sanding problem with bowls

[paul wiser]

first attempt with bowls, and am having a bad time sanding the crossgrain portion of the turning. if anyone can give me an idea of what i am doing wrong i would appreciate it. thanks

[David E Keller]

Some photos of the problem areas would be helpful, Paul.

I generally power sand with the lathe on, and then I stop the lathe and hit any problem areas with the power sander... If you can't improve the surface with cuts and you're having trouble getting rid of marks, dropping to a courser grit will sometimes help. If the wood is punky, stiffening the fibers with shellac or wet sanding will sometimes help.

[Harvey Ghesser]

Paul,

It would help if you could tell us what your current sanding technique is. I sand with the turning on the lathe at a very slow rpm (about 50) although some sand at higher rpms. I usually go through the grits starting from 80 or 120 up to 600 and reverse rotation between grits. Hope this helps.

[Prashun Patel]

If you don't mind wasting some sandpaper, then you can try wetsanding with the lathe on.

[Reed Gray]

Sounds like tear out, on end grain. Are you power sanding or hand sanding? Power sanding takes a lot of the work out of it. If you are hand sanding, turn off the lathe, and hand sand the problem area. Actually, that is what you do if you are power sanding as well. Probably the most common problem with bowl turning is getting the end grain to cut clean. If it is rough when you are done cutting, get it wet (I use water, others use finish or sanding sealer), then take very light cuts to remove the wet wood. It can take a couple of passes. It does make sanding a bit easier. Never liked wet sanding much, too messy.

robo hippy

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree it sounds like tear out. I do as Reed does and lightly spritz the wood with water and take my final cuts with a freshly sharpened gouge generally a conventional grind. Most times it takes it right out and can start sanding at 120 or so.

[paul wiser]

i am power sanding. i usually stop and try to hand sand problem area's i do wet it, but it doesn't seem to help. however i never tried wetting it and then use a scraper. also never tried shellac or sanding sealer. thanks for the information!@!