What is the best buffing wheel for buffing varnished wood? (Muslin, cotton, sewed, loose, etc?)
What is the best buffing wheel for buffing varnished wood? (Muslin, cotton, sewed, loose, etc?)
Dave — It depends on which compound you’ll be using on the wheel. In general, you want stiffer wheels with more aggressive compounds and softer wheels with finer compounds. For example, Beall recommends a linen wheel for its Tripoli compound, a cotton/linen wheel with its white diamond compound, and a flannel wheel for carnauba wax.
You asked about buffing varnished wood. For that, I use a very fine compound (finer than white diamond) and an unsewn, 100% cotton, wheel. The compound I use is made for buffing plastics and I find it works well with film finishes. It reduces the risk of burning through the film finish compared to using white diamond. When buffing plastics, or a film finish, I stop after this step. I don’t see any benefit of buffing a coat of wax on top of these materials. YMMV. However, if I were to use wax, I’d use an unsewn flannel wheel.
HTH
David Walser
Mesa, Arizona
I use fluffy un-sewn cotton and Menzerna white compound.
Last edited by Maurice Mcmurry; 10-05-2022 at 7:31 AM.
Best Regards, Maurice