Forming with sandpaper?

[Steve Mathews]

I just finished a few bowls that had some defects that ended up being filled with turquoise powder after rough turning. While finishing the shape with a bowl gouge and scraper I noticed both tools dulled rapidly because of grit in the powder. I then used heavy grit sandpaper to finish the shaping. Is there another way to approach turning a bowl with filler that has grit in it?

[mike calabrese]

I have never used it but a lot of segment turners use CA adhesive and fine saw dust. also microbaloons filler and epoxy and colored with mica powder could work.
couple links below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5On_SYvWEg0
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=microballoons+filler
mike c

[Peter Blair]

I tried a carbide scraper on my only piece with turquoise with little success and finished it with a sanding block and various sandpaper grits. Sorry not much help from here!

[Adam Wager]

Rather than filling defects immediately after drying the roughed out blank, I will often turn to final form first, then fill anything that needs it, then level that filled area with card scrapers or spot sanding, then sand the whole piece. If the defects were all the way through the rough out, making stability an issue during re-turning, I would generally use a filler with less grit to it as suggested above or something like coffee grounds to make it look a bit like a natural bark inclusion.

[Edward Weber]

While I'm not a user of fillers, usually a high RMP and a shearing cut work. I would not recommend using a scraper, just the wing of a bowl gouge at a very high angle.
This method works for dense species and those with a high silica content. It's also used when turning segmented pieces with woods of widely different densities.