Stain on sharp edges

[josh_ford]

I was wondering if there is any trick to keep the stain on sharp edges from from being buffed off when you buff. The edges are lighter because they catch the buffer more.

How do you guys keep a constant stain throughout?

Thanks

Josh

[KurtHuhn]

I don't know of any tricks. All I do is pay very close attention, I never look away, and I use a light hand. You just have to be careful.

[ToddJohnson]

You're probably buffing at too high a speed with too hard a wheel and with too much of the wrong compound. Add to that the fact that finishing a pipe is very difficult to do well and you probably don't get truly good at it until you're about 200 pipes in.

Try an unsewn wheel at no more than 1725 rpm's with brown tripoli (and very very little of it). And, as Kurt said, use a light touch and pay very close attention. Also, never feed an edge into the wheel. If you do, it will instantly go round and the stain will disappear. If you have an edge, hold it at a 45 to the wheel with the edge facing down. Then, move the pipe laterally to buff the plane. You never actually want the edge to get buffed. Flip the pipe over and buff the corresponding plane, again avoiding the edge. Maybe try it a few times on some scrap pieces. Just finish them to whatever grit you normally do. Stain them and then try to buff them without rounding any edges or removing too much stain. I hope that's helpful.

Best,

Todd

[KurtHuhn]

That's way more eloquent than I could muster today. Excellent advice, Todd.

It's funny. I do a lot of stuff the way I do simply out of experience or "naturally". Some of the stuff I do, and some of the processes I use can get difficult to explain unless I think about it very hard - which ain't happenin' today.....