Do You Need Greaseless Buffing Compound?
The process of buffing and polishing metal is pretty easy to understand. You’re trying to level the surface out and remove and inconsistencies so that the best mirror polish can be obtained. On some materials or parts the high level of cutting may take a lot of time and materials to get smoothed out. For heavy cutting and buffing we usually reach for our greaseless compounds to quickly cut and level metal when polishing.
Greaseless buffing compounds are made without any oils, greases, or waxes. They are made with a mix of glues/adhesives and water for a binder with abrasive material for cutting. They tend to coat the buffing wheels more completely and don’t “burn off” as easily as solid buffing compound. Simply spin the buffing wheel up to speed and hold the tube of compound to the wheel and it melts a coating onto the surface which quickly coats and dries. This gives you a nice solid band of abrasive compound to cut quickly. We like to keep tightly sewn or sisal wheels for aggressive cutting with greaseless compounds. One advantage of greaseless compounds is that they won’t leave a large amount of greasy residue that has to be cleaned off with a solvent between steps. The final finish with greaseless compounds is a smooth, matte/semi-gloss finish that will be ready for the final steps of buffing with traditional compounds.
We offer Greaseless compounds in 3lb tubes that will last most DIY users for years. Because the compound is made to melt easily you need to make sure you keep the tubes in a cool, dry area to avoid melting. We offer a full line of sanding, polishing, and buffing supplies. View our Buffing products HERE.