Cleaning buffing wheels

[umahunter]

A friend gave me a pile of wheels she found in a storage unit they are pretty dirty. they look oily. I think they're going to take more than raking or useing a sanding belt. anyone know if I can safely wash or soak them. I was thinking of soaking in hot water with dawn dish soap never used buffing wheels so I have no idea what's safe besides raking them ??? Thanks for any input

 

[whitmore]

A friend gave me a pile of wheels she found in a storage unit they are pretty dirty. they look oily.

Well, my polishing compounds are wax-based, so 'looks oily' could be normal. I'd just use 'em,
a few trials will tell you if one has emery or some agressive abrasive, and if it doesn't, just
treat it like it were new.

The old marble statues of the Renaissance were buffed with wheels of ... straw. Just enough silica
to give a good finish, but those wheels really WERE ragged, you can be sure.

 

[Tozguy]

The wheels look to be in good condition. Use them as is and see. It is possible that they have been charged with different buffing compounds so I would do some tests on some materials to see if there are differences in finish as whitmore indicated.

 

[dlane]

Raking them ? ,

 

[Bob Korves]

I use a tool that looks like this:

It is actually intended for use on buffing wheels like the ones used on an angle grinder for polishing automobiles, but it works on radial polishing wheels as well.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?...151980864A3FD651E03C3876CF0B88B79&FORM=IQFRBA

 

[Groundhog]

I use a buffing wheel "rake" (as mentioned before). Just search "buffing wheel rake" to get tons of suppliers.

 

[kd4gij]

I don't do much polishing But have a couple mounted wheels that I have washed with hot water and dawn and they still work fine.
this is all I have.

 

[FOMOGO]

Wire brush works pretty well for raking. Mike