For all you buff turners, I wanna be buff....

[Brian Brown]

No not that kind of buff although I need that too. I went to Woodcraft this week, and the owner demoed the Beall buff system with three buffs on one mandrel. He said that the buffs were also available individually. He buffed a pen, and I really liked the finish when he was done. A very convenient design, but it seems to me that if you were sanding a larger vessel, with all the buffs on the lathe at the same time, you would have a high incidence of hitting the buff next to the one you are working with. Probably not a big issue downstream, but if you hit the upstream buff, you would have to redo the areas that touched that buff. Also if you were buffing a porous wood, you would have a problem of hitting the white diamond buff, and getting the white stuff in the wood pores accidently. On the other hand, the single buff system seems to sit very close to the head stock, and I am such a klutz that I would always be banging the vessel on the headstock. So the question is which system do you prefer and why?

[Robert Parrish]

I have the 3 buff system and I only use it for small turnings like pens and bottle stoppers. I made a small mandrel from threaded rod for pens which makes it easier to control and not hit the adjoining wheels. For large bowls you need the individual wheels. The system works really great!!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Brian - I have the individual wheels and they work great for me as I can move the headstock of my Jet 1642 down to the end of the lathe to do all my buffing. The 3 on a mandrel idea would work fine if you were doing very small items such as pens - but for bowls/hollow forms you need to be able to move the piece around while buffing.

[Ryan Baker]

Get one of the long buffing adapters that are made by Don Pencil and replicated by others. That makes it very easy, secure, and convenient to mount/dismount the buffs on your lathe, and gives you plenty of working space. I wouldn't run mine any other way.

[Robert McGowen]

I have the 3 wheels on the single mandrel. It is very convenient for buffing small items. When I want to buff a larger turning, such as a bowl, just remove the 3 wheels. Slip a piece of 3/4" pipe onto the mandrel for use as a spacer and then the washer. Put on whatever wheel you want to use, then another washer and another piece of pipe. Screw on the end nut and you are ready to buff with whichever single wheel that you choose to buff with. It is easier and faster to do than it is to read about how to do it. :rolleyes:

[curtis rosche]

not to steal the thread, but how well will it work if you use a buffing wheel with no compound?

[Thomas Canfield]

I started out with the 3 wheel system, but have gone to the Don Pencil Extended shaft for single wheel/buff. I have the 3 wheel hanging and expect it to stay that way. The 8" shaft is great, and I had to add my extension to get to the bottom of one hollow form even, but the shaft is ridgid and works well. I have both 1" and 1 1/4" 8" shafts so can use either mini or powermatic for buffing, but am using the mini more lately for smaller shapes. The greater clearance with the powermatic is better for larger bowls and shapes and the 8" wheels.

[Richard Madison]

Single, home made buff with white compound. As Steve mentioned in another thread, it does little if anything to improve the gloss, but definitely does improve the tactile "feel" of the work.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Brian,

I had the Beal 3-on-a-tree. While it performs well, the problem arises when you try to buff larger bowls etc and find your hand being friction polished by the buff next to the one you are using! It burns like ....well it burns....

I gave it to a friend who didn't have a buffing system and bought the Beal individual buffs and I change between compounds. It's really not that much of a deal to me.

[Cody Colston]

I use the Beall individual buffs...8" wheels and 3" bowl buffs.

I screw an adapter directly onto my 1" x 8 tpi spindle and the buffs screw into the adapter. I usually just leave the headstock as-is but sometimes I'll totate it 90 degrees for easier accessibility to the bowl.

I can't see using the 3-n-1 setup unless you are only buffing very small items.

[Brian Brown]

Brian,
the problem arises when you try to buff larger bowls etc and find your hand being friction polished by the buff next to the one you are using! It burns like ....well it burns....

It may have burnt Ken, but I'll bet you had the prettiest fingernails in the neighborhood! :D

[Bernie Weishapl]

I had a extra 1750 rpm motor so have the 3 seperate buff wheels and change out between compounds. Takes a few seconds so no big deal.

[Wally Dickerman]

not to steal the thread, but how well will it work if you use a buffing wheel with no compound?

Not the same thing Curtis....you can make your car shine a little by buffing it with a soft cloth, but it shines a lot more if you follow up with a wax job.

Wally

[Chuck Rodekohr]

I just got the Beall system with the three separate wheels and the #2 MT so I can use it on the lathe. I also got the 3” bowl buffs. LOVE IT!!

[Gary Conklin]

Love my buffing system, but i made it with parts ordered from Caswell Inc. You may also want to check out the Don Pencil system.

[Scott Conners]

I really love my Don Pencil buffing system. The 8" extension lets me got to just about anything. I've even buffed a guitar after sanding out scratches in the finish. Just about everything I make gets buffed, either as a final finish (cocobolo leatherworking tools in particular) or after an oil or film finish.

I have the 8" wheels as well as both the 3" and 4" goblet buffs. The great thing is that the goblet buffs are completely soft all the way around, and they use the standard taper-threaded adapter to mount. This makes it easy to find other shapes of buffs that you can just thread onto your lathe with no special threads anything needed.

Custis: the compound carries a fine to ultra fine abrasive, which is what makes the buff work. A plain cloth buff would do the same thing as rubbing it with your t-shirt - not a lot of change. I do use a plain buff for shining up paste wax (Renaissance wax) top coats sometimes.

[David Walser]

Brian,

I use Don Pencil's system with the 8" extension. Mine has FOUR wheels rather than the standard three. The fourth wheel is used instead of the carnauba wax wheel and is used with Don's "PL" compound on plastics and on film finishes, such as lacquer. It's a finer grit white diamond. I almost never use the carnauba wax wheel anymore.