Frustrated with bowl endgrain

[Derek Voigt]

I'm a relative new bowl turner, only made a dozen or so bowls.

But on some bowls no matter what I do I can't seem to get rid of the end grain tear out. I had the worse time with Purple Heart, but also Jatoba and Maple. I end up spending 30 minutes sanding just to get rid of the tear out, and then I have to sand up the grits so I get a smooth finish.

How can I minimize all the sanding??? I have tried sharpening up the bowl gouge so that it is fresh on the final few passes and I have also tried the carbide tools and that hasn't eliminated it (the carbide didn't see to have any affect on the purple heart, but seemed to be a little better on the Jatoba)

It is the woods are more prone to tear out, or is it maybe that my technique still isn't good :confused:

Thanks!
Derek

[David Christopher]

Derek, some wood tears out no matter what you do, try a lighter touch on the final passes..if that dont work, POWER SAND

[Fred Perreault]

Derek
Usually sharp tools, a safe high speed, and a light finishing touch should provide a clean surface to most woods. However, some woods are naturally stringy, or coarse grained, or dry and prone to chipping. Keep at it, and you will find your frustrations slowly being replaced by increased satisfaction and better looking surfaces. Technique, comfort and finished quality will improve with time.... lots of time, lots of wood. Guaranteed

[Chris Colman]

Some endgrain tearout is unavoidable, especially with some woods.

I have had the best success with light shear scraping with a very sharp edge on an Ellsworth grind on my bowl gouge.

Sometimes applying sanding sealer or tung oil to the end grain sections can toughen them up so they can be cut off, instead of continuing to be bent over.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Derek, don't get discouraged I had the same problem when I first started and have had it happen every so often since. One thing that I have used successfully on bad tear out problems is to soak the area with mineral spirits and then use a light shear cut. Try it and see if it helps you. Let us know your result.:)

[Reed Gray]

I get more tear out with dry wood than I do with green wood. When it is too bad to sand out, I will wet the surface. Mostly with water, but some use finish, walnut oil, mineral oil, or whatever is handy (no mineral spirits or furniture type oils with driers in them for me). Allow a minute or two for it to soak in a bit, then take some very light cuts with your gouge or a scraper in a shear cut mode (45 degrees) with a fresh burr. The burr from the grinder is okay, a burnished burr is better. Your cuts should be light enough so that it takes a couple of passes to remove the wet wood.

robo hippy

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with Reed. I spritz with water or will use walnut oil on the tear out. I will then take a conventional ground bowl gouge freshly sharpened for my final cut or two. It works really well.

[Christopher K. Hartley]

I get more tear out with dry wood than I do with green wood. When it is too bad to sand out, I will wet the surface. Mostly with water, but some use finish, walnut oil, mineral oil, or whatever is handy (no mineral spirits or furniture type oils with driers in them for me). Allow a minute or two for it to soak in a bit, then take some very light cuts with your gouge or a scraper in a shear cut mode (45 degrees) with a fresh burr. The burr from the grinder is okay, a burnished burr is better. Your cuts should be light enough so that it takes a couple of passes to remove the wet wood. robo hippy

I agree with Reed. I spritz with water or will use walnut oil on the tear out. I will then take a conventional ground bowl gouge freshly sharpened for my final cut or two. It works really well.

I have never had the success with water that I have with mineral spirits, so I'd like to hear more on why you guys say no. Maybe our humidity and Temp here makes a difference. I noticed that Derek Is In Mississippi which is very similar to Houston. I'm really interested in your reasoning. I sure don't want to give out bad info. Thanks,:confused:

[Bernie Weishapl]

Chris I spritz it with water and it does work well here. Our humidity is extremely low up here. Yesterday was 15%. I think you are right though in the fact if you are in a humid climate that may not work well. I have really started using walnut oil after watching Mike Mahoney use it in a demo. Shellac will work to as it dries fast.

[John Shuk]

Shellac works well; I've used it on walnut. Shear scraping is a good technique to work on as well.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Derek - we all struggle with technique when starting out but this is one of those times where a few photos of your bowls and the problem areas would really help everyone offer corrective suggestions.

[David Woodruff]

Preventing tear out is an exercise in futlity for some woods. Accept that fact then learn techniques that minimize. There is not one cure all. Try all of the good suggestions given. The best minimizing technique I use is a freshly sharpened scraper with a good burr and presented at a 45 degree down angle with light pressure. Then power sand if that is the next step. I power sand with a reversible, VS Milwaukee angle drill and counter rotating to the work piece. Then I will reverse the drill and lathe and sand some more; always counter rotating. When hard end grain presents at the bowl sides, stop and sand the specific area with the lathe stopped. Then continue with lathe powered. For really troublesome woods I have thrown the piece in a bucket of water for a few days. Don't worry, it won't hurt a thing, For really hard woods, Black Wood, Coco Bolo, Rosewood, Ebony, et al. I soak the end grain with super thin CA. There is probably more things I do that will come to mind.

[Derek Voigt]

I played with a seasoned piece of Mahogany today. I had a little bit of tear out and tried the mineral spirits and fresh tool, and it did seem to help. I had more tool marks then tear out at the end.

I don't have a bowl scraper, just a round nose one. I should have taken pictures of it, but I didn't. I'll have to do that for the next bowl. Which might be a week or 2.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Derek

[Jeff Nicol]

Derek, You have heard just about all of the answers that we all have tried. For me I will use the thined out shellac method that I learned from a Jimmey Clewes video on most things as once the shellac dries it is cut away with the next couple of cuts with a sharp small 1/4" standard bowl gouge. I can cut very fine hair like ribbons off and there will be no tear out after a couple of light passes. The standard gouge lets you cut much finer and you can shear the endgrain with perfection. It is a skill that has to be mastered, but once you have it you will do less sanding.

Good luck,

Jeff