Dust it Off and Buff it Up Baby!

For all my expat fraaannns living out yonder don't even bother reading this post.  It doesn't concern you.  This is a foreign subject to you.  So catch you next time, wink wink.

Have you ever asked for something that you just had to have, have it now, and you can't wait to get started?  Yes? Well, that was me Christmas 2011.  I asked and got my handy, dandy buffer to buff my granite countertops. Today...January 22, 2013...a day late and a dollar short... I pulled it out of the garage cabinet and blew off the dust.  What happened to the urgency?  What happened to, "I can't wait to get started?"  LIFE, that's what.    So, this is supposed to make my job of polishing the granite go by faster and less tiring on those guns.

  

 I am probably going to get a bit of jibber-jabber about,  "Why in the heck would I ask for a buffer for Christmas?"  For this reason.  My beloved dad always bought my power tools.  He would surprise me on my birthdays or for Christmas.  He was a fantastic carpenter.  I grew up around table saws, circular saws, miter saws, power drills, you name it.  So, I don't mind getting my hands dirty or saw dust in my hair.  One of my favorite smells in the world was when my dad would come in the door after a long day of building someones cabinets or designing and hanging crown molding and give me a big bear hug (as I always called them) with the smell of fresh saw dust on his clothes.
The safest smell in the world!
My hubbs is keeping it going for my dad.

Here goes...my attempt to see if a power buffer is better than my big gun (or not) buffers.  

Let's see...

 The counters

 The tools...buffer, pads, and granite polish.

It's out!  Well, what do ya know...after all this time we meet.  

The pad on the left is the buffer pad and the one on the right is the terry cloth pad for application.

 I punctured a small hole in the top of the polish, so it would not pour out too quickly on the pad.

 Directions said to pour polish in a circle motion going from the outer edge to the inside.

Buggers...the directions said to tie the pad around the base.  So I did.  The darn cloth thing spun completely off and whacked me in the head.  I looked at the directions again and it said to tie the string in a bow knot twice and tuck the string underneath the tightened part of the cloth.  It took three times before I got it to stay on.

 It's working...need to work on that hair when I'm done.

Supposed to wait for the polish to create a haze.  Then I can start buffing it out.  I took my son his lunch at school and was gone 20 minutes.  When I got back it looked like this.  It is hard to tell with the sun shining in on the room, but there is a haze going on.

Oh my...tough job polishing these counters...I must quench my thirst

Whew...all done...tough day on the job

Look at that shine!  After all that work it's time for a treat.  How about some chochy (my son called chocolate, chochy, when he was little and it stuck) cake and green tea.

My conclusion

I did not find the buffer provided a better result than polishing and buffing by hand.  I think I need to upgrade my buffing pad next time and see if I get a better result.  I DO LIKE that it cut the time down by half.  I can't say how long it took for application.  Remember, I had to replace the terry cloth three times from coming off the base.  After letting the polish sit 20 minutes, it took 5-7 minutes to buff all the counters.  In the past, when I would buff by hand, it took me at least 15 minutes.  

Thanks hubbs, it was worth it!  I just wish I hadn't put it off for so long.