Finally starting restoration and have questions

[spinsheet]

About 10 years ago I bought a Caswell 3/4 HP 1100 RPM buffing machine with 6" loose cotton and 6" spiral sewn cotton wheels. I also bought the large buffing compound starter pack. Life got in the way and I didn't set it all about till about a week ago. I have a couple hundred straight razors (a friend of mine had a bit of an addiction and bought over a thousand on eBay and gave these to me, long story...). Anyway, I'm moving forward with this.

I'm starting with some razors that are usable but not really anything special, I figure if I'm going to screw up it might as well be with these. I'm starting out with the Black Emory Cake compound which is described as "Fast cutting, removes rust scale, carbon, heavy tarnish, and sooty deposits." The bars of compound sat for 10 years in a box so they were pretty dry when I went to use them. Caswell's site said to soak them in water for 24 hours, which I did. I seem to be having issues getting the compound on the cotton wheels, perhaps I need new compound, not sure.

Someone said to spray a bit of WD-40 on the compound and try it then, which I did. The wheel then darkened when I tried to apply but that could just have been the WD-40 on the wheel and not the compound, not sure. All I know is that it's really not doing much to clean the blade. Perhaps I was expecting too much, or perhaps I'm simply not getting enough compound on the wheel, not sure.

According to Caswell the surface speed of my wheels is 1650 RPM (1/4 x 6 x 1100). Is this an appropriate speed to do what I need to do? Do I need a larger diameter wheel to increase that?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[Kailand09]

All I can say is that the first time I tried loading felt wheels with polish I had issues, even with brand new Dico polish. I soaked it in mineral oil for a few hours+, and then you don't need to apply a lot of pressure at first just let the friction melt the compound and then push a bit once it started melting and you should get it loaded up.

I've heard of people melting polish down and mixing with WD-40 or mineral oil when melted and letting it harden back up to create a more workable compound, but I haven't tried that yet.

Hopefully others chime in with more experience as polishing compound seems finnicky.

 

[spinsheet]

Thanks for the reply. I assume that Dico polish is in bar form? Did you simply coat it with mineral oil for a few hours? If so, I'll give that a try.

 

[Kailand09]

yes, Dico is a bar. I just poured a bit of mineral oil on it, yes, and let it soak in a sealed package or ziplock for a few hours. That softened up the surface some and then let me run the wheel on it to load up.

Be aware, you're going to spit compound and mineral oil all over the place when loading it up! Messy business.

 

[H Brad Boonshaft]

Should not be a problem with Disco compound bars, but new wheels will need to be conditioned and trimmed.

Did you buy a rake? The Castwells rake is a good one, steel rake with large wood handle, (2 hands). If you don’t have a rake cut a piece of 36 grit sandpaper into quarters and fold in half, use that to clean the wheels, use eye protection, and mask or respirator and a fan pointed at your face.

Also, a piece of wood with sharp corners cleans the wheel and removes compound well using the corners, wipe off the compound from the corners of the wood with WD40 soaked paper towel. A rake will deep clean a wheel.

You should be using sewn wheels to cut and loose wheel for polish. I have both low speed, Baldor and high-speed Harbor Freight. I use 4 inch sewn wheels for cutting and polishing up to green stainless compound and 6-inch loose wheels with Zam or blue compound, finish buff on clean lose 6-inch wheel.

First rake new sewn wheels to loosen, fluff up, then trim loose fibers with a sharp scissor, I buy cheap garden scissors from the dollar store, and sharpen with a diamond file. Cutting wheel threads loaded with compound will dull your scissors. Trim off all loose threads hanging from wheels when spinning, slowing down from spinning. Threads will prevent full loading and will mar the finish of a buffed razor.

I have Disco compound that is decades old, and works just fine, it will build up a skin, just rub on a piece of cardboard. Then apply to the wheel, you may need to use a bit of pressure on the wheel, but it should heat up enough to apply to the wheel.

You can make a ghetto splatter guard from a cereal box that will keep compound off your walls and ceiling when loading compound, greaseless really makes a mess.

Once the wheels are broken in and fluffed up, they take compound easily. Write on the side of the wheel which compound you are using, do not mix compounds. Once on the wheel it is on for life.

Do not apply too much compound, if it loads up on the razor, it is too much. Clean off the razor with paper towels wet with WD40, it also cleans your hands well before using hand cleaner.

You can buff razors with 6-inch wheels, but you will have to angle the razor to get into the hollow. A 4-inch wheel gets into the hollow better and runs slower, cooler.

 

[Gamma]

A lot of compounds are made with a fat based binder. Using an oil to 'soften' them can work, sure. It's a common practice. In a perfect world, if the bar was made with a certain type of fat or grease you'd want to use the same chemical to bring it back around. Using a petroleum product to soften a bar made out of lard might work for a minute but possibly wind up ruining it over the long haul.
It is not uncommon for a bar to dry out. Me, I just get a new bar. I don't like re-conditioning them because they can soften unevenly and be very wet on top and still too dry underneath.