Thanks gents!
I have had some interesting close calls with the bench grinder in the past. I have a small side business making things out of old railway spikes and often will use the grinder and wire brush wheels to prep them. Lets just say, I am thankful I was smart enough to wear glove and eye protection!!!!
All that to say, I am a rookie with buffering, so can believe that it can be considerably easy to get myself into trouble. At this point I have my grinder put away for the winter as I need to store both cars in the garage (the garages in new homes leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to space). So will be waiting to get my hands wet come spring. I have had decent results trying to hand polish on the bench, so am very hopeful the bench grinder is the solution here.

Buzzy - I really hope I don't get to see what that is like in real life!