TurningShop.com  - Home of Harding Pens and Woodturnings
This Page is about my  lathe-buffer. I made this tool by converting an old Ryobi lathe to
suit. I shortened the bed and made a buffer jig to fit. Read-on to see the details. Click
on a thumbnail to see a higher resolution picture.

There is a also a web page on my
home made dust collector.

Thanks for visiting my website,
Brad Harding,  HardingPens.com
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Ryobi lathe shortedned to convert to a buffer
My Workshop-
Lathe Buffer
This is my old lathe. I  modified it to make
it shorter, then set it up as a buffer. The
buffing creates the beautiful gloss finish
that make the wood grain seem to jump
out at you.
I used three 6" buffing wheels, mainly
because that is what the commercial
buffing jigs use. I only use two buffs, one
for the mirror glaze, and one for buffing out
the renaissance wax.
I run the buffer at 3000 RPM.
Jacob's chuck in headstock
The buffing jig was created with a
length of 1/2 inch all-thread. It mounts
in the head stock with an old cheap
Jacob's chuck. This was a good
excuse to buy a better chuck for my
main turning lathe.
The buffing wheels are mounted with
nuts and washers.
Meguire's Mirror Glaze
Above is the mirror glaze compound I use for
buffing. It is a very fine grade. Picked it up at
Canadian Tire in the automotive wax section.
Lathe modifications: I shortened the bed of this lathe
so it fits on my main turning bench (see below).
 The bed consisted of two tubes attached with a long
bolt joining the tubes. I ran the bolt down the one tube
and added washers and a nut in the headstock to
clamp everything together.
Two lathes mounted on my turning bench
Tail stock bearing holder
Bearing in holder
Bearing holder with turned MT1 taper
The tail stock end of the jig was the most difficult. I
turned a bearing holder out of maple and mounted
a standard 1/2 inch ID bearing in the turning. The
maple block was made by gluing a maple dowel
into a chunk of maple firewood I had drying in my
shop. The piece was turned on my lathe held with
a 3 jaw chuck. I turned a #1 Morse taper on the
end so it mounts directly into the tails stock.  
 I turned the bearing pocket first then glued in the
dowel, reverse mounted in the chuck and turned
the taper.
Above, the result: a shining gloss finish. The CA glue finish
is buffed to a high gloss on the buffer with the mirror glaze.
An application of museum-grade Renaissance wax is
applied and buffed out on a clear buff on the buffer. The wax
helps protect the finish from finger prints. I apply a second
coat of wax after the pen is assembled and this is buffed
out by hand with a cotton cloth. The second wax coat
protects the hardware.