sanding on the lathe inside a deep natural edged bowl

[Amy Gilron]

I am new to the forum and new to turning deep natural edged bowls and would like some tips on sanding inside without loosing my hand.

I do not have an angled electric drill, or a buffing ball. I do have a sanding pad with velcro that fits onto my drill, but it is too short, and the angle from bottom of the bowl to sides incorrect for this piece.

Is this sanding done on the lathe or after it come off? I tried a rounded scraper (by hand) with the lathe stopped, but this will take years to smooth in this fashion.

I tried to get the cuts as smooth as possible,while running the lathe but the inside is still far from what I want it to be! I am using a Lyle Jamisen type tool. Any tips welcome. Thanks

[Frank Van Atta]

I use a 6 inch extension on the sanding pad, make sure that I have a solid rest for my arms, and approach the spinning bowl very slowly and carefully.

[Tim Rinehart]

I understand fear of those natural edges...quite easy to hurt yourself or ruin your piece also.

So many different tricks people use, but sounds like your piece is more vase-like than bowl-like, which does present problems.

If you can post a pic, type of wood, and what specific tools you've used to get the current finish, that will help as well, since you may get some feedback on other ways to approach problem, besides just sanding.

There are some techniques which include sealing some of the grain to stabilize it before taking a final light cut also. I hope some of the more experienced chime in this topic...as I'm still in experimental stage myself, and wouldn't want to steer you wrong.

[Mark Burge]

I haven't tried it, but I know some people who use hemostats to hold foam padded sandpaper. They can reach pretty deep. I've seen them for sale in the Craft Supply catalog.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Amy - Welcome to the Creek!

I use a 6" extension to hold a sanding pad - works well for what I do. If you can post a photo or 2 of the turning you are having trouble with - you should pick up some good tips!

Looking forward to seeing some of your work!

[Gary Conklin]

If you do decide to use hemos, DO NOT put your fingers into the holes instead hold it between your thumb and forefinger on the side edge.

[Amy Gilron]

Thanks for the tips re hemostat, and keeping fingers out of the holes - there is actually a pair here I can use.

I actually trying wetting the places where there was the most tear out, near the rim, sap wood, and it helped somewhat, but not completely.

I will try to post a photo tomorrow

[Bob Hampton]

i made a little goodie awhile back and it comes in handy for NE bowls and vases ...pretty simple to make...just a piece of flat aluminum bar bent in an S curve with velcro on opposite ends to hold sanding pad the length is what ever u want...mine is 14"..the pads i use are 2"

[Ryan Baker]

Sanding near the rim of a natural edge bowl with the bowl spinning is a recepie for disaster. They can be power sanded (or hand sanded), but only when stopped. I do sand farther down in NE bowls while spinning though. Extensions do help for that if you don't have a right angle drill. (Note that the cheap angle drills from Harbor Freight make good sanders if you intend to do much turning.)

[Curt Fuller]

I like using a regular drill and foam sanding pad with an extension on NE bowls but sand with the lathe off. Using the chuck (or face plate) to hold the bowl lets you use both hands on the drill to keep it under control. As you sand, the friction will usually turn the bowl slowly, just right for sanding.

[Brendan Stemp]

I agree with Ryan Baker, particularly the point of hand sanding close to the rim; a much better option than sanding on the lathe not only because of safety but also because it will prevent any rounding over of the edges which will happen when you have a 'hit/miss' situation, as with a natural edge bowl. I also would suggest that if your tear out is worse close to the rim then wipe some CA glue around this area and have another go at turning it on the lathe. This area is where you find sap wood and sap wood is more inclined to tear out. The CA glue will help to strengthen the fibres and prevent tear out.

[Thomas Canfield]

I have a 12" drill bit extension that I use inside a piece of 1/2" PVC for deeper sanding. The PVC allows supporting the extension piece and better control. I found the 12" extension at ACE cheaper than the 6". I have not done it but you could add an additional piece to the PVC to allow for support outside the natural edge area for hand protection.

[Amy Gilron]

Here are some photos of the unfinished bowl off lathe. The wood is sesam hodi or Israeli rosewood or dalbergia, found on the street (it grows like a weed here).

[David DeCristoforo]

"Here are some photos..."

Love this. Nice simple form that maximizes the beauty of the material. Really nicely done.

[Tim Rinehart]

I am using a Lyle Jamisen type tool. Any tips welcome. Thanks

The piece of wood and shape is very nice, and sanding by hand looks like it would be pretty reasonable down inside...hard to judge sizes in pics.

When you say a Lyle Jamieson style, can you be more specific? Is this a hollowing rig with boring bar and HSS tip that is simply scraping the sides? If so, it will be very difficult to get a surface that doesn't require considerable sanding.

I see tearout in the sapwood, is that what you're most concerned with?

If it were me, looking at this piece and having started with a scraping cut from a Jamieson jig that left tearout, my last few cuts on inside of this piece in the sapwood area would have been a very sharp (freshly sharpened!) bowl gouge, with a nicely rounded swept back profile (lookup Ellsworth grind), in a feathering cut starting from about where the inside of bowl is at it's largest diameter. When doing this, be sure the gouge is kept in near completely closed orientation (think holding almost completely sideways) but without allowing the top to catch.

These are fine points that you may be aware of, and apologies if you know this already, but perhaps it will help.

Getting in and sanding so much interrupted area with natural edge is difficult using power sanding, especially unless you have a 'ball' sander. I think you may just need to start with some 80 grit and carefully handsand down the deep tearout areas, and keep working back down in grit, 120, 180, 220..and so on. Would be difficult to do much else on the lathe at this point, I suspect, especially if the wood was green, and has moved already.

Hopefully...some of the others with lots of experience can add some thoughts now that you have a pic up.

Good luck, it really is a great shape and nice piece of wood...take your time, even it means handsanding.

[Allen Neighbors]

Amy, a couple of times, before I ever saw a bowl gouge, I had some tear-out on the inside of a natural edged piece. Didn't have a drill to sand with, either, and I am too lazy to sand by hand... so I fashioned a ball of rags, rubber shelf stuff, and tape, on the end of a 12" piece of shovel handle. I kept adding stuff until I had it about 2" diameter. I then taped the hook side of velcro to the ball, and put some h&l sandpaper on it. (A rubber ball of the appropriate size would have worked wonders, glued to a dowel, with velcro attached.)
I used the tool rest to balance the "sanding device", just like I had been using my Oland tool, and sanded the inside of the form. It worked! I've done it a couple of times since then, when the opening was too small to use my angle drill.
If you're careful, by sanding in forward and reverse, you can get an equally sanded natural edge to look nice.

[Amy Gilron]

Thanks for the detailed info.
Yes, it is the tear out of the sap wood that is the problem. I know see that using the Jamison and scraping was probably a mistake- I will chalk this up to learning. Inside the bowl is relatively safe to hand sand- it's the uneven edge that is the problem. I will try to take the feather cut and see what happens.
Thanks everyone for your tips.