) on the left wheel and matchless white (fine polish) on the right.
 
Thanks.

I checked Youtube, and there are a ton of videos about stropping with a buffer. I don't take a position on whether it's a good idea, but it's out there.

I found a great video from Eastwood. Lots of good information.

 
Just to be clear, I have no problem with leather wheels and other sharpening wheel systes. My concern is the speed of most buffers is 3500RPM and the slow ones are 1800RPM. One runnng at 300-800 RPM will likely make a much better edge.

There are a few ways to get this.
One is a belt driven system with a pulley ratio to drop the speed.
Another is to get a buffing head and use a 3Phase motor with a VFD and get any speed you want - This is te best system.
The third is to make a buffer from a two or three speed motor and add shaft adapters.
 
Yes, but there are many more things involved in buffing besides surface speed. A 4" wheel may have a lower speed, but also has a fraction of the working contact area. This reduces the amount of buffing as well as the control. 12" wheels are the best for knife buffing, but require a 1HP motor. 8" is a good compromise. VS solves all the issues.
 
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