Are you dressing your buff everynow and then to remove the metal film? Looks like it could use a dressing with a buffing rake. I use a bunch of nails hammered in a circle in a piece of wood.

Why the white compound isn't that for steel? I would think Tripoli and then rouge. Messy job any way you put it.

warren
http://www.metalrecipes.com

Glad you asked this one. I always get the same problem. Like you say those streaks are hard work to move by hand, and you kind of feel like you might as well have polished by hand to start with! Hope we gety some illuminating answers.
I do give my wheel a rake, but I'm never sure how aggressive to be with it. I usually just use the brown polish; the white in my kit is pretty tough stuff for stainless and the like.
Will Jones, www.ironwill.org.uk

Hey Jake- glad the commission is kickin off. Looks like two things are happenin. Like Warren said you need to rake your buff, but it also looks like you may be using too much pressure. Your are essentially melting the compound off the wheel and back onto your piece. Back off your pressure or try starting with a black emery compound. i used to work for a knife manufacturer and we always hit brass on a scotchbrite wheel before going to buff. Then we went to green compound on sewn buff and then finally to white compound on a loose buff. Not a perfect mirror shine , but really nice and fairly quick. Clean off residue with denatured alcohol or laquer thinner. Watch the pressure or you will scorch the piece. Good luck.

Like Warren mentioned, you ought to rake your wheel a bit more often. When it gets loaded with brass then that's what your polishing with.  I like raking wheels with a carborundum stick to avoid adding steel to the wheel, but that might be mostly a psycological thing. Nails would work fine.  As you work, the mixture of abrasive, binder, and removed metal becomes drier, and once it adheres it sticks pretty well.  I use a small amount of lamp oil to keep the polish lubricated.  I imagine kerosene or fuel oil would work as well.  If you use red rouge, that is often water soluable, so soapy water will help with a caking problem there.  

Yes, this is not unusual. You may be putting on to much compound. I wait until I see the color of the metal being buffed on the buffing wheel. I wipe the compound bar lightly across the buff. I don't rake the buffs. I don't like to get dangly threads because they can scratch the metal surface. Dawn detergent does a good job of dissolving compound from nonferrous metal

marilyn

After making sure that you are using the proper compounds, the best thing to fix your problem is HEAT! As long as the brass is cold...or even just warm,compounds tend to stick.
Either buff hard enough to get the piece hot,or do as i do.
After initial buffing(sometimes prior to buffing) and before the piece is colored or finish polished with white compound,i heat it in my oven to between 150-200 degrees. This should make life a lot easier. Better to start with a hot pc., as opposed to busting your ass buffing it till it gets hot enough.
It used to drive my dad crazy because"they never did it like that"
It works...and i'd never go back to cold polishing.

Scott Ciardi. President E.Ciardi Co. eciardi.com