Oh No! I've messed up my Chestnut Buffing Wheel!!

[tekno.mage]

Well that was a darned stupid thing I just did. I was polishing up some tool handles I've just made using my Chestnut buffing system. The tool handles have brass ferrules. Stupidly, I polished the ferrules too (made a lovely job of them!!!) and now my second wheel (white compound) has nasty black stuff all over it :-(

I tested a bit of spare sycamore on the wheel and the black stuff transfers to the wood as a nasty grey smear.

Is there anything I can do to clean the wheel? Can I wash it??? Trim it? Any other ideas?

If Terry from Chestnut is around, does he have any suggestions?

 

[Jonzjob]

80 grit abrasive on a flat bit of wood and wear a mask!!

I was STUPID enough to do the same but with a brass ornament. It took a little while, but it came off!!

 

[tekno.mage]

Thanks for that tip! I'll give it go - I've been "polishing" pieces of rough turned but unfinished wood (my stock of jam chucks!!!) which has made some improvement, but very pale grey marks are still being transferred.

Interestingly, some of the jam chucks "polished" up to some quite interesting textures.... Hmmm...

 

[CHJ]

Yes I would think Johns 80 grit gouge treatment is about the most effective, I've managed to remove just a slight contamination with your rough (sawn) wood method.

 

[Terry Smart]

Oh no! (Although I did something very similar in my early days of experimenting with buffing wheels, you're not alone as other answers show).

I don't think washing it is viable sadly, trimming it as per John's suggestion does seem the best option, but do be sure to wear a mask.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

 

[Jonzjob]

Mine came clean quite quickly. I thought that if the 80 grit is the way to prepare the wheels in the first place it would work for my stupidity. It did!!!

 

[tekno.mage]

I am so glad it's not just me that's so daft I've actually found the polishing of rough wood has now virtually solved the problem - although if anything similar happens again I may well resort to the 80 grit gouge method. I was a bit hesitant to try this as I wondered about getting bits of the abrasive grit into the wheel which might then scratch later projects - or is the wheel going round so fast that any "bits' just get flung out again rather than sticking in the cloth?

I find a full face mask (rather than goggles) essential when using the wheels due to the annoyingly itchy threads in the face problem - which my wheels all still suffer from despite quite a lot of use. :lol:

Terry, I presume Chestnut do sell replacement mops for the kit?

 

[tekno.mage]

Mine came clean quite quickly. I thought that if the 80 grit is the way to prepare the wheels in the first place it would work for my stupidity. It did!!!

Oh - are you meant to prepare wheels with 80 grit before using them? I didn't know that. Is this to balance the wheels or to minimise the flying htreads problem?

 

[Terry Smart]

Terry, I presume Chestnut do sell replacement mops for the kit?

They've always been available as a special order but the packaging and everything else is sorted out now and they will be a stock item available for shops around the middle of October. So far no-one has worn one out!

 

[Jonzjob]

Mine is the Beall Wood Buff system not the Chestnut one, but I would think that the wheels are very similar.

It calls it conditioning the wheels on mine.. Flash name for getting rid of the bits!

 

[CHJ]

I just stuck some rough sawn timber against them for starters and got rid of the bulk of the loosely bonded threads.

One thing to be careful with if you drop a mop amongst the shavingss is to give it a spin and make sure they are all out of the mop before using it, else you can be back to the tripoli to remove scores.

Another Tip, if you ding a piece on a tool or lathe, wet the ding spot and wait a few minutes for the wood to absorb moisture. a bit of judicial buffing is often enough to heat the wood enough to swell the fibres back out without sanding.