Polishing chains on a buffing machine: DON’T DO IT! I always ask any
student getting ready to polish a chain which of their fingers they
can live without. The suggestion to use the tumbler to polish chains
is usually a welcome idea, and one which doesn’t risk your fingers. I
would also suggest that conversations held while buffing should be
discouraged, as full concentration is advised to help avoid
accidents.
Jay Whaley
Whaley Studios
One of my female students once said, talking about how trashed her
hands got while making jewelry,
“You can make jewelry, or you can wear jewelry”
I find myself telling students that funny line all the time!
Jay Whaley
Whaley Studios
What is a barrier cream? Where do you get them?
Gloves in a bottle is a good product that I can recomend, ive used
it more for the mosturizing content, but keeps a good barrier on your
hands…most of the polshing residue will come off with a simple
washing, just dont go wrenching on cars and expect them to come out
sparkling. Its best to reapply after washing.
Some art stores carry the stuff, plus you can find it online too.
P@
In the midst of this Great Debate on the fine points of protecting
hands from heat, grime and “black thumb” while polishing, an
important side issue has arisen which I hope will not be ignored.
Therefore I am sub-titling this effort in an old-fashioned way -
“How to Succeed With the Ladies.”
It is about washing dishes by hand.
About washing dishes by hand and the benefits that activity confers
upon a person. True enough, your hands may look so good and clean
that at the next formal dinner party you attend nobody would ever
guess you perform manual labour. But, the benefits go far beyond
just getting your hands clean.
Here’s what I know about that.
In the town where I lived many years ago there was a fisherman named
Franky (whose last name I shall neglect to provide.) He was not
particularly “tall, dark, and handsome” nor in any way resembling a
movie idol. Quite the opposite (although he was dark, but then so
were all the other fishermen.)
He was the most ordinary squat-bodied fellow with somewhat randomly
placed teeth. He had a bit of a pot belly. A little balding too, if I
recall. He worked on a dragger and made an average fisherman’s
living, which for the benefit of regular folks, translates as an
income which is unpredictably sporadic and averages out to somewhere
below the poverty line in a good year - but at least you always have
fish to eat.
Despite these disadvantages there was one thing which distinguished
him from all the common herd and it was that he had uncommon good
luck with the women of the village. None of the other fishermen, no
matter how young, handsome, dashing, or reckless with their pay
packets could claim the number of conquests which Franky routinely
chalked up to his credit. The women fairly swarmed around him on his
nights ashore. Everyone wanted to know Franky’s secret. He never
told.
But one of the women (who knew) explained it to me one night. “When
out fishing,” she said, “Franky always volunteers for the one job on
the boat that even the toughest deckhand avoids. He always
volunteers to wash the dishes. It’s his hands, you see. All the other
guys have hands with the texture of barnacle-encrusted oyster shells.
Franky’s hands are always soft”
So there you go - a bonus - the inside story. Don’t wear gloves. Let
your hands get grimy and scorched at work. But then a devoted daily
soak in cold, greasy dishwater (those guys ate a lot of fried food)
and even a little soap, and you’re as good as new - even better.
And as for the folks who promote never-failing perfect attention as
the one and only solution to safety - well I say good luck to them
if they believe that about themselves. Perfect attention? Never-
failing? I guess they’re the same ones who, when an accident does
happen, are always dead certain that it must be someone else’s
fault, unless they’re just plain dead. Everyone’s attention fails
sometimes, maybe for just a fraction of a second. But how much time
does an accident take at 1725 RPM?
Marty in Victoria BC where the electric dishwasher threatens to take
the romance out of life.
I’m in the “whatever works” camp. Common sense–use enough
protection to save your hands but not hinder your work or foul/catch
on the machinery. If you have a power tool setup that doesn’t allow
for safety gear and you’re uncomfortable, then revisit your setup
rather than forcing it to work one way or another.
Since I like to have both a close feel for what I’m working on and
retain my fingerprints after an abrasive session, I’ve got an
assortment:
Green gator tape (love it, just wish it didn’t take so long to put
on)
Rubber and latex finger cots
Nitrile gloves (definitely not just for chemicals, but don’t
bother buying latex–they just dissolve when you are working with
liquids)
Cotton back rubber grip gloves
Heavy garden style gloves (least sensitivity, almost never used)
BTW, so far this is my glove shopping nirvana–and that’s from
someone who wears a woman’s XS 
http://www.fastenal.com/web/products.ex?N’9600681&Nty=0
Cheers,
Ann
While I haven’t read every entry in this topic I haven’t seen anyone
using the leather finger tips, I think I gort mine at Rio but it’s
been 10 years or so. They protect the ends of your fingers. I use 1
to 4 depending on what I’m doing If it gets caught it just pulls of
the end of your finger (not literally) but actually I have never had
it happen that I can recall. Anyone else use these or see any safety
issues with them?
Dave Owen
If you guys are honest with yourselves and us, How many of you polish chains or bracelets on a buff.
I’ll be honest and I’ll be perceived as an idiot. I do it all the
time. bare hands, free chain. I’ve mentioned this many times but
seems no one acknowledges it…get yourself a two speed buffer. Small
wheel, low speed, know how to hold the chain no problems. I’m sorry
if this offends anyone’s sensibilities but be professional, get the
right tools and use them wisely.
My standard policy is that everything gets polished unless there is a
specific reason not to. But you might ask, “how do you hold the
chain?” You polish parallel to the chain and only do a short section
at a time, AT LOW SPEED, keeping excess chain in your hands, not
flopping around looking for a fight. Slack in the chain is your
nemesis.
If you do not have a two speed and intend not to get one then do not
buff your chains. Use a rouge cloth and spend forever doing it.
You men-folk who are lucky enough not to be in the habit of washing
dishes, give it a try!
Noel, I would love to learn how. I've tried, but I just cant seem to get the hang of it.
Hans, this make me laugh out loud, thanks. The list of tasks that my
husband has failed to master is long, from ironing a shirt to knowing
the difference between a weed and a flower when mowing the lawn. But
then, he is blond… (though he’s dynamite with a computer!)
Noel
If you polish chains without wrapping them around a fat mandrel you deserve and will see the consequences. Sliced up base ball bats are cheap. But you are right, free handing chains when poishing is not a good idea.
OK, I have a history of injuring myself in interesting and sometime
humorous ways but here is my painful learning experience with
polishing chains. Many years ago I had some silver omega chains that
had tarnished. No problem I though. I’ll just turn on my trusty
buffer and polish them. Well as you probably guessed it the buffer
grabbed the omega chain. Fortunately the clasp broke freeing my hand
but I got a severe bruising of my hand from the metal cable that the
silver is wrapped around as it spun around the tapered shaft. Now I’m
very shy about polishing chains and will only do so if wrapped around
a piece of wood. From that incident I gained a healthy respect for
the power of a buffer realizing how close I came to losing a finger
or two…
Rick Copeland
Silversmith and Lapidary Artisan
rockymountainwonders.com
Once there was a fly in the shop - understand the fly was going to fly heaven one way or the other.... I caught it alive in the way that many people can do, by scooping it up from behind. The ultrasonic was running, so I threw it in there. The very INSTANT it touched the water, it was dead and completely limp. That's enough for me.....
Ooohhh… If PETA hears about this you are in for some big time
trouble Mr. Donivan.
I have to admit when I have a pesky fly get in the way while my
torch is lit he is dispatched rather quickly with a sizzle and pop.
Rick Copeland
Silversmith and Lapidary Artisan
rockymountainwonders.com
Hi, Dinah,
My reckless fellow jeweler who uses of all things “gloves(!)” to
polish. My guess is that all the Newbie posters who really aren’t
making much product haven’t yet found out that;
using water to cool down pieces to protect bareback (OK
barehanded) hands seems rather time consuming, to say the least
gauging your polishing so the work doesn’t get "too hot to
handle"is too much fussing.
heavy gloves are, to me, a must when polishing large pieces (such
as the heavy wide cuffs that I make,that is when I am not spending
{read:wasting} time on issues like this.
{ok, disclaimer, don’t do what i do}
zev
p.s. maybe the “others” will note of your not accidental (no pun
intended) reference to your work with horses and the protection
gloves offer when dealing with a moving object.
When I polish a chain using the buffer, I wrap the chain around a 1"
diameter dowel about 18" long.
Before using the dowel. I put a round head wood screw in it near
each end. I left just enough of the screw exposed so I could wrap a
piece of 16 ga wire around the screw.
I secured about a 6" piece of wire to each of the screws.
When I want to polish a chain, I insert one of the wires through one
of the last links in the chain or a jump ring near the end. Then I
wrap the chain around the dowel barber poll fashion & secure the end
with the other wire.
It’s easy to hold the dowel when polishing. When one side of the
chain is done, I remove the chain & turn it over to do the other
side.
The dimensions given aren’t critical. I was just a spur of the
moment thing with stuff I had lying around.
Works for me (SAFELY). Your mileage may vary.
Dave
This has been a hard hitting topic for me to read. Let me start by
saying that I’ve buffed without gloves since 1987. After years of
that and brushing my fingers with hand soap, and dipping my fingers
in the ultrasonic to hurry to a customer out front, and steaming
fingertips, and occasional burns and not to mention chemicals. After
all that, my fingers are telling me that I have to try a different
approach. I’m sure alot of you know how attractive fingernail
psoriasis can be. There has to be a better way for people to continue
to work with there hands without fear of to much damage. I sure hope
the one’s who teach this craft for a living are educating today’s
students the proper way to clean their hands.
Another remedy I use at the end of a day or work week is soak my fingers in very warm or hot ultrasonic solution.
This is exactly what I do. Most of the time, I’m only using my
ultrasonic to remove polish residue from the jewellery I’ve just
polished, so I use a soft nylon toothbrush and the mildly ammoniated,
soapy water in my ultrasonic to clean my fingers. It instantly
removes the polish build-up, and then washing normally straight
afterwards, quickly gets rid of any ammonia on my hands. I find it
preferable to using bleach, which clings to your skin for quite a
while.
Helen
UK
There has to be a better way for people to continue to work with there hands without fear of to much damage.
As has been mentioned already, a safe and effective alternative to
gloves are simply the fingertips of gloves. You can buy these, are
cut the ends of existing gloves. Also, 3M makes a tape called “vet
tape”. Kind of a treated gauze that sticks to itself, but nothing
else. You can wrap a bit of that around a fingertip to give a close
custom fitted finger cot that works quite well. For helping to deal
with the dirt, there are creams, often sold as “glove in a tube” (or
bottle, or some such name.) These are protective creams that help
keep chemicals and polishing compounds from imbedding themselves in
the skin, so washing up after polishing is much easier, and they also
help protect from irritation from a variety of chemicals you might
use in cleaning. Not as good as actual rubber gloves for that, but
helpful still. For actual hand cleaning, I prefer the orange oil
based cleaners sold to mechanics for cleaning the grease and gunk off
their hands. Some have a bit of pumice added, which speeds them up.
All have not just the cleaning agent, but some lanolin or other skin
creams or conditioners or the like, so you don’t end up with dry
cracked skin after cleaning up. I find these things, along with a
small brush for fingernails etc, to be quick and effective on
polishing compounds, especially if one also used the protective
barrier cream before polishing.
If you use the solution in your ultrasonic to wash your hands, just
don’t turn it on. Some of the ultrasonic cleaning solutions can be
rather harsh on skin even without the energy of the ultrasonic, so
pay attention to the results if you use the stuff like that.
Peter Rowe
Yes, Dave, those little leather finger tips are the snazz…been
using them for years. They are from Rio. I haven’t read all of these,
but there is some pretty “interesting” stuff being revealed!!! HA
Rose Marie Christison
Pat. I even found “Hands in a Bottle” in the Pharmacy at Kaiser the
other day.
Good stuff. Lovin’ these stories!
Rose Marie Christison
Hi Zev,
Honestly, LOL, do you think they caught the nuance of that parallel?
ROTFLMAO
I also make lots of cuffs - wide, and heavy, and wind chimes large
things, have hooded vented buffer and an open one that I buff the
hammered long tubes on for the chimes. You bet I wear gloves, an
apron, polish on the porch, wear jeans and boots, and slide a dowel
inside the tube appropriate for it’s ID and buff away. Since the
dowel seldom has movement, the gloves are for when it does turn, and
just to protect.
Horses, by far, can and do exceed posted speeds of things, and with
1200 lbs of very large mass (kind of like a 4 yr. old Rhino)
lurching about a field, the possible scenarios are… well…
pretty much endless and quite an adventure at times.
I’m too old to be a pointless micromanager. I just don’t have
time… hahahah
Dinah
For those who have had issues getting their hands clean afterusing
the buffer, I’ve had luck in washing all polishing compunds off my
hands gently with a product called “Simple Green” - it is gentle to
both your skin and the environment - an excellent grease cutter.
Ruta
You polish parallel to the chain and only do a short section at a time, AT LOW SPEED, keeping excess chain in your hands, not flopping around looking for a fight.
I do it slightly differently, but not enough to matter… A note,
though on one a couple here have hinted at - do not EVER polish a
chain with the catch closed - That is, so it’s a circle. That’s
really, really foolish