I used to be the Lab Assistant for the Jewelry & Metalsmithing Lab at Portland State University. That’s just to let you know I speak from a fair level of experience. So...first: good that you have a variable speed machine...use low rpm’s on wood. Especially when applying carnuba wax. Second: a buffer can eat a stem in just a moment, esp. plastics, not counting ripping it from your grasp and flinging it across the room at three thousand miles per hour where it explodes against the first solid thing it meets with a loud and festive explosion of little bits of Briar. It’s always a shock cause you always think you’re in control. That illusion can be quickly destroyed...along with the pipe. Be exceedingly cautious. Third: go slow...very slow. Use very light pressure. Let the buffing compound do the work. If you find yourself pushing the piece into the wheel harder and harder...stop immediately. Very short and soft passes are what works.
Long hair and a buffer should keep each other far apart.
Ocelot is a pro. Do whatever he says.
Of interest perhaps...let’s say you’re buffing a silver ring. You get it nicely polished via a succession of finer and finer grit buffing compounds. You’re using rouge as a final step. So...it’s kind of the general perception that you’re taking down the surface removing first coarse then finer and finer scratches...like you did with finer and finer abrasive papers. But when you get to the final stage, the compound is creating high friction against the metal...actually MELTING the top molecules of the metal to create that mirror finish. That’s just to let you know how hot that SOB can get. You’re producing significant localized heat...and it happens very quickly.
Wood is kind of different. There you’re taking off coarse and then finer and finer scratches til the surface is uniform. Then with the wax you’re melting the carnuba onto the surface via the heat friction of the wheel.
Slow...very slow.
Keep your buffing compounds well separated.
Live long and prosper.
Use the force. Yadda, yadda, yadda.