I'm afraid of the buffer...

S

SkaerE

Joined
Sep 9, 2001
Messages
428
man, that thing could kill you! i was using the buffer for something and it really yanked it outta my hands. good thing i kept the guard on, and good thing is it wasnt a knife.

im really new at using the buffer. any tips before i get maimed?

also, what kind of buffing compounds are used for what?
for steel? wood? etc...

thanks
 
IMHO, the most dangerous piece of equipment in a shop. I been cut, jabbed, and just plain beat up by them. Prolly the reason I specialize in Gray Turds :)
 
Keep your arm tucked to your side and do not go above the center line of the wheel.Matchless green is hard to beat for steel
and white compound for wood.I found a trick about the buffer
never turn the edge of your knife up always keep the edge down
and I work my blade at an angle,watch the tip of your blade that is were at of your grabbing takes place.
Be careful buffer are very dangerous as you found out.
:)
 
Yeah, its scares the crap out of me too. I fear and respect that shop tool more than any other. Almost impaled myself using it once. I was lucky. I've made mistakes with other power tools before and had no problem going back to them, but that one... will be a lasting paranoia. No longer use them. That's just me. Others are braver no doubt. :cool:
 
Nathan said it very well. And I would wear safety gear while buffing. It's also one of the most unhealthy shop jobs because of the dust, also. I don't know of anyone who hasn't had work grabbed by a buffer, and it scared the crap out of me every time. Every time is a near stab or cut.
 
Every single bit of ALL OF THE ABOVE. -- and, don't use (what I started with) a motor speed of 3450 RPM! I have been rightly advised to run at about 1800 RPM and with greater experience maybe a little more. I scanned the other posts so don't know if they mentioned this but I am having (now) most of my anxious moments buffing around the blade tip area. Danger! If a really pointed tip I buff mostly lenghth wise or, better put, parallel with point down instead of horizontal or perpendicular to the wheel (the buff).

Roger
 
Buffers LOOK so harmless... BUT in fact can get you injured faster than just about anything...
I am like Kit, I dont turn out ANYTHING mirror polished..LOL...
 
I do go for the mirror polish. I do use the buffer. I fear it at times and always try to remember to respect it. If I feel fear of it I stop and set back for a cigarette and go back at it but try to remember caution.

To date I have used a TRIAC motor speed control on my 3450 RPM induction motor, which does not work well at all. This next week I hope to have my home built variable speed (top ended at about 1800 RPM) running. Still danger and will be worthy of much respect from me.

rlinger
 
every tool in your shop can hurt you badly if you are not careful, especially if you have been drinking Ky moonshine!!!! :eek:
 
great quote from Jimi Hendrix!!!!!


Today I was grinding some ti on my hi speed grinder and in a shower of sparks I noticed a glowing spot on the ground, so I threw some water on it from my quench bucket..........then another, so some more water..........as I was examining the situation I noticed that smoke was coming from under the mat in a couple of places (I have those red cushion mats all over my shop-the ones with holes in them that fill up with titanium dust!!) so I picked the mat up and WHOOMP, a big flame jumps up at me from under the mat. Instintively I dropped the mst, and luckily it slowed the oxygen to the fire and it went back to smoldering/
Next I dumped about half of my five gallon quench bucket onto the floor and the smoking came to a standstill...............isnt life exciting??????????? :eek: :p :eek:
 
When I get ready to start buffing. I make sure my wife knows that I am doing so and to make sure that our friend and neighbor is home (nurse). I guess one very important thing is to not make the mistake I made the first time. Do not buff a sharp knife. Sharpening is last only to a final clean up.

Mark
 
Well, I bet this hasn't made you feel any more confident of buffing! :D In fact, everyone you ever talk to will have a horror story about the buffer. And like some here, just not use it. That's not an option for me, so I just do like Nathan and work below the centerline of the wheel so that if it does grab the work is more likely to go down to the floor and not into my very own and only body. I have placed a rug under my buffer to protect my stuff when it goes flying. And yes, that happens often enough, regardless how careful I am. I apply all the tricks mentioned previously too - edge down, tip down, etc.

Just be careful, never go around the thing if you're in any way impared or distracted or tired, or if there's a chance someone might come up to you unnoticed and scare the living bejeezus out of you...you probably don't need to ask why I mention that and can probably imagine various consequences.

As to compounds, a couple suggestions. Have a different wheel for each compound, and keep them and the compounds covered when not in use. If you don't cover them they may become contaminated with larger particles in the air, and end up being some grit other than you intend.

I use a 600 cork belt with green chrome on it, followed by white, and finish with pink. This seems to work best for me. I don't buff unsealed wood, or wood with large pores regardless the color of the compound. If your wood is well sealed, you can probably buff and in those cases I use pink. I use pink for everything at the final finish.

Good luck, be careful and keep all your parts!

Dave
 
Dave is right about concentrasting on the job in hand. Also don't rush.

I was taught to stand to the side of all buffing and grinding machines when starting and stopping. This is the time they are most likely to fly apart. I also stand to the side of the wheel so anything comming of normally misses my feet and legs. The other tip
when I was in metal work classes at high school one of the kids ended up wearing a belt buckle project in the forhead. The buff was old and the motor start winding was not working properly iot let the motor start back wards. So I always what the wheel start to see which way it is going. If the start winding is playing up it normally sits and humms briefly before starting. Sometime you will need to give it a spin to get it going.

Be carefull and you will do alright.
 
Something also not mentioned. There are a few diffeent types of buffing wheels. I have used both extensively and tell you the loose ones for me are the most dangerous! They don't offer much resistance and you tend to push into them to far and have the work grabbed right out of your hands. I prefer to use the tighter wound ones and stack them up on the spindle. I have 3 of them smashed together so it's about a inch and a half wide. I have had good results with that metheod. I also built a box around the buffer so if the work does depart it gets thrown into the box. ;) Picture to follow.
 

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Fear is good! When you stop fearing a machine you'll start to get complacent and that's when you get hurt. You hardly ever see young woodworkers with serious injuries, it's the old timers that have been using table saws for 20 and 30 years who end up with missing fingers.

I've just decided to not use buffers for making knives. The only thing I would like to do is buff some handle materials. Since I don't run a buffer the machine I am the most afraid of in my shop is the table saw.
 
I'm not any veteran knifemaker, or even much of an amateur one, but they scare the poopy right out of me too. when I was a kid, I did a lot of "knifemaking" at my parent's house. My dad had a high RPM buffer. More than once, a knife would fly right out of my hands. Now, since I've gotten back into it, I bought a set of buffing wheels that go on my 18-volt drill. That way the knife gets clamped, and I feel a whole lot safer.
 
While I don't yet use a buffer(got one in the box, but haven't set it up yet), the same fears and concerns can also apply to using a Scotchbrite belt. I have had these belts grab blades outta my hands and send them flying to unknown places in my shop!
 
KNIFEMAKERS UNITE- Ban the mirror polish or pay the price:D

"Oh that knife, it's 200.You want What kind of finish? Mirror, that will be 300 then." Them emergency room bills aint cheap.

Mark
 
I don't even own a buffer and don't plan on getting one.

"Oh, say you want that blade mirror polished? Sorry, I don't do polish, call someone else."
 
One of my wheels that hasn't the regular hunger to grab is one I made out of pieces of 1/4" hard canvas type conveyer belt. I cut them up into circles and contact cemented them together into a buffer wheel. It is pretty stiff and hard, but does a pretty good job with bearing down hard and not grabbing. My other wheels are hard also- the soft fuzzies grab too much for my wellbeing.
 
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