Sanding turnings

[Brad Hammond]

i know if i keep my tools sharp and use proper technique i will not need to ask this question in the future, but.......
do you guys tend to sand with straight sand paper or do you use mineral spirits to help with cutting the end grain feathering?

thanx
brad

[Bill Grumbine]

Hi Brad

I do both wet and dry sanding. I have been tending towards power sanding when I am by myself, at least to start, and wet sanding to finish up. If I have a student or spectators (And people really love to watch me sand!) I will sand with mineral oil. Each technique has its advantages and disadvantages.

I wil probably blaspheme here, and others may contradict me, but I start sanding with 80 grit paper most of the time. There are many ways to approach sanding. Some turners take great pride in starting at grits as high as 220. I can either take a 12" roughout bowl to finish in about one hour including turning or I can start sanding at 220, but the two are not going to happen at the same time. I have found that sanding is not glorious, it is not (always) a gauge of tool control, it is a technique. Now, if you are spending three hours sanding, then tool control may be an issue, but no matter how sharp my tool is, and no matter how well I use it, there is always that little bit of end grain that just doesn't eant to lay down and be cut smoothly. Starting with 80 grit gets the job done, gets it done quickly, and has other benefits besides.

I recently discovered that a good friend of mine who I consider to be a better turner than I am also starts all his sanding at 80 grit, and in that same converstion he mentioned that the famous Mike Mahoney also starts at 80 grit, so there is no shame in it as far as I am concerned.

Good luck with it.

Bill

[Jim Becker]

I sand dry, but generally power sand using a right-angle Souix drill with 2" or 3" pads. There have been a few turnings that required a little attention due to uncooperative end grain, and I just used a little bees' wax during the final cuts to deal with it. You want to eliminate any tear out from happening as much as posible as sanding it out can dramatically alter the profile of the turning. That requires the sharp tools you mention, technique and sometimes a little help with wax at the entry points of the endgrain or a turps/sanding sealer concoction like Bob Rosand demonstrates for the same purpose.

[John Davidson]

Hi Brad


I wil probably blaspheme here, and others may contradict me, but I start sanding with 80 grit paper most of the time.

I recently discovered that a good friend of mine who I consider to be a better turner than I am also starts all his sanding at 80 grit, and in that same converstion he mentioned that the famous Mike Mahoney also starts at 80 grit, so there is no shame in it as far as I am concerned.

Good luck with it.

Bill

Well, I can throw down my shame and come out of the closet. I almost always start at 80 or 100 grit. Like you said, it helps the end grain problems and I find that I can progress more quickly thru the grits up to the finish.

[Anthony Yakonick]

Most of the top bowl turners start with 80 grit as I do on bowls, on spindle turnings I start with 120. I seldom go past 320 when using a penetrating finish as it causes problems when you polish the wood, try staining a flat piece after sanding to 600! Most good spindle turners have to sand because they burnish the wood and it won't take stain or paint.
Bill, I know Dave Lancaster starts with 80 as Mike does!

Anthony

[Brad Hammond]

WOW........thanx alot guys. great info!

sorry i had to bring some of you out of the 80gr closet...

brad

[Dominic Greco]

Brad,
But the only reason that I start at 100 grit is because I ran out of 80! :p

Recently, I started wet sanding certain problematic woods, or woods with really open end grain (Walnut & Osage Orange), with a 50/50 mix of Varnish and Mineral Spirits. The varnish must be the type that has Alkyd Resins. I believe McClusky's Spar Varnish in the red can is one such varnish.

I start power sanding/passive sanding (depending on the wood species) with about 100 grit. Move up to 120 to 200. Then start wet sanding . I then work my way up to 1500 grit. After I'm done sanding, I wipe the entire bowl down with a rag dampened in mineral spirits, and let it sit over night. The next day, I take a look to see how it looks. If it appears like it's a bit fuzzy, I'll sand with 400, 600, 1200, and then 1500. If not, it gets a coat or two of compatible finish (oil based). The wet sanding makes the paper not get as hot, and it imparts a finish smoother than any I've experienced so far. I've attached a picture of an 10" dia x 4" deep Osage Bowl I just sold today. This bowl has one of the smoothest finishes I've ever been able to achieve.

Being the inquisitive type, I've also tried several experiments. I've wet sanded with mineral oil, but have wiped the wood off, reversed the lathe, and used my Sorby Passive sander with a velcro backed sanding disc of the same grit as I had wet sanded with. I've found that this virtually eliminated the "scratch lines". This works really nice on peppermills.

This is not to say that I have totally abandoned "dry" sanding. I tend to tailor my sanding technique to the wood species I'm dealing with.

See ya,

[Brad Hammond]

One fine bowl there dominic!! thanx for the info. i'll get me some 80gr and be proud!

thanx again all
brad

[Bob Oswin]

Hi Brad

I do both wet and dry sanding.. Starting with 80 grit gets the job done, gets it done quickly, and has other benefits besides.

I recently discovered that a good friend of mine who I consider to be a better turner than I am also starts all his sanding at 80 grit, and in that same converstion he mentioned that the famous Mike Mahoney also starts at 80 grit, so there is no shame in it as far as I am concerned.

Good luck with it.

Bill

I just wanted to add here that often you can speed up finishing by adding a good soak of sanding sealer at the 80 grit stage.
It seems to lock down the fibers in the end grain allowing a good sharp sanding paper to cut them off cleanly.
I use lacquer sealer as it dries in 20 minutes and has good penetration.

Bob ;)

[Jim Becker]

I just wanted to add here that often you can speed up finishing by adding a good soak of sanding sealer at the 80 grit stage.

(For the newbies...) Keep in mind that this technique may affect your choice of finishes...lacquer sanding sealer should only be used under lacquer, for example. The penetration you get will also disallow any form of penetrating oil finish, too.

[Bob Oswin]

(For the newbies...) Keep in mind that this technique may affect your choice of finishes...lacquer sanding sealer should only be used under lacquer, for example. The penetration you get will also disallow any form of penetrating oil finish, too.

Good point Jim.
I never work with oil so had not considered it. :D

cheers Bob