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MANY YEARS OF EXPERIENCE.
Have you
ever wondered how the professionals
achieve that really high class finish you see on their pieces?
Well apart from years of experience,
lots of hard work and great skill, a number of
them use some form of buffing to help them get the final finish
their work deserves. There are many buffing kits available on the
market today, these vary not only in the choice of materials used
but also the size and number of wheels used.
AN EXTENSION OF THE SANDING PROCESS.
Buffing can basically be described as an extension of the sanding
process, where imperfections in the chosen finish applied to your
turned piece are gradually removed. By using a variety of abrasive
compounds in combination with buffing wheels made from different
materials it is relatively easy to achieve the final finish of your
choice. The smoother the
surface is, the more light it reflects, taking
on a great depth of shine. |
WHAT IS THE ONEWAY
BUFFING SYSTEM.
Oneway's
buffing kit comes with three 8"
wheels, one
each of firm, medium and soft materials, there are also
two very large bars of buffing
compound and a
block of hard finishing wax, an
arbour for mounting the wheels
and a full set of instructions. The main difference for me with the
Oneway system and other systems I have worked with is not only the choice
of materials used in the construction of the three wheels but the
way in which they are mounted onto the arbour. Generally,
buffing wheels have a simple hole bored through their centre, this
is forced onto a pigtail arbour, usually leaving a fair amount of
the pigtail sticking out to catch the unwary turner or the piece
being polished. The whole kits comes neatly presented
in its own storage box.
THE ONEWAY BUFFING
SYSTEM IN USE.
The
Oneway
buffing system can be used together with your chosen finish, be it
wax, oil or lacquers, but whatever the finish is,
you must give it time
to fully cure. If the finish is buffed before it is fully
cured, buffing will damage or even remove it. All the turned pieces I
used with the Oneway buffing system had previously been sanded to at least 600
grit, the surfaces had been coated with a sanding sealer and had
several coats of cellulose or water based lacquers applied over the sealer. These were left at least 10 days to cure before the buffing took
place. It is all to easy when working with lacquers as a final
coat to have them looking like a cheap plastic coating, buffing can turn
this plastic look into a deep lustrous shine. Fit
the supplied arbour into the lathe's jaws, pillar drill or some
other power source, mount the first
(hard) of the wheels and select the correct lathe speed as
advised in the instructions. Before starting the lathe, all
normal safety procedures must be observed before using the system, safety glasses, face mask
etc.
The process from here is quite simple and can be very
rewarding, the first bar of brown (Tripoli) compound is lightly held against the spinning
wheel to load it with the compound, the turned piece is then
carefully held against the the lower part of the wheel, keeping it
constantly on the move, never remain on one spot,
these compounds are abrasive.
Work until the whole of the piece has been buffed with the first
wheel, recharging the wheel with compound if needed. This
process is repeated with the second, medium wheel and the white
(White Diamond) compound and finally with the third, soft wheel and
the block of wax (Carnauba Mix), this is the time when it all
becomes worth the effort, the full depth of the shine starts to
appear. Buffing is fast, simple and very effective - what more could
you want.
Special thanks
must go to
Brimarc in Warwick for the samples of the Oneway buffing
kit, at the time of the review the price for the kit was £42.50 and
this is available in the UK from Les Thorne at
The
Shed Direct Les
can also be contacted by calling the shop on 0845 458 0089.
Please mention the Creative
Woodturning review when calling.
Review - Mike
Swain |