Buffing Arbor:
When first starting out in guitar building, I had limited funds and could only buy the stationary tools that were the real work horses of the shop, like the band saw, drill press, table saw etc..
One of the tools that I always wanted was the bench mounted spindle buffer.
Up until the time I purchased the model you see here, I was using hand buffers with buffing wheels. It was a difficult chore to keep from damaging the guitar and took an inordinately long time to complete the buffing and polishing operations.
In looking around at different bench mounted buffers and buffing arbors, I found this one that is made by Stewart McDonald. The features that I really like about it are the slow speed, which minimizes burning a delicate finish, the width of the spindles, which gives you great access to all parts of the guitar and the large wheel capacity.
Guitar Making Tasks:
Buffing Out Lacquer And Polyurethane Finishes.
Tool Cautions:
When you buff a finish, be sure to start in very slowly and do not force the guitar. If you do, you are more than likely to burn the finish or worse yet, burn through the finish. Also be very careful on the guitar edges as it is very very easy to burn through an edge. The wheel turns down or toward you so be aware of this when you first start. Also be careful not to ‘catch’ a sharp edge of the guitar on the wheel and have a firm grip on the instrument or the wheel can send you hard work flying across the shop.
How To Operate The Tool:
I would recommend that you purchase the entire kit for this buffing arbor. That way you will get everything you need to be up and running with a quality, production oriented piece of equipment. The kit includes the arbor, butting wheel, buffing compounds, motor, pulley, v-belt and wheel cleaner. About the only thing it does not include in a table top to mount the buffer, and StewMac gives you a plan for that.
Accessories:
If you purchase the buffing kit, you really do not need any additional accessories.
Technical Details of the StewMac Buffing Arbor
More room to polish larger guitars: 36″-long arbor shaft and specially-shaped cast housing for increased clearance.
Larger polishing surface: Bigger buffing wheels, chosen especially for instrument finishing.
The right speed for a beautiful finish: powerful 1725-rpm motor with our matched pulley and belt delivers a slow 730-rpm buff speed, ideal for buffing delicate instrument finishes.
Everything you need to get started: Buffing compounds and instructions are included with the outfit.
The Last Word:
As I said, in the first part of this article, there are a LOT of stationary tools I would make sure I had in my shop before the buffing arbor, but if you have a full compliment of tools including a table saw, band saw, drum sander, drill press, dust collector, and planer, give the buffing arbor some strong consideration. Now that I have one, I don’t know how I would get along without it. My guitar finishes just sparkle now and they are the best they have ever looked.
Please Share Your Experiences:
Do you have a favorite Shop Tool you would like to share with us? Just write a comment and we would all love to hear about it. I’m sure there are other tools that I have not touched upon that are equal in quality to my own experiences.
Tags: buffing a guitar finish, guitar buffing arbor, guitar finishes, how to finish a guitar
