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Hello everyone,

I have a couple of questions regarding buffing wheels. (I have the buffs that come in the Bealle Buffing Kit) Lately I've been noticing that I'm getting mixed results with my white diamond buffing wheel. Sometimes I have no problems at all.. but then every once in a while I have noticed that it will cause grooves and/or scratches when I'm buffing a pipe. I've tried cleaning the wheel by taking a scrap piece of briar and running that over the spinning buff aggressively. I am hesitant to try sandpaper as I'm worried about getting abrasives stuck in the wheel. I've also heard that using a buffing rake can get the buff dirty. Is there a way to "restore" the buff, or am I better off replacing it?

Another thing I've noticed is with my clean buff. I've been using it for about a year and it seems that it has built up enough wax on it that it is no longer truly "clean buffing". For example, if I hit a stem with carnauba and then try to clean buff it.. it seems to just streak and swirl the wax that is on it already.

Any helpful tips or advise are much appreciated!

Try using some 36 or 60 grit resin-backed abrasive (or grinding belt) to clean the buffs. I've been using the same set of buffs with regular cleanings for nearly ten years.

--K

KurtHuhn wrote:Try using some 36 or 60 grit resin-backed abrasive (or grinding belt) to clean the buffs. I've been using the same set of buffs with regular cleanings for nearly ten years.

--K

Thanks for the tip Kurt.. you just take the disc and run it across the spinning wheel for a few passes and it's good to go?

I've used both 100 grit sandpaper on a block of wood and a buffing rake and have had no problems with either, yet.

Does anyone recommend not using a buffing rake? Will the rake reduce the life of the buff as it does of course tear into the buff a bit.

P.S. I went and looked at your your pipes. I'm really new to making pipes but I really think your talented. Nice pipes!

BobR wrote:I've used both 100 grit sandpaper on a block of wood and a buffing rake and have had no problems with either, yet.

Does anyone recommend not using a buffing rake? Will the rake reduce the life of the buff as it does of course tear into the buff a bit.

P.S. I went and looked at your your pipes. I'm really new to making pipes but I really think your talented. Nice pipes!

Thanks for the advice.. And thanks for the compliments on my pipes!

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Gainey Pipes wrote:

KurtHuhn wrote:Try using some 36 or 60 grit resin-backed abrasive (or grinding belt) to clean the buffs. I've been using the same set of buffs with regular cleanings for nearly ten years.

--K

Thanks for the tip Kurt.. you just take the disc and run it across the spinning wheel for a few passes and it's good to go?

Pretty much. It won't deposit grit, and it leaves it pretty clean.

--K

Get a buffing wheel rake, I got mine at Caswell Plating. They work wonders on old wheels.

dogcatcher wrote:Get a buffing wheel rake, I think I got mine at Harbor Freight. They work wonders on old wheels.

Especially if your tripoli wheel gets overloaded with compound over time. I bought a rake about 3 months ago and was amazed how it rejuvenated my tripoli wheel.

Buffing rakes won't damage your wheel but because they are metal they can turn the buff black.

Using abrasive will work, make sure it is top quality however as cheap abrasives shed grit quickly.
Personally I recommend against it, not worth the risk of getting a piece embedded in the wheel I think, especially at the csot of a good wheels and the time invested in a pipe by the time you get to that stage. Kurt has had good success, that's great and I won't argue with him, for me though I wouldn't do it for the reasons above.

My personal method for cleaning a wheel (not that I ever really have to do it) is to take a piece of scrap hardwood, say oak, and cut a wedge on the end, nice sharp edge and then I ram that into the wheel while it is going full speed. If the wheel had has too much carnuba or compound on it applied by a shop visitor then I use a piece of brown corrugated cardboard, that has a nice rough texture and removes it nicely.

caskwith wrote: Using abrasive will work, make sure it is top quality however as cheap abrasives shed grit quickly.
Personally I recommend against it, not worth the risk of getting a piece embedded in the wheel I think, especially at the csot of a good wheels and the time invested in a pipe by the time you get to that stage. Kurt has had good success, that's great and I won't argue with him, for me though I wouldn't do it for the reasons above.

In retrospect, using a grinding belt to clean a buff probably isn't the best method - but nobody ever told me not to!

To put it in perspective, however, I've only ever had to clean a buff once or twice. Under normal circumstances there's no need.

Also Eric, once they are used enough and become too small, Tim West sells very nice wheels to replace the BeAll ones.

KurtHuhn wrote:

caskwith wrote: Using abrasive will work, make sure it is top quality however as cheap abrasives shed grit quickly.
Personally I recommend against it, not worth the risk of getting a piece embedded in the wheel I think, especially at the csot of a good wheels and the time invested in a pipe by the time you get to that stage. Kurt has had good success, that's great and I won't argue with him, for me though I wouldn't do it for the reasons above.

In retrospect, using a grinding belt to clean a buff probably isn't the best method - but nobody ever told me not to!

To put it in perspective, however, I've only ever had to clean a buff once or twice. Under normal circumstances there's no need.

Well it obviously didn't hard things for you but I wanted to make sure people went in their eyes open, I see so many posts about buffing problems I would hate it if some of those were because they had grit stuck in their wheels.

The best buffing supplies I have found are at Caswell Plating. They have all kinds of buffing supplies, from wood to metal, to plastic, the largest combinations of materials used n the wheels that I have ever found. They also have some pretty good tutorials, and a staff that knows the answers when you have questions.

The buffing wheel rakes do not turn the wheels black.

I just use a rake, then try it out on a block of hard wood.O.K. so far.Have to trim up a wheel once in a blue moon.