sanding padauk

[John Ziebron]

I never worked with padauk before but recently bought a piece to make some Christmas gifts. The piece I bought was 3/4" thick and for one project I needed a piece 1/2" thick. Rather than waste a 1/4" by planing I decided to first resaw and then run the piece through my drum sander to get rid of the saw marks. I only take light passes with my drum sander - 1/64th or less. First pass the piece stalled and I ended up with a "divot". No problem, I had more material to take off.

I also had some hard maple and purple heart resawn to the same size. So second time I had a piece maple behind the padauk and it didn't come out looking too good. Looking at the drum it was loaded with this red dust (yes, my DC was on), didn't looked burned, but appears to be caked on. I generally use my sander for fine finish and have 220 grit on it. I've never had a problem like this before. Is there some secret to power sanding padauk?

[Alan Lightstone]

I've used my drum sander on it without issues, but take very thin passes and yes the dust is everywhere. I have a 5HP cyclone which probably helped, as it didn't cake red wood dust onto the drum more than other woods, as far as I remember.

[Mike Cutler]

John

I've done a fair bit of work with Padauk, and it is somewhat messy. There will be red/orange dust everywhere if your DC isn't big enough. ( Mine is not.)
220 off the drum sander is too fine in my opinion for the first pass(es). My drum sander is setup with 80/120 and it seems to work fine with padauk. i have put a 150 grit on the rear roller after the passes with the 80/120 combination are complete, but I generally don't. 150 grit and above is done on the bench for me.
Be sure to clean the sanding drums after the pad auk. That red dust will force it's away into the next wood that goes through the sander and you'll have some extra work to do.
Pad auk is beautiful wood. It comes off the sander basketball orange, but finishes to a nice "maroonish/brown". It's one of my favorite woods.

[Don Jarvie]

I agree with the comments above. I use 80 grit on my sander after resawing,220 is to fine. The 80 grit will do a good job in which you can hand sand after that. I leave 1/8 inch extra then use the sander to get to my final thickness.

As for finishing. Padauk is an oily wood so you need to wipe it down with Naphta or mineral spirits to remove the oil before applying poly or another oil based stain. The finish won’t dry well and will feel gummy even after a few days. You just need to wipe it after the first 2 coats of finish and thenthe finish is thick enough.

[Barry McFadden]

I agree with the comments above. I use 80 grit on my sander after resawing,220 is to fine. The 80 grit will do a good job in which you can hand sand after that. I leave 1/8 inch extra then use the sander to get to my final thickness.

As for finishing. Padauk is an oily wood so you need to wipe it down with Naphta or mineral spirits to remove the oil before applying poly or another oil based stain. The finish won’t dry well and will feel gummy even after a few days. You just need to wipe it after the first 2 coats of finish and thenthe finish is thick enough.

I agree with the sticky finish when I use WOP so now I spray on shellac for the first one or two coats which dries quickly without being sticky and then I can use the WOP with no problem.

[Michael Costa]

I've turned Padauk and agree with another posted. This is some of the messy stuff I've ever worked with. Wear latex glove if possible to avoid staining your hands. The dust seems to want to embed itself in everything. And wear a respirator. Only other thing I can think of is keep it out of sunlight as it will brown fast. I know this isn't what you are looking for, but it's my experience with Padauk

[Bill White]

Still finding padauk chips and dust after dimensioning lumber for a customer 3 weeks ago. Beautiful wood, but really leaves a mess.

[John Ziebron]

Thanks for all the replies. I did put 120 grit on my machine and it is is working well. Just have to do a little with my ROS after but not a big deal.

[Randy Heinemann]

I know this is not relevant but I wish I had a drum sander. Lucky you are....

[ChrisA Edwards]

I made this for a friend as a Christmas present, I too had problems getting the drum on my SuperMax clean, the rubber cleaning block helped a lot.

[Michael Costa]

I made this for a friend as a Christmas present, I too had problems getting the drum on my SuperMax clean, the rubber cleaning block helped a lot.

This is very nice. Don't forget to tell your friend to keep that out of the sun.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Yes, that was my first time using Paduak, and then I read it would slowly turn a dark brown.

[Gene Takae]

Yes, that was my first time using Paduak, and then I read it would slowly turn a dark brown.

I've read that this product protects wood from that. https://www.amazon.com/303-30313-CSR...ace+protectant

[ChrisA Edwards]

I've read that this product protects wood from that. https://www.amazon.com/303-30313-CSR...ace+protectant

I use that on most of the plastic/vinyl items in my car and motorcycles, I don't think I'd use it on wood, but will try it on a piece of scrap.