Remove adhesive residue on sanded bowl?

[Gary Pennington]

Turning a 5 1/2" diameter bowl that ended up being less than 1/4" thick on the sides. When I flipped it around to vacuum chuck it to turn off the tenon the vacuum pump would only pull 10" hg. Put some Scotch packing tape on the sides of the bowl and the vacuum doubled so I felt safe turning off the tenon. Sanded the bottom then pulled off the tape--it left a residue that I'm afraid that I won't be able to remove completely before applying General Finishes bowl finish. I had planned to apply the finish off of the lathe.

Is there a good solvent to completely remove the goo? I have mineral spirits and denatured alcohol here but can pick up whatever is best. Also, there must be a better way to seal up the bowl that won't leave a mess. I have some of the 6" wide shrink wrap but didn't think I could get it to stick to such a small bowl.

Thanks for your thoughts,
g

[Dave Mount]

I'm not sure about the adhesive in play here, but I know firsthand that naptha takes off petrified masking tape residue. If not that, lacquer thinner dissolves darn near anything organic.

Best,

Dave

[John K Jordan]

Turning a 5 1/2" diameter bowl that ended up being less than 1/4" thick on the sides. When I flipped it around to vacuum chuck it to turn off the tenon the vacuum pump would only pull 10" hg. Put some Scotch packing tape on the sides of the bowl and the vacuum doubled so I felt safe turning off the tenon. Sanded the bottom then pulled off the tape--it left a residue that I'm afraid that I won't be able to remove completely before applying General Finishes bowl finish. I had planned to apply the finish off of the lathe.

Is there a good solvent to completely remove the goo? I have mineral spirits and denatured alcohol here but can pick up whatever is best. Also, there must be a better way to seal up the bowl that won't leave a mess. I have some of the 6" wide shrink wrap but didn't think I could get it to stick to such a small bowl.

Thanks for your thoughts,
g


Did you try scraping it with a hand scraper? I'd worry about solvent dissolving the adhesive and letting it soak into the wood. Might test any solvent on the same residue on a sanded piece of scrap wood of the same type, let dry then apply finish.

Is the rest of it ready to finish? If so, applying finish to the outside might seal enough to hold the vacuum. Then turn, smooth, and finish the bottom. I often finish the outside and bottom of a piece before I even turn the inside.

Sometimes plastic wrap covering the whole thing will work if the vacuum pulls it in in enough places. Put some tape around the chuck in front of the bowl, cut away the wrap at the bottom.

I've never used the Scotch packing tape on wood. It's pretty sticky. When I need to apply tape to wood I use the special green masking tape, NOT the green painters tape at the big box store. This stuff, good for concrete, wood, other surfaces and seems to come off without a residue, Scotch masking tape for "Hard to stick surfaces".

Another tape that won't leave any detectable residue is gaffer's tape, used in the motion picture and TV industry to tape up wires and things to places where it would be a disaster if it left residue or pulled off paint. I only use the good stuff from video/photo supply houses. Not cheap. I wouldn't trust the cheap stuff from Amazon but the Pro or Premium versions might be fine. Gaffers tape is cloth backed and fairly flexible. Either could be used to hold down plastic wrap without leaving residue on the wood.

JKJ

[tom lucas]

I use acetone to remove glue residue. Evaporates away quickly.

[Gary Pennington]

Wow! Lots of great information here. There isn't a lot of adhesive stuck to the bowl, just enough of a film to feel. I think the acetone route is what I'll try first, my sweetie has a good sized jug of nail polish remover that she says I can borrow. If it needs sanding I'll vacuum chuck it with tailstock support.

John, Scraping a compound radius bowl never crossed my mind. I can't imagine doing that. there's no finish at all on the bowl, planning to use General Finishes wood bowl finish wiped on but off the lathe.

Just thought--LOML has stuff called Press N' Seal which appears to be saran wrap with a sticky side. It sticks to plates and storage containers but doesn't seem to leave a residue at all. I may try that stuff the next time I'm in this pickle.

Thanks for the info!!

g

[John K Jordan]

John, Scraping a compound radius bowl never crossed my mind. I can't imagine doing that. there's no finish at all on the bowl, planning to use General Finishes wood bowl finish wiped on but off the lathe.


I use hand scrapers more than sandpaper. These are some:

461150

[Earl McLain]

Today’s nail polish removers may not have any acetone in them at all. And, they may have some moisturizers that are great for fingers but might make it tougher to get a good finish. Good to have a little bit of acetone in the shop!
earl

[Dan Hunkele]

I agree with John, using a solvent will dissolve the glue and it will definitely infuse some of it into the wood which may affect the finish.

[Gary Pennington]

As Earl suggested, LOML's nail polish remover is acetone free so I used denatured alcohol. It appeared to remove the goo but did raise the grain so I sanded 220-320-400. Applied a coat of finish, evidently the DNA liquefied the goo to the point that some soaked into the wood further than I had sanded. I'll put it back on the lathe and resand. Lesson learned, thanks guys.

g

[tom lucas]

As Earl suggested, LOML's nail polish remover is acetone free so I used denatured alcohol. It appeared to remove the goo but did raise the grain so I sanded 220-320-400. Applied a coat of finish, evidently the DNA liquefied the goo to the point that some soaked into the wood further than I had sanded. I'll put it back on the lathe and resand. Lesson learned, thanks guys.

g

I've used acetone dozens of times to remove adhesives off of wood with no residue. I keep a quart of it in my shop at all times. It is an indispensable solvent in my shop. You use very little, soaked on a rag or paper towel. It evaporates rather than soaking into the wood as it softens the adhesive. Then the adhesive just rubs off with the same "wet" spot on the rag.