How useful is a buffer in knifemaking?

Trying to hold the buff that way will be worse. If you use a cordless drill, put the drill in a base and hold the knife.
 
You have much more control of a stationary knife than you do of a rotating machine. The torque of the drill will try to run the buff around the knife as it grabs. Most likely it will hurt the knife and not you. Unless you are the Jolly Green Giant, you won't be able to control the hand held buff/drill

If you want to prove this to yourself, clamp a file in a vise and try to buff it with a hand drill.
 
I also use my drill press with 8 inch buds buffs. Finally bought good polishing compounds, makes a world of difference.
DAMNENG said:
I've been using 8" buffs mounted on mandrels and chucked up in my floor mount drill press (3/4 hp) for over 20 years. This has several advantages, no pinch points, variable speed and it utilizes an already existing tool so no new machine purchase is necessary.
Jim A
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Nathan the Machinist said:
We use a buffer here all the time on loose scales but never on a knife
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This is how I do it too. I like the buffer for scales, handles and parts for accessories and machinery I make. But never for my blades. When I tried it on blades I always had the nagging feeling that I'll get stabbed, sliced or pierced at any time.

Early on, I actually had one kitchen knife grab on the buffer (200mm loose mop) and it took off like fired from a crossbow, it went deep in my plaster wall behind the buffer. Crazy shit.
 
I've had a buffer for a few years and have used it exclusively for handles until recently. I am a bit leery of the dangers of buffing a blade, but I've done a few.
Yeah, it makes me nervous. You have to keep your head in it for sure and go carefully.
Is it worth it? It's a personal preference. I'm not sold on the idea of a bright shiny blade. I'm actually thinking the other direction, getting to a nice finish off the grinder. Nice enough.
It is far more cost effective this way.
 
My friend who mirror polished every blade (and then scratches the heck out of them in use???) uses grinding/polishing boards, somewhat like the Japanese do in grinding. The unhandled blade is attached to a board with bolts through the pin holes. To do the other side, he moves the blade to the opposite side of the board. He uses wing nuts on the bolts to make flipping the blade over to the other side quicker/easier. The board is shaped to exactly match the blade profile. He does all the final sanding and the buffing on this board. He uses sisal wheels for the emery stage and then muslin and green chrome for the final stage of polishing. He saves the boards in a bucket, and when he makes a new knife, he grinds the profile to the template. He mirror polishes the blades pre-HT, and can quickly buff through the decarb post-HT.

It works for him, but I don't do it that way often .. because I rarely mirror polish a blade. A good user finish of a bright satin is good for me.

After sharpening, we both give the edge a quick buff - VERY CAREFULLY.
 
I was going to create a new thread - but did a search and found this thread. for a long time I have believed I would not go anywhere near a buffer, and this thread reinforces that ... but especially for some of the figured stabilized woods I do have to admire the results. Dremel makes a small buffer attachment, which of course can be run at slow speed. For the low-volume hobbyist, would that work well enough (with the knife secured into a vise while working on it)?
 
Buffers are not the devil.
A buffing wheel on a Dremel can't effectively polish anything larger than a ring. You need a larger surface are for bigger pieces.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
Buffers are not the devil.
A buffing wheel on a Dremel can't effectively polish anything larger than a ring. You need a larger surface are for bigger pieces.
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How safe can they reasonably be made, then, if as stacy recommends you run them at say 500 RPM. With a small wheel? Though i am surprised to read that Stacy seldom buffs ... i thought you did?
 
The longer time you spend on a buffer the higher chance you have an accident.

I sand scales up to 3000 grit and then a quick buff and it is does.

I do not buff blades, but if I did I would take it to 1000 grit cork and 3000 hand sand then take to the buffer for a quick polish
 
AVigil said:
I sand scales up to 3000 grit and then a quick buff and it is does.
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I am confused by this statement, which has been made by several people. If you buff scales, they are separate from the knife, no? Then you need to glue and sand, etc, which will ruin any kind of buffing you have done? Do you mean you will buff the handle after attached to the tang, but NOT buff the blade after the handle is attached (or anytime before)???

Sorry if i am being dense or taking some words too literally. Buffers scare me....
 
Cushing H. said:
I am confused by this statement, which has been made by several people. If you buff scales, they are separate from the knife, no? Then you need to glue and sand, etc, which will ruin any kind of buffing you have done? Do you mean you will buff the handle after attached to the tang, but NOT buff the blade after the handle is attached (or anytime before)???

Sorry if i am being dense or taking some words too literally. Buffers scare me....
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You finish out the blade 100%
Then you attach handle material and sculp to shape.

I use 50, 100, 220 on the grinder.

I hand sand 220, 400, 800, 1000, 3000.

By 3000 your handle will look really nice at this point choose to go to the buffer or finish out with polishing papers to much higher grits
 
So you do mean buffing the handles while attached to the tang. I tend to think of the “scales” as slabs of material before they are attached to the blade. After that, they are just “the handle”. My mistake...Thanks - got it
 
I've been using a buffing wheel attached to my 8" Porter Cable bench grinder with "variable speed" with 6" buffs for years and it goes fast enough to do a good buffing job, yet isn't too fast or powerful to make it scary to use. I think the main thing to consider for learning to use one is wheel/motor speed and power, not necessarily buffing wheels. No doubt it could still be dangerous, but not quite like an industrial buffer. Just hold onto whatever you're buffing with a firm grip. That being said, I really need to hurry up and buy an extended buffing mandrel, as the motor tends to get in the way or the work.

I got the bench grinder years ago to attach my MuliTool grinder attachment to yeas ago, but now it's mostly just used for buffing. For buffing different materials I have actually found the speed range (even though fairly small) to be helpful. I like a slower speed on softer materials like Kydex or sometimes when buffing on a handle with a Tru-oil finish so the heat doesn't begin to melt it or smear it etc. I've had the buff almost completely pull all the finish out of the wood pores of a finished handle in the past and so I had to redo it; that and I've as melted Kydex edges before, so a slower speed, a light touch, and a fine compound work well for those types of tasks, FWIW. Below is what I have, though I'm sure something similar would also work well. As I mentioned above, I also recommend getting a mandrel to attach to the shaft.

71bUev6ubaL._SL1000_.jpg




ETA: I agree that a well sanded foundation is key to a good and quick buffing job.


~Paul
My Youtube Channel
... (Just some older videos of some knives I've made in the past)
 
I slightly moded and hooked up a spare 2 HP motor to my VFD. So far i only use a 1 1/4 x10" rock hard felt wheel with green compound to strop/polish edges. Amazing results.

I'll be getting som sewn cotton wheels as well to try on handles. As for blades I have no intention to take them to the buffer.
 
Bill DeShivs said:
How safe can they reasonably be made, then, if as stacy recommends you run them at say 500 RPM. With a small wheel? Though i am surprised to read that Stacy seldom buffs … I thought you did?
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I buff every day … for hours … on rings and jewelry.
In the knife shop, I buff every handle and woodturning I do. However, I only buff the wire off the edge after sharpening the knife. This leaves a very sharp polished edge.
I don't do mirror polish because my knives are generally working blades. If I want a show quality surface, I have sand to 8000 grit. I doubt I mirror polish more than one or two blades a year. 95% of my blades get a Scotch-Brite finish.

Having a buffer that has two power/speed setting is a good way to add control. My work buffer is a two station Quatro system has a 3/4HP two speed Baldor double shaft motor. It runs at 3450RPM at full speed and at 850 on low The HP drops to 3/16HP on low. The unit is similar to the image below, but has the bigger Baldor instead of the stock Quatro motor. If building a buffer from scratch, a VFD solves this handily. Mine also has all sides of the enclosures in Lexan. If a ring or charm catches the buff and goes flying, it just bounces in the enclosure and lands in the filtered catch pan below the buffing wheel. I can't tell you how many times I crawled around the shop looking for a thrown object before I went with the Quatro.
The Quatro has a two stage HEPA dust recovery system built in the base to catch all the polishing dust. The hand curtains ( the black area in the photo) allow the hands/arms free movement but keep the dust from getting into the rest of the polishing room. The dust recovered get sent to the refinery once a year to get the gold/silver reclaimed. It adds up to over a thousand dollars a year. These Quatro systems are not cheap, but it keeps the dust in the polishing room down nicely, and they actually pay for themselves in a couple years in returned gold. Sadly, they aren't really good for polishing knives bigger than folders due to the size/clearance restrictions.

When the new shop is up I will reveal my new idea for mounting and using buffers. It will be the buffer equivalent of my two-stage burner control as far as a game changer for small shops.





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Boye refers to buffing wherls as “grabby” probably an understatement” but does not distinguish between handles vs blades. Are the wheels not nearly as “grabby” when working on handles, even though at that point the handles are ATTACHED to the blades (ie if it goes flying you still have a sharp object flying around...). I might just consider getting one (and the stand) for buffing handles from HF (probably also use a VFD to slow it down...)
 
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