Zero sanding quest

[Richard Hutchings]

Hello everyone. I'm new here and I just started turning again. About 4 or 5 years ago I learned how to turn on a cheap HF lathe and I made some pretty nice inside out ornaments using Marley turn videos. I'm sure your all familiar with his work on the web. Anyway, I'm returning to the lathe "Rikon midi" which is much nicer than what I had back then. I've decided I want to get good with the skew to avoid some or all of the sanding. I'm getting close practing 1/2 hour a day before I'm off to the grind. I'm getting some really shiny beads but I always have some catches to correct but they're getting fewer. Is it possible to get things totally finish ready without sanding or am I dreaming?

I hate sanding dust
Dick Hutchings

[Jim Burr]

I get that with pens often...but I still hit it with 600 because I love abuse! Its not possible with resin but good hardwoods take a skew finish well!

[Michelle Rich]

for 100's of yrs folks turned with just a skew, and then burnished the wood with shavings...why not you?

[Richard Hutchings]

I think I'm getting plent of burnishing just from rubbing the bevel. Where I do it right it's down right shiny. Now if I could just do it right all the time.

[Scott Hackler]

Richard, the skew and I do not get along but this tool in the hands of a master, produces just about the closest thing to a surface that doesn't need sanding. BUT I would guess that even Alan Lacer picks up some 400 grit or higher to finish off his work. The skew will do almost any spindle work, but IMO is never to be used on bowls or hollow forms. The convex/concave surfaces are not ideal for the skew.

A good shop vac right up to the bottom of your work will get A LOT of the dust involved in sanding. I use a dedicated whole shop vac with the tube right under my work.

[Richard Hutchings]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I'll have to do some sanding. I have a single stage dust collector hooked up toa hood right behind my lathe. That will get most of it but not the real fine stuff. Guess I'll have to wear a mask when it comes to that part. Eventually I'd like to add an air filtration system for the ceiling.

[Richard Allen]

Of course you can turn a piece without sanding. Anyone can do that. It is mostly that we object to tool marks. I am not a fan of burnished wood. I find that burnished wood doesn't take finish well. Oil finishes don't soak in very well and film finishes don't hold on very well. For me sanding is partly to get rid of tool marks and partly to prepare the surface for a finish.

I may dislike sanding but I also don;t want to spend a lot of time "worrying" away the wood. A fair surface which is ready for 120 grit is pretty easy for me to obtain off the tool and quick to turn. Then sanding is a process which goes through each of the grits, after the first grit, rather quickly. The total time to create the object is quickest when I turn the wood to a 120 grit ready surface.

I have worries the surface with a lot of shear scraping to start with 400 grit. Took at least twice as long for me to complete the object.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Even when using a skew and I do love my skews I still sand with at least 400 and 600. As Richard said I have also found burnished wood doesn't accept some finishes real well.

[Russell Neyman]

Hmmmm. Turning a bowl or spindle without needing to sand it...? Kinda like the day when I sailed from Los Angeles Light to Catalina Island in a Cal 25 and left the outboard behind. I did it, but mostly just to say I did. Sandpaper is, after all, a cutting tool. Why not use it?

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Whats a skew?

I think sandpaper is a tool, I use more sandpaper than anyone else. Even pros use it, although when he started sanding, the wood looked and felt like after I'm done sanding. So IF he wanted to finish with no sanding, it'll be a nice bowl. So I guess yes, you can get to the stage where you don't NEED to sand, but the bowl looked much nicer after he got done sanding.

[Richard Hutchings]

Some good points about taking stains and finish plus I do find it a lot faster getting to the same place using gouges and sanding. A lot less worry too. Thanks for setting me straight.