HAZARDS OF POLISHING

L

lobo

Joined
Jul 10, 1999
Messages
37
Several years ago I was sharpening a big Case Bowie and it slipped on the stone and scratched the blade. I had the bright idea to polish out the scratches with my buffer at work....bad idea..the wool pad caught the blade and threw it into the inside of my right ankle. Funny, I thought there wasn't any meat there. It went real deep cut tendens and chipped the bone. Had to have surgery and limped around with a walking cast for over a month. Moral--The next time you see a very highly polished blade, appreciate it, for someone put their life on the line to make it that way. If I refinish any more knives they will definately have a bead blasted look!!!

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My sympathies go out to you. The only machine in my shop that makes me hunker down and pay real close attention to what I am doing is my 3600RPM buffer with a loose buff. Before I wised up, it yanked a number of blades out of my hands. Fortunately I've always worked below the center of the wheel so the blades were only slammed into the wall or at worst the floor. I draw a good bit of blood with my grinders, but the buffer is the tool I respect most.

And if the blade is sharp, I will only use the 1800 RPM buffer.

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Jerry Hossom
knifemaker
www.hossom.com




[This message has been edited by GaKnife (edited 02-14-2000).]
 
Ouch! I don't make knives, but I have one machine that demands respect. A Makita industrial re-saw-2 1/2" wide blade, 12 feet long, one tooth every 1 1/2". The blade once jumped off the wheel and it started to cut through the houseing!

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"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n"
John Milton
There are only two types of people; those who understand this, and those who think they do.
 
WOW, I am real sorry to hear about the cut, but from now on I will definitely appreciate the polishings on a knife..
 
I am a metal polisher by trade, I own and operate a metal polishing shop servicing the architectural and sanitary trades.

The one thing that every metal polisher is taught is to NEVER use a loose buff on a part that is less than 6" wide because the loose buff will wrap around the piece and pull it out of your hands. A buff sewn in a circular pattern with 1/2" spacing between rows of stitches will give the same finish as a loose buff and will not grab the workpiece.

By the way, a metal polisher trainee will usually work in the shop for 6 months or more before being allowed to work on a soft buff. The six months training gradually progresses from belting to hard compound wheels, hard buffing wheels, medium buffing wheels and lastly to soft buffing wheels on large flat objects.

Throw away your loose wheels, they can kill you.

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george
www.tichbourneknives.com
sales@tichbourneknives.com


 
George, I couldn't possibly throw away that last little extra on the mirror polishes, and the 1800RPM loose buff or a 3600RPM sewn buff just doesn't get it done. Fortunately all of my knives are longer than 6".

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Jerry Hossom
www.hossom.com
 
I used to work with a large industrial belt sander...One of those with something like 5 feet between the wheels...
That thing once removed the corner of my thumb. It was a 180 grit belt mind you
smile.gif

I never thought I would have an almost square thumb...Looked funny and stings like a son of a bitch...I would rather have cut that corner of with a sharp knife than have it ground off...I know for sure I got some respect for anything that spins like that...So I always work below the center of the wheel. Makes it safer, methinks...

regards

Joshua "Kage" Calvert

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"Move like Water, strike like Thunder..."
 
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