# Buffer/Polisher



## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

I need to buy a buffer/polisher to buff lacquer to a high gloss mirror finish. Can I buy anything halfway decent in the $200 range and what buffer size and RPM ranger should I be looking for.


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## ihackwood (Sep 5, 2009)

i bought mine from h/f when i painted my car, it was like 40 bucks but can you say see yourself in the reflection


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

I find using a buffer/polisher heats up the finish and imparts swirl marks. By the time I finish wet sanding with a very high grit, it takes very little rubbing by hand to bring up the gloss. Much better than possibly burning the finish.

Maybe I'm too much of a perfectionist.


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## mwhafner (Jan 16, 2009)

Cabinetman is right, you fave to be very careful not to overheat the finish. Hand-buffing is good for smaller projects, but can be very time-consuming. Porter Cable makes a variable-speed 6" buffer/polisher for about $150. I haven't used the new model, but use its predecessor all the time.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

I have always hand rubbed for a mirror finish but it takes too long on larger tables, so now I am ready for power finish.I recently started/restarted a woodworking business this past June. I have been swamped after I did a refinishing job for a decorator. Now she wants new furniture I make to have that piano finish. 
Today I bought a Dewalt variable speed with a few extra foam polishing pads - almost $300 w/o tax. Whew.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Tony B said:


> ......
> Today I bought a Dewalt variable speed with a few extra foam polishing pads - almost $300 w/o tax. Whew.


I have no idea why I wrote Dewalt. It is a Makita that I bought. LOL. Gettin' old is a bummer.
Anyway, I tried it out Friday. I had an older mahogany table that had some scratches in it. I gave the owner 2 prices. One was for a buff only and see if I can get rid of the scratches in the finish. The other price was if I couldnt get the scratches out, it would have to be stripped and refinished. In either case, I would have to get back to a mirror finish. 
The problem that i had was threefold. One - not sure of the exact finish on the existing piece and two - not knowing how thick the finish is and three - not knowing how deep the scratches are. Not having done this before, I was a little gun shy about how much pressure to use and how deep to go, so I stayed on the conservative side. Actually it was pretty easy to do and all went well except there were still a lot of scratches left. Soooooooooo. i started the process all over again to go a little deeper. That attempt got 100% of the light scratches out and over 95% of the deeper scratches out and the surface was mirror enough to shave from. I called the owner to come and check it and see if she was happy the way it turned out or if she wanted me to gamble her money and try again. Well, she was very happy. She saved a lot of money by not having the top stripped and refinished and I made a really good buck for an hours worth of work. 
Anyway, buffing to a mirror finish is relatively easy to do. My confidence level grew rapidly with each change of 'grit'. The final buffing removes all swirl marks. Beats the heck out of doing it by hand.


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## ihackwood (Sep 5, 2009)

i did the same thing with my 40 dollar one hahaha


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

Considering you do building restoration for a living, that is pretty funny.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

My first attempt at buffing to a mirror finish went perfect as did the subsequent project. The first top was a 4' x5' 2 piece table top from an old Duncan Pfife leaf table. The second top was from a buffet approx 20" x 60". A bit time consuming in the 'flattening' process but the buffing took about an hour total and is almost foolproof. I gambled and added $250 for the buffet and $350 for the split table tops over and above the normal/refinishing price. I feel that that is a reasonable addition. 
The flattening process took 6 heavy coatings with sanding in between. I think now that I can reduce this to 5 in the future. The amazing part is that I used to think I had it down pretty good by hand but boy was I ever wrong. Once you achieve that perfect mirror finish, you can actually see the thickness of the coating with absolutey no swirl marks.


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## Colt W. Knight (Nov 29, 2009)

Stewart MCDonald or Stewmac.com sells some foam buffing arbors that fit in a cordless drill for use with various grades of buffing rouge. You can buy several buffing wheels for each grit and your set. I find using Buffing Compound, Glaze, and Swirl Remover works the best. 

Shop Fox makes a stationary buffer available for 100$.


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