Wax Dust on Buffing Wheel

staffwalker · Post by **staffwalker** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:38 pm

How do you guys clean a buffing wheel? After applying canuba, to over a hundred pipes with the same wheel, I am starting to see a fine dust on my pipes after buffing, especially irritating when the dust collects in partial rustication. It's not a big problem but means I have to use a lint free cloth to wipe each down which takes away some of the shine before the wax has throughly dried. I am sure it is the remains of wax that has built up on the wheel and become fine dust over time. Anyone have a method to get this dust out of the wheel?

bob gilbert

kbadkar · Post by **kbadkar** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:50 pm

A buffing wheel rake. Frank will tell you that he doesn't like them and prefers a looow grit belt on a belt sander. Either one will do the job.

Caswell has a buffing wheel rake for around $10. I'll see if I can find a link later or just google the words - here it is wheel rake.

Or you can make one with old hack saw blades.

Briarfox · Post by **Briarfox** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 7:51 pm

I've been using an old file with good results. It fluffs up the wheel and take off the old wax nicely.

I'm a tad worried about using sand paper because of the chance of grit getting into the wheel.

FredS · Post by **FredS** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:13 pm

I use an old hand miter saw as my rake. I'd have the same concerns about tramp grit adhering to the buff if you used sand paper, but I'm knida anal about my buffing/polishing wheels. I store them in a cabinet just to keep everyday shop dust from getting on them.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:19 pm

Are you using a stitched wheel or unstitched to apply the carnauba? If it's unstitched, I'd advise against raking it with anything - you''ll rip it to shreds. Trim unstitched wheels with a pair of scissors.

staffwalker · Post by **staffwalker** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:29 pm

Thanks for the replies.

I'm using a non-stitched one and one half inch by eight inch flannel for canuba. It's not that I have too much old wax built up--not in its hard form anyway. It's that the old wax has become fine-fine dust in the fibers of the wheel.

It tends to accumulate on the part of the pipe not in contact with the wheel, for instance, if I am buffing the top of the stem when I turn the pipe over the bottom of the stem looks as if it has been dusted with flour. When I buff the bottom the dust is transferred to the top of stem. Very irritating. If I am buffing the smooth portion of a partly rusticated pipe the dust settles in the rustication. Lots of fun getting that out.

bob gilbert

ToddJohnson · Post by **ToddJohnson** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:17 am

You're not ever going to eradicate "dust" from buffing wheels. They are made of felt or muslin, both of which produce lent with or without wax. The reason it "collects" on the pipe is because the friction of buffing creates static electricity which attracts the lent to the pipe. Rub your T-shirt against the stem and it will cancel the charge. The lent will fall off.

Todd

RadDavis · Post by **RadDavis** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:28 am

ToddJohnson wrote:You're not ever going to eradicate "dust" from buffing wheels. They are made of felt or muslin, both of which produce lent with or without wax. The reason it "collects" on the pipe is because the friction of buffing creates static electricity which attracts the lent to the pipe. Rub your T-shirt against the stem and it will cancel the charge. The lent will fall off.

Todd

Todd,

Is lent a fancy French or German word for lint?

You have to speak English around us rednecks, lest we get confused.

Rad

baweaverpipes · Post by **baweaverpipes** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:34 am

RadDavis wrote:
ToddJohnson wrote:You're not ever going to eradicate "dust" from buffing wheels. They are made of felt or muslin, both of which produce lent with or without wax. The reason it "collects" on the pipe is because the friction of buffing creates static electricity which attracts the lent to the pipe. Rub your T-shirt against the stem and it will cancel the charge. The lent will fall off.

Todd
Todd,

Is lent a fancy French or German word for lint?

You have to speak English around us rednecks, lest we get confused.

Rad

During Lent, I try to give up something and lint is always at the top of the list.
And................yes, Rad, you are a redneck and I am too!

baweaverpipes · Post by **baweaverpipes** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:37 am

staffwalker wrote:Thanks for the replies.

If I am buffing the smooth portion of a partly rusticated pipe the dust settles in the rustication. Lots of fun getting that out.

bob gilbert

Use your heat gun on the dust that accumulates on rusticated pipes. The wax will melt and give the pipe a nice sheen.

ToddJohnson · Post by **ToddJohnson** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 1:30 pm

RadDavis wrote:
ToddJohnson wrote:You're not ever going to eradicate "dust" from buffing wheels. They are made of felt or muslin, both of which produce lent with or without wax. The reason it "collects" on the pipe is because the friction of buffing creates static electricity which attracts the lent to the pipe. Rub your T-shirt against the stem and it will cancel the charge. The lent will fall off.

Todd
Todd,

Is lent a fancy French or German word for lint?

You have to speak English around us rednecks, lest we get confused.

Rad

That is AWESOME, and you Rad, as I've said before, are an asshole.

I rely on the little red squigglies to tell me when I've misspelled something. But sometimes you can spell the wrong word write and then you have to bare the consequences four your carelessness. Live and learn, I suppose.

Todd

RadDavis · Post by **RadDavis** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 2:54 pm

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

Sauce Unknown

Rad

kbadkar · Post by **kbadkar** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:02 pm

Nice won Rad.

If it is indeed the buffing wheel lint that is statically interested in the rustication, then a heat gun will only impregnate the lint into the melty wax.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 3:40 pm

kbadkar wrote:If it is indeed the buffing wheel lint that is statically interested in the rustication, then a heat gun will only impregnate the lint into the melty wax.

It seems to me that it is wax rather than lint/lent/lunt/lont/lant.

kbadkar · Post by **kbadkar** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 4:01 pm

Well, I guess Bob will have to collect a little dusty sample and see if it melts or not. My guess is that it is a combination of wax and lynt. (forgot "and sometimes y", Frank

)

staffwalker · Post by **staffwalker** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:20 pm

Interesting enough, I think it is just wax. I use two wheels, the 8" one for waxing and a 6" one on another motor for final shine. The large one is the one in question and it looks like wax only, I see non of the static charge referred to here nor does it collect lint, only the fine dust. The 6" wheel builds up a charge and collects everything, lint, trash, wax, somtimes a cat, cat hair, etc. After using it, it will have bits of lint standing out like steel filings do on a magnet. I tried it last night with the tee rubbing Todd suggested and it works great. The 8" wheel, however, collects nothing but the fine wax dust. It doesn't appear to be static because I can wipe the dust off and it stays off. With the 6" wheel, before the de-static move, it is impossible to wipe the trash off, it just moves around and sticks somewhere else. So that move works on the 6" wheel but not on the 8" one. bob gilbert

kbadkar · Post by **kbadkar** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 12:59 pm

If that's the case, then a good raking or sandpapering should freshen up your wheel. It could be overloaded with wax. Although, when I first waxed a pipe after overloading the wheel, I got splotchy thick waxed areas, not dust. Maybe your wax bar is funky.

Still, I would melt test the dust to be sure it's 100% wax, just to verify that that is the issue.

ToddJohnson · Post by **ToddJohnson** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:49 pm

For what it's worth, the best tool for determining how much wax to charge the wheel with is your nose. To keep from overloading it, turn your buffing wheel on, take the back of a gloved hand and hold it against the wheel until your hand gets significantly warm. This warms the wheel so that it takes the wax more easily. Then, gently press the bar of wax into the spinning wheel until it starts to give off a slightly sweet sort of honeysuckle smell. Once it does, remove the bar of wax right away and begin to buff the pipe. You should only need to repeat this process once, if at all, during buffing. Anymore wax than that, and you're putting on a coating that's going to dull quickly and make the pipe seem blotchy. It's also worth noting that it's virtually impossible to get a good finish with a stitched wheel. It's just too hard, and it doesn't have enough flexibility.

Todd

kbadkar · Post by **kbadkar** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:11 pm

Nice bits of advice. I like the glove trick, Todd. The melted wax smell test is exactly the way I know I got the wax on the wheel. When I first tried applying the wax on the buff, I thought I had to see a thick yellow cake on the wheel. Couldn't have been more wrong.

Hey, Todd, I use a single stitched wheel (the stitch near the hole) and I am fairly satisfied with the results. Do you think switching to a completely loose buff will improve results, or did you mean that a spiral sewn buff is too stiff.

Frank · Post by **Frank** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:11 pm

kbadkar wrote:I use a single stitched wheel (the stitch near the hole) and I am fairly satisfied with the results. Do you think switching to a completely loose buff will improve results, or did you mean that a spiral sewn buff is too stiff.

A single row of stitching near the hole is referred to as an unstitched wheel.
A spiral sewn is too agressive for applying wax.