tear out in soft maple

[Bill O'Conner]

need help doing a small bowl in soft maple and have a hard time with tear out the bowl is 7 1/2 by 1 1/2. Thinking I might need to get a large scraper only have the small one that came with my harbor freight set.

cant reverve my lathe

started with 150 grit should i try 60 or 80 maybe

or maybe get a drill and some sanding pads don't do a lot of bowls mostly boxes and small stuff

Thanks
Bill

[Jeff Nicol]

Bill, With the soft maple the end grain will be pushed and not cut cleanly if heavy cuts are used all the way to the finish cut. When you get close to the finished thickness put on some shellac sanding sealer and let it soak in good and dry. Then take a couple of light passes with a bowl gouge or scraper. I use a 1/4" standard grind bowl gouge to take off a very fine cut with the speed up pretty good 1200-1800 rpm and the shellac stiffens up the end grain and lets you cut it cleanly. Then a shear scrape with a fresh scraper or swept back bowl gouge. This should limit the tearout and sanding needed. It takes time, but the result is worth the effort.

Good luck,

Jeff

[Bill O'Conner]

so maybe on Monday a call to Doug will be in order. Order a small 1/4 inch bowl gouge(v or u shaped) and 2- 3/4 or 1 inch scraped

Bill

PS this piece of soft malpe is kiln dryed

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with Jeff. Sometimes I will just spritz it with a fine mist of water and then take a cut or use a little mineral oil then take a light final cut or two at around 1200 to 1500 rpm's. I am not to proud to say there have been times when the 80 grit gouge has come in handy and a lot of times will take care of your problem. Bill Grumbine and Mike Mahoney both said at a demo I was able to attend to not be afraid to use 80 grit if you have to. Thats why they make it.:D