problems turning Wispy Spalt Rock Maple

[Sean Geerlof]

i have turned 2 pens made if this wood and while sanding the pen blanks seem to be either burning and turning black or the black accents in the wood start to color the light portions of the blank:mad:. any ideas on how to keep the it looking clean?

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[Bernie Weishapl]

Sean one thing to be careful of when sanding is if you hit the bushings with the sandpaper it will turn you light wood dark. I wrap my sandpaper on a 1/2" thick by 1 1/2" wide piece of MDF. This will give you a level sanding surface and easier to keep away from the bushing. Just a thought.

[Sean Geerlof]

the bushings i was using are silver. not sure that would be it. anyone else have any ideas?

[Bernie Weishapl]

Sean mine are silver to but on light maple I get a dark color near the ends if I get into the bushings.

[David Wilhelm]

It's not easy to say what your problem is with out looking at the pen. I'd say Bernie is pretty dead on. The bushing will not really make silver dust when you sand it and the dust is spread into your work it will pretty much be a blackish color. Bottom line that Bernie is pointing out is bushing are sized for a reason if you sand them you change the size so try to stay off them as much as you can. Clean them by soaking them in finger nail polish remover then you can scrape the glue right off. I'm not sure how much pressure you are using while sanding but if you are burning your wood then your sand paper is clogged up, worn out, ect and you are over doing it, plus you will see smoke. I sand at lower RPM speeds and glue fill with sand paper most of the time. if you use this methode you may be picking up bushing dust in your glue and or other darks and mixing it in with your pen. if this is the case it should sand out unless it has filled a pour then it should look neat unless it sparkles LOL. If the black dust is from the bushings it should stick to a magnet