Buffing compounds are used with buffing and polishing wheels to increase the effectiveness of the wheel and to help you accomplish your tasks more quickly. They come in all different types and colors, each uniquely suited to a different aspect of the buffing, cutting, and polishing process. Some are rougher and allow you to quickly remove scratches from various metal surfaces, and others are gentler and designed to provide a beautiful and shining finish to your work. One big difference that you’ll notice is the contrast between rouge compounds and tripoli compounds: rouges are typically used for polishing and finishing work whereas the tripoli compounds are used for cutting and buffing to remove scratches from the metal. Below we have compiled a list of our most common buffing compounds to help you tell the difference and choose the one that is right for you.
Black Emery Compound
This compound is filled with emery minerals to give it top notch cutting qualities making it the perfect compound for removing scratches, small pits, plating, paint, antiquing, lacquer and more from metallic surfaces. For big jobs and work that requires a lot of work to remove rough surfaces or deep scratches, you should always start with this compound because it will save you hours of work and effort. It even starts the polishing process for you, typically leaving metals with a fair shine on the surface when you are done.
Greystar
Greystar is designed for general purpose use; it has an excellent cut while bringing out good color in all metals. This compound has a medium grade composition with fine and uniform abrasives. It is great for quick and efficient removal of firescale. Best used on stainless steel with a more rigid buffing wheel.
Brown Tripoli
This tripoli compound is designed for its general purpose use for both buffing and polishing work. The compound can easily cut and remove scratches while leaving a smooth finish. It is the best compound to use on softer metals like brass, copper, aluminum and various pot metals. It can also be safely used on things like stainless steel and wood surfaces, giving the wood a lustrous finish when you are done.
White Rouge
White rouge compounds are a great finishing compound, particularly for harder metals like chrome and things that have been nickel plated. It will provide a light level of cutting edge to your buffing wheel giving those harder metals a brilliant shine when you are finished. Also known as a blizzard compound, it can be used provide a final finish to harder metals, or lighter cutting action on softer ones.
Water Soluble Red Rouge
This compound works in the same way that regular red rouge will: it gives a superb high quality polished finish to the metals that you use it with, and it is especially effective for use on gold, silver and other precious metals. What makes this compound unique from typical red rouge, is that it is also water soluble so breaks down much more easily and can be cleaned away just with the help of water.
Red Rouge/Jeweler’s Rouge
The red rouge compound is commonly referred to as jeweler’s rouge because it is used extensively by jewelers and because of the unsurpassed level of high quality polishing it provides to gold, silver and many other precious metals. In very little time, this rouge will reveal the true colors of each metal, and they will shine like new. It is also safe to use on pieces that have thin layers of plating.
Green Rouge
This green rouge is a compound that is designed to provide a high luster finish on hard and soft metals. While this compound can easily and safely be used on hard and soft metals, it works best on things like chrome, stainless steel, and platinum, which is the reason that sometimes this compound is known as Stainless Steel compound. It will leave a brighter and better finish than you will get with a white rouge compound.
Tan Bobbing Compound
The tan bobbing compound is known for its fast cutting action, making quick work of removing light scratches and things like fire-scale from metal. It is an ideal pre-polishing compound, easily smoothing the surface of the precious metals like gold and silver to ready the surface for polishing. It works best when it is used with a buffing wheel, brush and lap work machine.
Polinum
Polinum is a rouge that is commonly known as Orange-Glow. This is a specialty compound was designed to allow you to polish platinum, white gold, yellow gold, and stainless steel. It provides a powerful polishing action that produces an unbelievable sparkling gloss to your metals. Originally designed to be used on watch cases and watch bands, Polinum is great for watchmakers and is frequently used by Rolex repairmen to bring a watch back up to its original luster.
Blue Magic
This compound was engineered just for working on platinum. It provides an unmatched polishing shine to platinum jewelry and metals, as well as giving other precious metals like gold a beautiful glimmer.
Fabulustre
Fabulustre is a unique and specialty one step buffing and polishing compound. It was designed to provide a high luster finish to all kinds of precious metals from gold to silver, as well as other decorative metals. The compound easily removes light scratches to produce a mirror-bright final finish to your work piece in no time at all without discoloring while you work.
Zam
Zam is another specialty compound designed uniquely for working on silver and turquoise jewelry. The special formulation is gentle and will not scratch the delicate stones, making it ideal to use on jewelry that you need to polish but could not easily remove the stones to protect them from harsher polishing compounds. It leaves a high luster finish without a residue making it a versatile polishing compound.
By Esslinger Staff|2018-08-29T20:38:33+00:00June 12, 2014|Jewelry Making & Repair, Jewelry Making & Repair, Watch Repair, Watch Repair Guides|30 Comments
About the Author: Esslinger Staff
Related Posts
30 Comments
geoff ClarkeMay 19, 2018 at 2:34 pm - Reply
Please – What woud be the right colour compound to use on wood (Hard wood) when buffing?
Finishing with wax / Carnauba wax.
Kind Regards, Geoff.Joe ShmoeJune 21, 2019 at 11:26 am - Reply
brown tripoli is supposedly the one to use for hard wood, bone, ivory and stuff like that. frankly i can’t tell the difference between the vast majority of these compounds… but that’s what i’ve read for wood. i’ve tried it myself and it comes out nice and shiny… then again, all these compounds will likely do that so try it out one at a time, starting with the brown though…
Mike ConlenJanuary 6, 2019 at 6:04 pm - Reply
I wanted to print the info on buffing compounds. The text print is gray, which looks great online, but prints so lightly that it is difficult to read. Also, there are large blocks of white space between each compound, which makes for a lot of wasted paper when printing. That said, the info was very well presented and very useful. Thanks!
DanFebruary 11, 2019 at 1:51 am - Reply
just copy and paste the text into a Word document or other word processor.
Kevin GlassKApril 5, 2019 at 11:18 pm - Reply
Ok, way to much information and way to confusing, I’m looking to bring back the shiny to my all clad stainless steel pots and pans. There clean, well for the most part. Just everyday use but want to bring back the shine…..what to use from what to what? For a super shine.
Any advice or help will be greatly appreciatedEsslinger StaffApril 8, 2019 at 3:13 pm - Reply
You can try using this cleaning paste that’s made for copper, stainless steel, glass and more:
https://www.esslinger.com/penny-brite-copper-cleaner-paste/Or if you prefer using buffing compounds on a polishing motor you can use the Fabulustre One Step Final Polish Compound:
https://www.esslinger.com/fabulustre-polishing-compound-1-4-lb-tube-one-step-finishing-polish/Trust MeJune 21, 2019 at 11:30 am - Reply
dude… don’t listen to any of that nonsense… all you need is flitz polishing paste… period. end of story… a tube will last you 10 years, you can use it on almost anything, it both polishes and protects against tarnishing and rust, and it will make basically any metal shine brighter than using 6 of these different compounds that are supposedly made for all these specific things… forget all of it.. get a bottle of flitz
Trust?January 4, 2020 at 12:16 am - Reply
If you are using a little tube of Flitz over 10 years for all your polishing needs you shouldn’t be posting on a such a specialized forum.
Oracle WatchmanNovember 27, 2020 at 3:38 pm - Reply
You are obviously on the wrong forum. Search for “polishing my mag wheels on my Camaro”.
Valerie CarterJuly 2, 2019 at 3:25 pm - Reply
We have slot of aluminum on our big rig.
What is the best compound & buffing wheel to use on this type of metal for a great shine ?
ThxAngie WhitakerJanuary 18, 2020 at 3:44 am - Reply
My black gas stove top has become dull from cleaning it over the years. What do you recommend using to shine it. Has no scratches or chips, just a little dull, especially around burners I use the most. HELP
fRank whiteJanuary 27, 2020 at 9:36 am - Reply
You may want to try liberally spraying the stove with white vinegar and then sprinkle baking soda generously over the top (especially trouble areas). Place a hot/warm wet, but rung out, towel over the whole stove top…you may need two depending on sizes. Let that towel sit there for a good twenty minutes or so. Remove the towel and dry, then spritz with white vinegar and buff with a microfiber cloth. it should end up pretty good looking, repeat if need be.
M J EmmonsFebruary 27, 2020 at 1:22 pm - Reply
Good information thanks, with that said which would I use to bring a high shine to gun blueing or blackening?
Agnes B DavisApril 16, 2020 at 6:49 pm - Reply
I have a red cast iron tub but it has a lost of scratches what can I use to remove the scratches?
SharonApril 25, 2020 at 1:46 am - Reply
I am trying to find something to polish antique cut steel jewelry and buttons. I have gotten good results taking off the rust with white vinegar and a brass brush. But, it seems to darken the cut steels rivets, possibly by leaving a residue? Thanks for any help you can give.
Johnny WrightApril 30, 2020 at 7:07 am - Reply
What compound and polish would be best for pens with ca finish
Sanded to 12000 then buffingJeff ChungApril 30, 2020 at 7:09 pm - Reply
If I’m trying to get as close to a mirror polish as possible. After I’m done sanding with 2000 grit, should I use a green compound, and then red compound, and then flitz as the final compound? Or should I skip the green and red compounds altogether and just use flitz? Or should I just use one of the mentioned? Thanks!
MarkMay 24, 2020 at 4:59 pm - Reply
I am looking polish what I believe are galvanized steel rings around a wine barrel. Is there compound anyone would recommend?
RickJune 23, 2020 at 2:53 am - Reply
What compound would I use to sharpen a hoof rasp with a cotton buffing wheel?
Don ShepherdJune 25, 2020 at 1:53 am - Reply
Rick, The Greystar or emery. I’m both a farrier and a jeweler so I felt compelled to field this question. To be honest, your results on the rasp will depend on how dull you let it get before polishing. it works great on a finish rasp if it is used just for finishing. If it’s a leveling or trim rasp you’ll get limited result if it has come into contact with a lot of rocks or coarse sand. The cotton buff isn’t the best option. Better to use a sissal buff to do the initial cutting and follow up using a denim or similar wheel and white rouge. Sissal doesn’t hold compound well so apply compound often. Good luck!
Philip JollyAugust 27, 2020 at 6:14 pm - Reply
Is it possible to polish an enamel coated metal lampshade and what would be the best compound to use.
Cheers
PhilipLinaNovember 25, 2020 at 6:12 am - Reply
We want to buy 10 EA 8 oz Jewelers Rouge Buffing Compound ,4 – 1/2″ long x 1 – 3/8″ wide x 1″ high, could you please make an quote for us , thank you.
Esslinger StaffDecember 16, 2020 at 6:02 pm - Reply
I’m not sure which bar specifically you are looking at, this is the closest to your description: https://www.esslinger.com/royal-velvet-red-xxg-type-ultra-high-luster-premium-rouge-buffing-compound-7-oz/
JillJanuary 11, 2021 at 7:55 pm - Reply
Could Zam be used to carefully polish genuine Baltic amber jewelry pieces by hand, e.g. brooch, pendant?
Lee WinterMarch 2, 2021 at 10:01 pm - Reply
Which compound would be best for deeper scratches in a cars side widows? The type scratches made by an ice scraper. Thank you.
Dana PruettMarch 16, 2021 at 12:08 pm - Reply
I am polishing 304 stainless that doesn’t have scratches. I am using Tripoli then the green compound. It has a great shine but looking at the piece from different angles there are cloudy areas. Should I use Jewelers compound next? I am new to polishing and use an 8″ 1/2 horse table top grinder.
Greta Anita LintMarch 17, 2021 at 6:08 am - Reply
Is it possible to use jeweler’s rouge on the backs of vintage rhinestone jewelry? The stones are clear and glisten. But the back metal is dark from age, cologne, make-up, air, etc. I have some beautiful old rhinestone jewelery, but the dullness of the back side makes the pieces ugly.
Ruben RamosJuly 9, 2022 at 3:52 am - Reply
Is their a polish to use on my bath room sink. It only looks shiny when wet, dull faded white, tried turtle wax, armor all, flood wax, bathroom cleaner, pinesol, oven cleaner, have not compounded yet. thanks
chamikaSeptember 27, 2022 at 6:33 am - Reply
can you please tell me a compound to use for electropolished elements made of ss
제왕카지노 가입 코드슬롯머신 가입머니November 6, 2022 at 6:12 pm - Reply
Do you have any video of that? I’d want to find out some additional information.
