Trouble filling pores on bowl

[Greg Kuzmeskus]

:(After sanding my fingers to the bone(230 grit) I put on 5 coats of poly (lite sanding in between) on a bowel (maple I think) and at the end I still had "dimples" showing. I wanted a glass like finish.
Anybody have any suggestions?:D

[David E Keller]

Photos would help a lot... My guess is that you had some tear out that you didn't get with the 230. Unless I manage a really nice surface from the tool, I generally start a little more coarse with my paper. As a general rule, if I have to sand for very long to get rid of marks/blemishes, I'll drop to a more coarse grit and then work my way back up.

[Steve Vaughan]

Maple, if that's what is it, is a pretty smooth finishing wood. Sounds like you're describing an orange peel effect. I'm wondering a couple of things. Maybe you had something else on the wood that caused the finish to do this, some kind of wax or something similar. Or, I'm wondering if you're putting the finish on too heavy. Your lite sanding between coats might not be quite enough in that you're not sanding the finish down completely smooth. Be interesting to hear others.

and, yup, the photos could be very helpful here.

[Kathy Marshall]

Were you using spray on poly? I get that effect with spray on lacquer and it just takes a little more sanding between coats to knock em down. I've never had that come up with wipe on poly (i do thin coats).

[Bernie Weishapl]

Sounds like you may have had some tear out to begin with. I generally start sanding on maple with 100 or 120 grit followed by 150, 180, 220, 320 and 400 grit blowing it off with air between each grit. In between I generally wipe on mineral spirits just to see if I am getting all the sanding, tear out or sanding marks out. I put WOP in thin coats and comes out smooth especially on maple.

[Brian Kent]

…um maybe it's your bowl, not your bowel. Some thing you don't want to fine sand.

[John Keeton]

Sounds like endgrain that you are having trouble with, and sometimes it takes a very light shear cut, with a very sharp edge to get that area smooth enough for sanding. As Bernie has indicated, 230 grit is not fine enough for a final finish sanding. I would suggest going through at least 400, and wet sanding with both 320 and 400, then applying a couple of coats of shellac while still on the lathe. Depending on the final color you want, wet sanding can be done with BLO, tung oil, water, MS, etc.

You can sand the shellac back a couple of times if you like, and that will help fill the grain. Or, you may also try wet sanding with pumice to fill the grain, then shellac to seal in the pumice.

[Tim Thiebaut]

I have used a lot of maple the past few weeks and had some issue with having some very hard to sand areas on a couple of the pieces I have done. On one piece I took a hint from a video I have watched by...I cant remember his name its to early right now but it was the famous pen turner that just past away recently, anyway I got this from one of his videos and it worked well for me, I did a coat of Thin CA on the piece I was working on and let it setup for just a few minutes then I wet sanded with the "medium" CA itself starting on 120 grit paper and working up to 240, if you do this wear nitril gloves AND glasses/face shield it gets messy. Once I did this I hit it with a light coat of activator and left it for a couple of hours, when I came back it was fully cured and easily sanded down. This did 2 things for me, it acted as a sanding sealer and made final sanding a lot easier on this piece that had been giving me so many problems, and wet sanding with the CA filled a few of the tiny holes with CA and wood dust and when final sanding it came out smooth as glass. Now here is the disclaimer - I am very new to turning, I am learning all of this as I go, this worked great for me, but I would hate if you did it and it messed your work piece up, so hopefully some others will comment on what I wrote here. Best of luck on the piece your working on, Tim

[Greg Kuzmeskus]

Thanks guys for all the comments on my BOWL lol My bowel does not need sanding.. I also head of some stuff por o pac. Has anyone used this?

[Jake Helmboldt]

Eating a lot of cheese can fill the pores of your bowel. :D

Also be aware of sanding too hard as you can burnish the wood, especially with finer sandpaper which will effect the finish (and possilby induce small cracks from heat).

I also suggest investing in power sanding equipment. Discs and some foam pad for a drill makes things MUCH easier (and quicker).

[Bruce Pratt]

Greg,

I've used Timbermate as a pore filler on red oak - worked pretty well, but shouldn't really be needed on maple.

Can you post a picture of your bowl, and maybe a close-up of areas of concern?
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[Prashun Patel]

Is the dimpling all over? I'm suspecting yr not working with maple. Dimpling is common with oak, ash, mahogany, and walnut among the 'commoner' woods.

You WILL fill in all the dimples eventually if you just keep applying coats of poly. The faster way might be to paint on some 3# shellac. Then power up the lathe and sand it smooth. Keep doing this until the pores are filled. Then apply a final coat or 2 of poly.

Commercial pore fillers will build quicker, but are messier to work with. On a lathe, where sanding is not time-consuming, and where the pieces are small, I think shellac makes a great pore filler.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it's not tearout. Tearout so deep that it won't fill with 6 coats of poly would likely be noticed during sanding.

[Jake Helmboldt]

Pictures, we need pictures. That will let us know precisely what you are dealing with. I agree that if it is pores/grain that need filling then this isn't maple, but I don't want to assume that is the issue.