Bradford pear Hf

[Ron Stadler]

Well I just stained this Bradford pear Hf tonight, and after the stain soaked in , some unsightly scratches emerged, I don't understand, I sanded it really well and could'nt see any scratches before the stain and then bamb there they are. So what should I do now, should I try sanding it again when the stain dries, its kinda hard to see the scratches in the pics but believe me they are there. I sanded all the way down to 600 grit, lately I sand on the lathe and then go back over it by hand. Any ideas where I might be going wrong, besides maybe my eyes going bad,:eek:.

[Michelle Rich]

Yes, sanding is a skill like any other. One must learn patience to sand well. Start out with a low enough grit (most folks start way too high.) Sand with the lathe running, then stop the lathe & sand with the grain & backwards to the grain (even if you don't have reverse, just run it backwards by hand) Go to the next grit..don't skip grits. Repeat. Get good light & see how the scratch pattern looks..even??? repeat, repeat, repeat. Once you know how to sand & do it right, the time spent sanding is vastly reduced. Good luck

[Roger Chandler]

+1 on Michelle's advice! If you go back over by hand, make sure you stay with the last grit used while it was spinning on the lathe.........otherwise you will introduce scratches. Also slow speed is usually best to cut the wood fibers, especially end grain.

[Ken Glass]

Ron,
I like your piece. The form is pleasing and proportions seem right too. Nice work. I have found that on higher grits the sanding dust seems to hide the scratches somewhat, so I always use an air gun blow the piece clear of dust between grits to see where I might need more work. Also some woods scratch worse than others too.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ron - in addition to the advice already offered... you can use water or mineral spirits to wipe the form down with. Any scratches will show up at that point. Problem is that once you apply dye, your choices are somewhat limited.... sand or leave things as they are. It's all part of the learning process. Have fun!

[Scott Hackler]

Also, sunlight shows everything! When in doubt, take the piece outside and look it over in direct sunlight. You'ld be surprized how BAD shop lighting is (usually) comparably. :)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice HF and ditto what has been said. A air hose and mineral spirits are your friend. Like Scott said take it outside after using the MS and air. It will definitely show scratches if there are any.

[Thomas Canfield]

I only sand to 400 and then do a buffing with Tripoli to get the higher finish. There is a small amount of the Tripoli that fills the pores and helps with really fine scratches and it does tend to darken the wood a little. If you have larger scratches, it sounds like you did not get all the grit marks or tool marks out from the lower grit numbers.

[Ron Stadler]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I will definetly use all of these techniques next go around, my eyes are not as good as they used to be far as seeing close up so I will probably take it out in the sunlight as said and try rubbing it down with water or mineral spirits. I have many questions about finishing techniques because so far I don't have the results I'm trying to achieve, Iv'e been trying to get that high gloss, clear finish but yet to really get close to that, Iv'e tried different spray on finishes out of cans, the polycrylic, urethane, varnishes, and rub on poly, but not sure what I'm doing wrong on all of these. Anyway, its getting late and I'm going to bed, thanks again.