Buffing a bridge without a buffing wheel

[seangil]

I'm just finishing up a zircote bridge on a new build. For past guitars, I could borrow a friend's buffing wheel to get a nice polish on the bridge, but my friend moved and took his wheel with him. Two questions:

1) Do I need to do any pore filling on the zircote bridge before polishing?

2) What is the best way to buff/polish without a wheel?

My current thought is to sand up to 2000 grit and then use wax and steel wool. I tried Macguire's polishing compound on one piece, but didn't have great effect. Not sure if it was my error or just the limits of that approach.

Any suggestions?

[Fathand]

Personally, I would not pore fill any buffed bare wood but I'm not familiar with Ziricote.

Depending who you believe, the grit equivalent of 0000 steel wool is between 400 and 2000, with most saying 400 to 800. If you use steel wool after 2000 you will be adding scratches unless you have like #2500 synthetic steel wool. I would sand to 600 or maybe 1000 then buff with some brown tripoli compound, should give a satiny finish, works for rosewood and ebony.

You can buy small 2 or 3" buffing wheels to mount on a drill or drill press, 5 - 6" ones to mount on a bench grinder or you can buy a $7 arbor to mount on the end of a 1/4 -1 HP electric motor and use a 5 or 6" wheel. In a pinch you could buff by hand with a piece of old T Shirt.

When I was polishing aluminum motorcycle parts, I bought a cheap 6" bench grinder and put 2 arbors on it to extend the shafts. It worked good but do not use a grinder for buffing laquer, at 3500 rpm they will easily burn through.

Good luck.

[Bruce Sexauer]

0000 steel wool has qualities beyond its abrasive factor, it also burnishes the wood. It can pull up a very nice patina on hard wood. Use it with the grain. Nothing I am aware of competes well with a pedestal buffer, however. Ix-nay on the filler.

[seangil]

Anyone have experience with the Central Machinery Buffer sold by Harbor Freight? I only make a few guitars a year, so it would only see occasional use and mainly for parts since I mostly use shellac (and plan to try crystal lac) as a finish.

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by seangil

Anyone have experience with the Central Machinery Buffer sold by Harbor Freight? I only make a few guitars a year, so it would only see occasional use and mainly for parts since I mostly use shellac (and plan to try crystal lac) as a finish.

If its this one, it's 3450 rpm, thats suitable for polishing metal, it will burn through lacquer.
https://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-buffer-61557.html

If you have 6 inch wheels you can carefully buff at 1725 rpm. If you want 10-12" wheels your looking at half that

I have a shop fox buffer on a 1/4hp motor with 12" wheels it works great, identical to what Stew Mac used to sell. https://www.grizzly.com/products/sho...assembly/w1681, runs about 800rpm

My first guitar I used an arbor and 6"wheel on an old washing machine motor
https://www.grizzly.com/products/gri...1-2-r.h./g5550

[Quickstep192]

I’d use the padded squares of MicroMesh lubricated with naphtha. It might work dry as well.

The top grit is 12,000 and makes a nice sheen.

https://www.amazon.com/Sanding-Stopp.../dp/B000H6EC4C

[seangil]

What are the specs that you should look for in a buffer for guitar parts?