3 wheel buffing system

[Random Orbital Bob]

I understand Chas's comments about matching the correct mop material with correct compound etc, but IMO that is just not justification to charge £60 for essentially a few bits of cloth and some buffing compound.
Sometimes paint is paint, bought some emulsion from Aldi last year to paint my utility room, once it's on the wall it doesn't look any different than known brands costing twice the price.

It's a fair point. But the differences of these things are often hidden. Paint is a really good example. I have a friend in the paint trade so am lucky enough to get good quality trade paint at "shed" prices. Consequently, I use ICI Dulux Diamond Matt trade paint whenever I need emulsion.

Aldi paint (any cheap paint in fact) will start to lose its finish or peel or flake or scrub off if you wash a stain off. Diamond matt on the other hand retains its original colour and can literally be scrubbed to remove accidental stains, marks etc and its life span on the wall will likely be 3 times if not more longer than the less expensive brand.

So like all these things, its a choice. You can spend more, go higher up the value chain and receive a better quality product or you can jump in at a lower price point and generally (obviously there are exceptions) receive less quality.

I guess with buffing, I haven't tried it yet (but know I will because I've seen the results live multiple times and its stunning) so its about whose opinion you trust isn't it. I personally struggle to "trust" the manufacturers opinion in the main because they have a vested interest. Once marketing people get hold of it, any resemblance to honesty gets buried in brochure superlatives! But when someone in the real world, a user has said its good, because they've tried it, and that person has nothing to gain, except helping you, I tend to pay more attention.

Personally I think in the main you do get what you pay for. I've learned expensive lessons with the big 3 machine tools (bandsaw, TS and P/T) where I had to "buy twice" because I thought I was being smart and saving money with the first purchase. Now I pay serious attention to other peoples experience because I don't want to "make the same mistake once".

Where the finish of wood turned items is concerned, I would find it very difficult to reasonably challenge Chas's viewpoint and I've never even met the bloke.

 

[Woodmonkey]

Expensive doesn't always equal good...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... ellow.html

 

[paulm]

Out of interest I have just spent a few minutes on the Polishing Shop website. I haven't spent the time to figure out the exact comparable product specs but assembling a similar three mop kit, abrasives and wax, and a simple pigtail mount would total to something around £45 as best I can figure.

Turners Retreat, for example, do a similar kit with same pigtail mount for about £47, and they do the Chestnut one, which I have, for £55.

Personally I think the main advantage of the Chestnut one is the mandrel, which is beefy enough to mount in a chuck and spin the larger mops without any problems and long enough to give you more working room and access around the mops. Changing mops is also very easy as the mandrel is drilled and tapped and each mop is pre-fitted with a retained bolt that threads into the mandrel easily and securely.

One thing is for sure though, an appropriate mop system and compounds can transform the finish on your woodturnings, not a substitute for thorough and proper preparation and technique, but a very worthwhile further enhancement of already good finish levels.

Of course, most money can be saved by not going down that route at all and that's a perfectly valid approach too, and one which I took until a few years ago. To my mind though the Chestnut system (and maybe the Beale one but I haven't looked) is designed/chosen for the job and with the purpose made mandrels is very fairly priced for what you get. Each to their own though

Cheers, Paul

 

[Woodmonkey]

Guess I'm just a tight @rse then!

 

[Dalboy]

At the end of the day it is your choice what route you want to take all that people on the forum can do is give their own personal point of view.

Any one can go out and find a cheaper way of doing things which may or may not work, the question is are they prepared to take the chance in the hope that it does only to find that they have to go out and buy a second time.

Being a new user of the Chestnut system I am certainly glad that I went that route, I did consider hunting out cheaper methods but at least I have peace of mind knowing it is what I needed and also know that the backup is there if I have a problem.

Guess I'm just a tight @rse then!

You are not the only one you can add me to that title

 

[Spindle]

Any one can go out and find a cheaper way of doing things which may or may not work

Hi

A cheaper way of doing something that doesn't work equates to a more expensive way :wink:

With research and background knowledge I believe you can save money by assembling a package rather than subscribing to someone's 'system' - however it takes time and involves an element of risk dependant on experience.

It's all down to individual choice.

Regards Mick

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Guess I'm just a tight @rse then!

That was my point entirely about having to go back to the market to upgrade my big 3. The whole wisdom of this is that by buying cheap you're NOT NECESSARILY saving money. If the inferior quality product doesn't perform, then you've actually wasted that money haven't you.

There is another thing with the chestnut buffing system which is that its not like its a £100 more than the alternatives. As Paul has shown with his maths, its only arguably £8 more than an alternative. Bear in mind that few recommend that alternative yet most recommend the Chestnut system.

Like people keep saying, of course its a personal choice in the end but to me, its such a complete no brainer that when I do jump in, I'll just get it. Life has so many agonising decisions (Bandsaw for example) where careful weighing of the pro's and cons is critical to the right choice. This is surely not one of them.

I'm a Yorkshireman by the way and I don't do wasting money if I can help it

Edit: this crossed in the post with Mick's which is the same message

 

[paulm]

Guess I'm just a tight @rse then!

You're in good company here

Cheers, Paul

 

[chipmunk]

I would subscribe to many of the views expressed here but I find it hard to believe that buffing is such a tricky thing to get right TBH.

My experience is that the difference between not buffing and buffing is much greater than the differences between types of buffing system.

Most of the chaps I know who have been buffing longer than the Beall or Chestnut buffing systems have been around produce work that is no worse than that of the newcomers.

The compounds can be bought from Chestnut or Beall if you want to reduce the variables.

HTH
Jon

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Don't think anyone disagrees with that....it was about the cost of chestnut versus an "assemble it yourself" approach.

 

[procell]

I recently bought a three wheel buffing set from www.twwoodturning.co.uk/shop
You can buy individual components and the mops are loose leaf like the chestnut system. I bought 220mm grade B,G and WDR wheels a pigtail with 8mm shaft and buffing compounds for the B and G wheels. the total price with VAT and delivery came to £43.74

I have not yet had the chance to try them but the mops do look good quality.

 

[Woodmonkey]

This is more reasonably priced, although it doesn't include an arbour.
http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/260996829512

Although a previous post showed a link to mounting all three on a threaded rod which seems sensible so you're not having to keep swapping them over.

 

[gregmcateer]

Wm,

I have had a look at similar to that one ebay and although I cannot comment on that particular one as I have not seen it, (unless seen elsewhere without knowing it's that one), the Chestnut one is the canine's testicles for 'build quality'. I am as tight as the next man, (hence the aim to follow your lead on the Nova vac chuck), but have just bought the Chestnut system at the Daventry show as it really does feel good and the owner, Terry, clearly cares ALOT about the product and his customers.

For me, worth the few extra beer tokens for a well-matched kit, well put together and a good size (8" diameter, easy swap mops).

IMHO, FWIW

Greg

 

[Woodmonkey]

Fair enough it certainly has a lot of fans on here, that's for sure