How do you sand uneven bowls? (busted knuckles!)

[curtis rosche]

How do you sand the natural edge and uneven bowls? i am working on a peice of maple from my maple goat, its the crotch peice, the grain is amazing, but when my stepdad cut it one end is 2 1/5-3 inches the other end is 5-6 inches. i couldnt just make it even, to much wasted, so i made in an unevenn edge, but when i went to sand it on the lathe the rough edge started to get rounded over, and i took the skin off 4 knuckles on my left hand, and got 2 small, deep cuts on the skin right above the nail puching the shin back, on my other middle finger. ouch how do you sand these?

[Tony De Masi]

Off the lathe by hand.

Tony

[Matt Hutchinson]

Off the lathe sounds good. Although you can sand the part that is a full round bowl while it's on the lathe.

Hutch

[Raymond Overman]

I use a Sioux/Milwaukee knockoff close quarters angled drill (the blue one from Klingspor) while the bowl is still on the lathe but the lathe is off. I sand with my right hand while spinning the piece by hand with my left. I start with 80 or 100 and work up through 400. Seems to work really well for me.

[Matt Hutchinson]

Yeah, what was I thinking. Sand it while it's still on the lathe.....

Ok, so pretend I am a turner and take my advice....do what Ray said.

Hutch

[curtis rosche]

i was going to try that, but i was going to atatch a peice of thick soft foam between the drill and the paper, so it follows the contour, i tried it with a drill sander but the disks were hard and i ended up making a mess of it, i was just wondering what you guys do

[Raymond Overman]

I purchased a soft velcro sanding pad holder from Klingspor as well and use light passes with each grit. Works really well.

http://www.woodworkingshop.com/cgi-bin/CB2EF170/mac/additmdtl.mac/showItemDetail?item=FP50200&qtyA=0&phsO=N&desc=2%22%20FLEXI-PAD&drpshp=N&alOrd=Y&iQty=.000&oQty=.000&initQty=1&assortParent=N&itemForSale=Y&styleName=&fixD=&face=.00&gftc=&stck=Y&prefS=&calledFrom=DS&ordInfo1=&ordInfo2=&ordInfo3=&ordMan1=N&ordMan2=N&ordMan3=N&persCode=&persReqd=&persLink=%20&shipRemaining=0&daysBetween=0&daysBetweenFix=0&monthsBetween=0

No affiliation. Just what works for me.

[Gordon Seto]

Or you can attach the sanding mandrel to the headstock of your lathe with a Jacob chuck, hold your NE bowl with both hands and sand. With both hands holding the bowl, you get better control. You will also sand faster if you slow down the sanding speed. High speed would generate heat and cause glazing instead of cutting.

With over-sized sanding disk (as compared to your pad), it is less likely for the sharp edge of the sanding disk to gouge your work.

[Glenn Hodges]

Curtis, use a power sander like a drill with a velcro or sticky pad holder. Set the lathe to turn slow at less than 100 rpm or even slower if the bowl is really out of round.

[Reed Gray]

If you have a variable speed lathe, you can sand most of the round parts at 20 to 50 rpm. If you don't have that, then sand like Raymond said. I use a soft pad, and low rpm on the sander, say 200 or less, to 500. Go through the grits, and low pressure. I do like discs that are bigger than the pad. You do have to take care if the bark is still on because it is softer than the wood, and I will generally only use the higher grits on the bark.
robo hippy