Sanding Survey

[Raymond Overman]

I'd like to know how you do your sanding? Do you finish turning the bowl and sand off the lathe, sand on the lathe with it stopped, sand on the lathe with it running full speed, or sand on the lathe with a drill? Does your regimine include 80-12000 grit and every grit in between or is your tool technique so good that you start and end with the bulk bin 320?

[Jim Becker]

I generally power sand on the lathe up through 600. The lathe should be running slowly...too much frictional heat will cook your H&L (or your fingers if hand-sanding). Good tool technique means you can start at a higher grit, but you still need to do all the intermediate grits between where you start and where you finish. Each successive grit removes the scratches from the previous. Be sure and clean off the object between grits, too...I use mineral sprits. If you don't, you risk nasty scratches from wayward grit broken off from the previous step. I also burnish with shavings after sanding.

[Keith Nielsen]

Raymond,

I start at 80 grit with the lathe running really slow under 100 rpm I put the sand paper on my drill and start in. once all the tear out is gone then I move to 120 then once the marks from the 180 are gone then I move to 220 and so on up to 320 then I apply lacker and sand back down with 120 then 220 then 320 then 400 then lacker again and sand back down with 320 then 400 then lacker then steal wool 0000 ott then lacker and buff. This is if its going to be a really nice display bowl. other times is lacker wax and buff. All of this while its on the lathe, I then turn it around and just do the foot later.

Good luck
Keith

[Carole Valentine]

Yes. All of the above, at times. Depends on the piece. I prefer to sand on the lathe as much as possible both by hand and drill w/ wave disks. The foot invariably needs a little hand work.

[Michael Stafford]

I usually sand at turning speed with an angle drill and start at about 150 if I have done well with the tools. I usually alternate grits between the drill and hand sanding. I also clean the piece thoroughly between grits. I sand to around 1200 if the wood warrants it. I finish up with a non-abrasive pad as opposed to using shavings to burnish. I also sand between coats of finish with non-abrasive pads or extra fine steel wool (7/0) depending on the wood.

Some sanding scratches may have to be removed with the piece stationary carefully sanding with the grain.

[John Hart]

I like to do all my sanding at about 400 RPM... I usually use worn out sanding belts because they are so heavy and you can fold pieces and really get in the corners...then move to the finer grits. I haven't tried wetsanding yet. I also made a support jig out of roller skate wheels to place under the piece at these low speeds. I've found that I can apply more pressure that way over wide areas without fear of popping out of the chuck.

[Glenn Hodges]

I start with the grit I need, sometimes 40, sometimes 180, and sand up to finish with 800 grit. I sometimes must hand sand with the grain to remove small scratches. It depends on the wood, how punky it is and other things about the grit I start with. Some spalted wood is so soft and prone to tear out, I don't care how sharp my tools are, so I have to resort to heavy sandpaper. I don't like to admit it, but I do it sometimes. I like the lathe running about 120 rpm and the hand held drill wide open as fast as I can run it. I use 2 in, 3 in, velcro, and 5 in sticky pads which I use with a regular drill and an angle drill. I use synthetic steel wool by hand between coats of oil finish after I apply a coat, let it soak in for a few minutes, wipe it off with a Viva paper towel, then let it cure for 24 hours. When I get the number of coats I like I buff, and put it away. By the way, I buy my velcro sanding pads in 36 in. sheets, and punch out the size I need....much cheaper that way.

[Shane Harris]

Power sand with the velcro sanding disks on foam backed sanding plate chucked up in the drill. I think it's call the 'wave' or something of the sort. Slow speed on the lathe, medium to fast speed with the drill. I usually start with around 150 grit. I used to finish up with 220, but I found that I could actually tell a difference if I went to 400. Finish with the Bealle bowl buffing wheels.

Shane

[Raymond Overman]

Thanks for everyone's replies. I wanted to look at the concensus of how everyone uses the sanding disks and power sanding more than anything else. The variation in techniques is what's interesting.

Glenn,

Where do you get your 36" sheets? Is that 36"x36"?

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi Raymond (and everyone else)

I am a little late to this, but I thought I would throw in with my procedures. I used to do a lot of wet sanding, but have gotten away from it lately, having gone more to power sanding. I still do some wet sanding, but now it is usually with Danish oil if I have some tearout that cannot be fixed any other way. Sanding wet like that fills the tearout with a slurry of dust and hardening oil that does a good job if repairing the problem.

I almost always start out with 80 grit. To each his or her own, but I have found that starting with 80 grit is fast and efficient. It levels all those little ridges that we get - or at least I get! I use a Sioux drill and power sand at 80, and then hand sand at a reduced speed, usually around 400-600 rpm with 120, 180, 220, and 320. If I can't get rid of swirl marks, I will goup to 400.

Now for those of you who think that maybe I should work on my tool techniques a little more so that I might be able to start with a higher grit, or who think that you yourself should be able to start with a higher grit, I know quite a few professional turners who start with 80 grit on bowls and 120 grit on spindles. By way of example, I can take a 12" roughed bowl from start to finish - done and off the lathe, in about 50 minutes to an hour. Now, sometimes it takes me longer if I have swirly grain or contrary tearout, but in most cases it takes me about an hour to get a bowl looking the way I want it to look. I don't know how that compares to others, but I am pretty much satisfied with that.

Bill

[Steve Inniss]

Me - power sand w/ velcro disks 80-400 grit. Drill runs at 850rpm, so I run the lathe at 425.

-Steve

[Raymond Overman]

Bill,

I like the idea of the 80 grit on the drill to start with then the hand sanding with finer grits. It's a little more tactile and lets me know where I might have a ridge that I missed with a previous grit. I've just started using the drill/discs but like the results I'm getting so far. I follow with grits up through 400 by hand, then danish oil applied with 0000 steel wool and the lathe off. After I let that dry I buff it with three compounds (homegrown Beall).

I don't remember seeing a lot of sanding in your video or the sioux. I'll have to go back and review that part. :)

As for the danish oil slurry, I tried this with a piece of walnut that was tearing out a little and had trouble with it looking like it was dirty rather than filling the tearout. I ended up with a lot of 80 grit on that one.