OK. I’m going to add my $.02. Bear in mind I work almost exclusively in silver but years ago I switched to chamois buffs and have not looked back. Very little lint. Very little maintenance. They are good clear down to almost nothing left.
Rick Copeland
Rocky Mountain Wonders
Hi rockdewd,
so, do you need to rake them at all?..or no?
I have some small ones for my flex shaft…they got really loaded up/ glazed with compound and metal…I’m not sure what to do with them next…I feel like I should rake them or something to refresh them…but since there are no fibers, I was hesitant…
Julie
I use the small ones on my flex shaft and yes they do load up and I run them against an old file to clear them but I was talking about 3-6" buffs on my buffer. Which I exclusively use ZAM for polish. I do use brush wheels for more aggressive cutting compounds.
Rick Copeland
Rocky Mountain Wonders
With buffs, one size doesn’t fit all, but chamois is excellent for final finish and bring out a high polish, I think.
I use a buff rake (heavy compound removal, hacksaw blade secured to a piece of hardwood (gentle resurfacing), and broken, course grinding stones (final finish). If a buff has cupped too much I’ll trim the edges with a pair of scissors after removing all compound (the compound will help dull the scissors). I sometimes let buffs cup intentionally as the converging fibers produce an antiqued look on old silver ;~) If you want to try a really fantastic buff for the absolute finest finish, use Rio’s 1”- 6” balloon buffs.
Hi Jeffrey,
Thanks for you comments. By the way, your Herman’s Silver Polish is amazing! I love it! So gentle, very effective, and No Odor! I love that you have partnered with Blitz Manufacturing for producing it, as they make great products. I get custom polishing cloths from them.
I too use the Rio Balloon cloth unstitched buffs with Picasso Blue Platinum compound, for final mirror finish, and love the results
That’s what I do to a tee, but I use Tripoli on the hard felt wheel and 1
muslin, then fabulustre on the final muslin. Just as of the last two weeks
I started experimenting with at the bench felt wheels and soft buffs. Minis
for the flex shaft. I’m loving it and actually get a better polish. You can
control way better the detail areas of a ring or whatever and get in
tighter. There are hard knife edge felt wheels that I’m digging. The hard
cylinders are the $h&t though. Then a light muslin with the fab and boom,
you never left your bench. I also have a dust collector that sits right in
front of my face to suck up all the nasty stuff. Just set it to the side
when you don’t need it. SD