Want to get clean finish with holly laminate

[Doug Hepler]

I have turned a bowl from a laminate including bloodwood, african blackwood, yellowheart and holly. After I sanded it the bloodwood dust got on the holly and showed up as speckles (not the look I wanted). I have had blackwood do the same in the past.

I think that scraping instead of sanding ameliorates this problem. I have tried sealing before sanding but this does not seem to work that well.

My question: I am wondering if it is possible to sand with ever finer grits until everything is so smooth that the dust won't cling to the holly.

Doug

[Ken Andersen]

+1 on using a cabinet style card scraper instead of sandpaper as much as possible. If you must sand, *spray* (not brush or wipe) on several coats of sanding sealer before any sanding.

[Terry Vogel]

Bloodwood will "bleed" with some solvents (most, I think). Have had it happen with lacquer and shellac. Christmass ornaments of bloodwood and maple. Got red dust in the maple, use an air compressor to blast it out before finishing. solved the bleed problem by finishing with CA instead of solvent based film finish.

[John K Jordan]

... If you must sand, *spray* (not brush or wipe) on several coats of sanding sealer before any sanding.

Why only spray? I've always brushed on two coats of shellac-based sanding sealer, further thinned with alcohol which seems to work fine. What would spraying improve?

JKJ

[Ken Andersen]

Why only spray? I've always brushed on two coats of shellac-based sanding sealer, further thinned with alcohol which seems to work fine. What would spraying improve?

JKJ
John, the idea is that brushing or wiping may move dust (or bleeding) from one species to the next contaminating the colours. Spraying deposits the sealer directly on each species separately, so to speak, reducing contamination.

[Doug Hepler]

Thanks to all who responded. I have thought a lot about this problem and I appreciate the input. The speckling of bloodwood onto holly in this case was caused by a number of factors. For one, tearout on the holly endgrain made a rough surface for red dust to adhere to. This is a bowl from a board (BfB) so every board has two sections of endgrain. I did not bandsaw the rings very well so there was some unevenness in the blank that made it more difficult to scrape as well as I usually can. Not my best tool work.

The bowl is the first that I have made to represent an idea. It is called Lakota Tornado. The base is segmented with walnut to represent the earth and the traditional Lakota colors of the compass (white, red, black, yellow). The turning itself represents the disruption of tradition as a tornado would sweep the compass colors into a jumble. Therefore I rationalized that the speckles were just part of the disorder. (I'm half joking. The result has more good than bad and I think only another turner would see the flaws). So, the bowl is finished, or maybe abandoned would be closer. Here's a photo:

343343

Doug