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Sanding Tips Please

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Hello all, I'm a new turner and have so many questions, but will limit this post to one - any suggestions on the best way to approach sanding a bowl. My early bowl attempts have pretty scratchy insides and I'm spending way more time sanding than cutting with tools. I'm working at reducing the scratches, but in the meantime, I've noticed that I can sand a scratch with the lathe turning for a long time and make no difference to it. That's using 100 grit and trying not to press too hard to avoid overheating. I've also use 80 grit abranet on my drill, spinning, and it didn't make a difference either. I finally stopped the lathe, sanded with the grain direction over the scratch and that started to work.

Should bowls be sanded with grain direction until smooth and then they can be sanded while spinning?
 

hockenbery

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For bowls turned from dry wood or twice turned after drying
I use power discs usually 3”
Basic process is slow lathe speed 150-300 rpm and a high disc speed.
A sand to 320. Higher grits between finish coats.

If there are bad spots I will sand those with the lathe off.
If you have a tearout ring sand the ring with the lathe off.
Same for torn end grain.
Then blend these areas in with the lathe running.

I usually sand only dry wood. Wet wood sands poorly with sandpaper.
If I do sand wet wood abranet (a fine wire mesh) works quite well it clogs up like paper but can be cleaned by soaking in water .

Use new sharp sandpaper - There should be a visible stream os sanding dust coming off the edge of the disc contact with the bowl. Hopefully the dust stream is going into a collection system or being blown out the door by a fan. When the dust stream gets weak - time for new paper.

My HFs and NE bowls I finish turn green and then sand off the lathe when dry in a few days.
I keep the edge of the disc lined up with the grain as much as possible for all grits.

Good news as you know sanding get easier as the turning gets better.

The thread below is in the tips and techniques . It is about a demonstration I do on green wood. The videos of the demo include turnings green bowl for drying and returning the dried bowl. I show how I get a pretty smooth surface with tools.
http://www.aawforum.org/community/index.php?threads/working-with-green-wood.11626/
 
Last edited:
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Al gave great advice. I'll add that Abranet is fantastic for higher grits, but 80 is much slower in my experience than traditional sandpaper. It sounds like you already figured out that powersanding is MUCH faster at lower grits. Past 180 and Abranet comes into its own, though I rarely use it anymore. Some woods really benefit from Abranet, especially any woods that are prone to heat checking.

As Al says, change paper often.

I think there's a real learning curve to sanding on the lathe and understanding when to change paper, when to switch from one grit to the next, when to spot powersand with the lathe off and when to turn the lathe on. In short: it just takes a lot of practice while paying close attention to the results.

Hang in there, and keep asking questions.
 

Bill Boehme

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There's a saying that you should use sandpaper like somebody else is paying for it. Sandpaper does wear out and it wears out a lot faster than most people realize. If in doubt, pick up a fresh piece of sandpaper and see if there is a difference.

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that only the coarsest grit removes tool marks, tear out, and other roughness of the wood surface. Every other grit after that is only meant to remove the sandpaper scratches created by the previous grit. If you see some imperfections in the surface as you sand with finer grits it will be necessary to go back to a coarser grit to clean up those spots.
 
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Some one said, "Never take a finished bowl into the house from the shop on a sunny day. Sunlight causes scratches." I do have a video up on sanding, which needs to be upgraded, or 'new and improved'... So, first thing quality of your abrasives really makes a difference. I prefer the blue discs from VinceswoodNwonders. He used to send me samples of different abrasives to try out, and they worked, but I kept going back to the blue. They just cut faster and longer than any other abrasives I have tried. Not the cheapest, but best value.

Sanding speeds: Slower is better. I only use a drill for sanding. I keep drill speed to less than half of full trigger. Getting the abrasives to cut is all about traction, kind of like dragsters. They burn off their wheels to heat them up, but they have no traction so there is lots of smoke, but they are not moving. If you are spinning too fast, then you are sending out a lot of dust, but you are not really digging in and cutting. Coarser grits can go a bit faster than the finer grits.

Pressure: Minimal pressure, no more than the weight of the drill. Too hard and you generate more heat, and your drill wears out a lot faster.

Vary your scratch patterns... One problem with hand sanding is all of your scratch lines go in the same direction, so it is easy to have 80 grit scratches under 120 scratches and not see them. With the drills, you can use one edge of the pad or the other and get a different pattern, kind of ( or )... Some times I go both ways with one grit, some times I go one way with one grit, and the other way with the next grit. This is a standard practice on spindles, to sand with the spin, then stop and sand length wise.

Interface pads: Buy one good mandrill for your drill and a bunch of interface pads. Cheaper to replace the interface pads than the mandrill. Again, too much pressure and speed can cause the hooks to melt and wear out much more quickly. A firm pad (really love the one from Vince that has a 1/4 round edge rather than square) for grits up to 180 or 220, medium pad for up to 400, and soft pad after that. Firm pad with 120 cuts faster than 80 grit on a soft pad, and no, pushing with 80 grit on a soft pad does not get you into coves well, radius edge pad at a skewed angle will do it.

Grit progression: Rule of thumb is, when moving to the next higher grit, 1/2 the number, so from 80 you go 80 + 40 = 120 grit. Well, that kind of works, and I used to practice that. However, I have found that for the coarser grits, some times I start at 80 grit. Most of the time, now anyway, I start at 100 or 120. Even if I start at 80, I go to 100, 120, 150, 180, then 220, and 400. I seldom go beyond that. Main reason, is that if I leave a few 100 grit scratches, I can take them out with 120. If I leave 80 grit scratches, they take forever to remove with 120. 150 may be a bit redundant, but I am getting far more bowls that I can take from the shop into the house on a sunny days. The coarse grits 80 to 120, are for cutting and leveling, and removing tear out. They actually cut and remove stock and are good for rounding over edges. I use far more 120 discs than I do 220 discs. The grits from 150 to 220 or 320, are more for removing scratches from the previous grits. You can round over an edge with 320, but it still has a crisp feel to it, but not one that will cut you. In the 320+ grit range, you are mostly buffing out scratches. 220 and above will not remove tear out, no matter how long you sand. You may get it down to the point where finish will cover it, but not to the point where, if you sand up to 2000, it will be gone. Go back to 100 or 120 some times.

Mystery Scratches: Two keys here are good lighting and good glasses. You have to be able to see what you are doing. I prefer therapy type lamps more in the natural light spectrum, and some of the LED lights are now getting into this range rather than the straight white ones. We see better in natural sun light. If your eyes are going fuzzy, time to get good glasses. The standard cheap reader glasses work, but prescription glasses are far better. There are those who use the air hose to blow off the dust and loose or embedded abrasive particles. I never do this. In part because who wants to blow more dust all over the shop. I have used my hands to wipe off bowl dust forever, well, ever since the first time I used the air hose trick. I have NEVER felt any embedded pieces of grit in the wood. If I have a undercut rim on the bowl, there can be some in there which are gone with a wipe or two, and they do not hang around with the next grit up. Another benefit of wiping the bowls down with my hands is that, especially with the finer grits, it pushes dust into the scratches from the coarser grits and high lights them, especially if you are using a contrasting scratch sanding method. I have heard of some that will use mineral spirits or lacquer thinner to do this, but I don't want that on my bowls. Another consideration and source of mystery scratches can be the abrasives and the discs. I always use abrasive discs that are larger than the interface pads. A 3 inch disc on a 3 inch pad will never go on perfectly, so some of the hooks and edge of the interface pad will be on the wood and that leaves marks. Same with a stiff abrasive backing like some of the heavy abrasives used on drum sanders or belt sanders. That hard edge leaves 80 grit scratches. Another reason why I like the discs from Vince. They are on a mylar film which is very flexible. As said above, the open weave type abrasives cut very slow compared to the solid surface ones up till you get into the 180 and 220 grit range, then they cut about the same.

I have never been a fan of wet sanding, at least not for the grits up to 220 or so. Main reason is that the sludge can fill in tear out that you won't see till you get to the higher grits. Only exception is end grain forms that I want to warp as much as possible.....

Look up my sanding hood video as well. Just a hose gets some dust. A hose and big gulp type hood get a lot of the dust. My sanding hood I use gets all of the dust other than what falls on my hands. If you use a fan, it works better if it blows the dust away rather than tries to suck it away, unless you have a hood around the back of it to channel all the flow.

robo hippy
 
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Location
Lake Country, BC
For bowls turned from dry wood or twice turned after drying
I use power discs usually 3”
Basic process is slow lathe speed 150-300 rpm and a high disc speed.
A sand to 320. Higher grits between finish coats.

If there are bad spots I will sand those with the lathe off.
If you have a tearout ring sand the ring with the lathe off.
Same for torn end grain.
Then blend these areas in with the lathe running.

I usually sand only dry wood. Wet wood sands poorly with sandpaper.
If I do sand wet wood abranet (a fine wire mesh) works quite well it clogs up like paper but can be cleaned by soaking in water .

Use new sharp sandpaper - There should be a visible stream os sanding dust coming off the edge of the disc contact with the bowl. Hopefully the dust stream is going into a collection system or being blown out the door by a fan. When the dust stream gets weak - time for new paper.

My HFs and NE bowls I finish turn green and then sand off the lathe when dry in a few days.
I keep the edge of the disc lined up with the grain as much as possible for all grits.

Good news as you know sanding get easier as the turning gets better.

The thread below is in the tips and techniques . It is about a demonstration I do on green wood. The videos of the demo include turnings green bowl for drying and returning the dried bowl. I show how I get a pretty smooth surface with tools.
http://www.aawforum.org/community/index.php?threads/working-with-green-wood.11626/

Thankyou very much for this comprehensive answer.
For bowls turned from dry wood or twice turned after drying
I use power discs usually 3”
Basic process is slow lathe speed 150-300 rpm and a high disc speed.
A sand to 320. Higher grits between finish coats.

If there are bad spots I will sand those with the lathe off.
If you have a tearout ring sand the ring with the lathe off.
Same for torn end grain.
Then blend these areas in with the lathe running.

I usually sand only dry wood. Wet wood sands poorly with sandpaper.
If I do sand wet wood abranet (a fine wire mesh) works quite well it clogs up like paper but can be cleaned by soaking in water .

Use new sharp sandpaper - There should be a visible stream os sanding dust coming off the edge of the disc contact with the bowl. Hopefully the dust stream is going into a collection system or being blown out the door by a fan. When the dust stream gets weak - time for new paper.

My HFs and NE bowls I finish turn green and then sand off the lathe when dry in a few days.
I keep the edge of the disc lined up with the grain as much as possible for all grits.

Good news as you know sanding get easier as the turning gets better. smooth surface with tools.
http://www.aawforum.org/community/index.php?threads/working-with-green-wood.11626/
******************************
Thankyou so much for this comprehensive answer. I'll keep at it. I also appreciate the link on green wood. I've just finished turning 8 blanks of green wood over a 2 week period and have learned a ton about turning, the drying process, cracking and reducing a perfectly beautiful chunk of wood to a disappointing miniature. A few actually became usable bowls. So much to improve upon! Thanks again!
 
Joined
Apr 13, 2018
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Al gave great advice. I'll add that Abranet is fantastic for higher grits, but 80 is much slower in my experience than traditional sandpaper. It sounds like you already figured out that powersanding is MUCH faster at lower grits. Past 180 and Abranet comes into its own, though I rarely use it anymore. Some woods really benefit from Abranet, especially any woods that are prone to heat checking.

As Al says, change paper often.

I think there's a real learning curve to sanding on the lathe and understanding when to change paper, when to switch from one grit to the next, when to spot powersand with the lathe off and when to turn the lathe on. In short: it just takes a lot of practice while paying close attention to the results.

Hang in there, and keep asking questions.

***********
Good to know about Abranet, thanks. I'll keep at it!!
 
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Location
Lake Country, BC
There's a saying that you should use sandpaper like somebody else is paying for it. Sandpaper does wear out and it wears out a lot faster than most people realize. If in doubt, pick up a fresh piece of sandpaper and see if there is a difference.

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet is that only the coarsest grit removes tool marks, tear out, and other roughness of the wood surface. Every other grit after that is only meant to remove the sandpaper scratches created by the previous grit. If you see some imperfections in the surface as you sand with finer grits it will be necessary to go back to a coarser grit to clean up those spots.
********
I wish someone else were paying for it! And I confess, I've been reluctant to throw pieces away. Thanks for the reminder about staying with coarse grit until the scratches are gone.
 
Joined
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Messages
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0
Location
Lake Country, BC
Some one said, "Never take a finished bowl into the house from the shop on a sunny day. Sunlight causes scratches." I do have a video up on sanding, which needs to be upgraded, or 'new and improved'... So, first thing quality of your abrasives really makes a difference. I prefer the blue discs from VinceswoodNwonders. He used to send me samples of different abrasives to try out, and they worked, but I kept going back to the blue. They just cut faster and longer than any other abrasives I have tried. Not the cheapest, but best value.

Sanding speeds: Slower is better. I only use a drill for sanding. I keep drill speed to less than half of full trigger. Getting the abrasives to cut is all about traction, kind of like dragsters. They burn off their wheels to heat them up, but they have no traction so there is lots of smoke, but they are not moving. If you are spinning too fast, then you are sending out a lot of dust, but you are not really digging in and cutting. Coarser grits can go a bit faster than the finer grits.

Pressure: Minimal pressure, no more than the weight of the drill. Too hard and you generate more heat, and your drill wears out a lot faster.

Vary your scratch patterns... One problem with hand sanding is all of your scratch lines go in the same direction, so it is easy to have 80 grit scratches under 120 scratches and not see them. With the drills, you can use one edge of the pad or the other and get a different pattern, kind of ( or )... Some times I go both ways with one grit, some times I go one way with one grit, and the other way with the next grit. This is a standard practice on spindles, to sand with the spin, then stop and sand length wise.

Interface pads: Buy one good mandrill for your drill and a bunch of interface pads. Cheaper to replace the interface pads than the mandrill. Again, too much pressure and speed can cause the hooks to melt and wear out much more quickly. A firm pad (really love the one from Vince that has a 1/4 round edge rather than square) for grits up to 180 or 220, medium pad for up to 400, and soft pad after that. Firm pad with 120 cuts faster than 80 grit on a soft pad, and no, pushing with 80 grit on a soft pad does not get you into coves well, radius edge pad at a skewed angle will do it.

Grit progression: Rule of thumb is, when moving to the next higher grit, 1/2 the number, so from 80 you go 80 + 40 = 120 grit. Well, that kind of works, and I used to practice that. However, I have found that for the coarser grits, some times I start at 80 grit. Most of the time, now anyway, I start at 100 or 120. Even if I start at 80, I go to 100, 120, 150, 180, then 220, and 400. I seldom go beyond that. Main reason, is that if I leave a few 100 grit scratches, I can take them out with 120. If I leave 80 grit scratches, they take forever to remove with 120. 150 may be a bit redundant, but I am getting far more bowls that I can take from the shop into the house on a sunny days. The coarse grits 80 to 120, are for cutting and leveling, and removing tear out. They actually cut and remove stock and are good for rounding over edges. I use far more 120 discs than I do 220 discs. The grits from 150 to 220 or 320, are more for removing scratches from the previous grits. You can round over an edge with 320, but it still has a crisp feel to it, but not one that will cut you. In the 320+ grit range, you are mostly buffing out scratches. 220 and above will not remove tear out, no matter how long you sand. You may get it down to the point where finish will cover it, but not to the point where, if you sand up to 2000, it will be gone. Go back to 100 or 120 some times.

Mystery Scratches: Two keys here are good lighting and good glasses. You have to be able to see what you are doing. I prefer therapy type lamps more in the natural light spectrum, and some of the LED lights are now getting into this range rather than the straight white ones. We see better in natural sun light. If your eyes are going fuzzy, time to get good glasses. The standard cheap reader glasses work, but prescription glasses are far better. There are those who use the air hose to blow off the dust and loose or embedded abrasive particles. I never do this. In part because who wants to blow more dust all over the shop. I have used my hands to wipe off bowl dust forever, well, ever since the first time I used the air hose trick. I have NEVER felt any embedded pieces of grit in the wood. If I have a undercut rim on the bowl, there can be some in there which are gone with a wipe or two, and they do not hang around with the next grit up. Another benefit of wiping the bowls down with my hands is that, especially with the finer grits, it pushes dust into the scratches from the coarser grits and high lights them, especially if you are using a contrasting scratch sanding method. I have heard of some that will use mineral spirits or lacquer thinner to do this, but I don't want that on my bowls. Another consideration and source of mystery scratches can be the abrasives and the discs. I always use abrasive discs that are larger than the interface pads. A 3 inch disc on a 3 inch pad will never go on perfectly, so some of the hooks and edge of the interface pad will be on the wood and that leaves marks. Same with a stiff abrasive backing like some of the heavy abrasives used on drum sanders or belt sanders. That hard edge leaves 80 grit scratches. Another reason why I like the discs from Vince. They are on a mylar film which is very flexible. As said above, the open weave type abrasives cut very slow compared to the solid surface ones up till you get into the 180 and 220 grit range, then they cut about the same.

I have never been a fan of wet sanding, at least not for the grits up to 220 or so. Main reason is that the sludge can fill in tear out that you won't see till you get to the higher grits. Only exception is end grain forms that I want to warp as much as possible.....

Look up my sanding hood video as well. Just a hose gets some dust. A hose and big gulp type hood get a lot of the dust. My sanding hood I use gets all of the dust other than what falls on my hands. If you use a fan, it works better if it blows the dust away rather than tries to suck it away, unless you have a hood around the back of it to channel all the flow.

robo hippy
****************************
I'm very grateful for all this information and think you should get an article published out of this. It's superb advice for a beginner. I'm freshly stocked with pads and interface discs from the Sanding Glove. I'll have to get some blue discs from Vince though, after this. Thank you so much!
 
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Juliet,
I don't think Vince comes out this way often as he is from 'back east', which is just about anywhere from Oregon or BC.... We will have the Oregon Woodturning Symposium in mid March, which would be a fun trip if you can swing it...

Hope the smoke clears for all of you up there soon. I am really looking forward to the fall rain.... I think you have more smoke than we do right now.....

robo hippy
 
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I am a beginner too, I had the same exact issue both inside and outside the bowl. For me, my issue was the type of sandpaper and how much pressure I was applying. I switched to abranet sanding paper and 3” and 5” sanding soft pad disks. I stopped sanding with 80 grits unless I have to. It always left very deep scratches that I had a problem removing.
 
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I am a beginner too, I had the same exact issue both inside and outside the bowl. For me, my issue was the type of sandpaper and how much pressure I was applying. I switched to abranet sanding paper and 3” and 5” sanding soft pad disks. I stopped sanding with 80 grits unless I have to. It always left very deep scratches that I had a problem removing.
***********************
Good to hear, thank you so much for this. I'll persevere!!
 
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Juliet,
I don't think Vince comes out this way often as he is from 'back east', which is just about anywhere from Oregon or BC.... We will have the Oregon Woodturning Symposium in mid March, which would be a fun trip if you can swing it...

Hope the smoke clears for all of you up there soon. I am really looking forward to the fall rain.... I think you have more smoke than we do right now.....

robo hippy
*********
Mid-March is a great time to clear out of a BC winter. Sorry to hear you have smoke too. It has been a horrendous August. There have been days where I know it's morning but I cannot find the sun. Wonder if we'll be able to stop global warming before it's too late....
 

john lucas

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I think the most important part Al stated. Sand at slow speeds or stop the lathe and sand the bad spots. I think with higher speeds the sandpaper actually jumps over these torn grain areas. I have found that if I stop the lathe and sand just that area until the torn grain is gone I can go through the rest of the grits pretty fast. If you find that your spending a lot of time sanding in that one area go to a course grit. I often use a round cabinet scraper to cut those areas down and then blend in the divot created by scraping or sanding around that area. Then I can go to the finer grits.
 
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I tried to make a rolling pin out of a piece of curly maple. everywhere the grain rippled, I had a small tear out. Not deep, but a major aggravation. I tried resharpening the skew, tried honing it, even tried stropping it. I will have to sand nearly 1/32 off the surface to get below the tear outs, assuming the sand paper doesn't cause any tear outs.
 

odie

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I confess, I've been reluctant to throw pieces away

Howdy Juliet.....:)

Once you get over that ^^^^^, you'll discover it's one of the best things you ever did to help your sanding improve! :D

Buy your sandpaper and discs by the pack, not the variety pack, but the bulk pack......and forget about the cost! o_O

Your sanding will instantly speed up by a factor of 2x.....;)

Remember this.......your time is worth exceedingly more than the sandpaper......:eek:

-----odie-----
 
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Odie speaks the truth. I figured that out this past weekend when I went thru several disks on my new sanding setup. Sanding went much quicker as I tossed sheets that seemed marginal. MUCH quicker. It was rather eye opening to say the least.
 
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I tried to make a rolling pin out of a piece of curly maple. everywhere the grain rippled, I had a small tear out. Not deep, but a major aggravation. I tried resharpening the skew, tried honing it, even tried stropping it. I will have to sand nearly 1/32 off the surface to get below the tear outs, assuming the sand paper doesn't cause any tear outs.

Perry, try getting the wood slightly damp with some alcohol or soapy water in a spray bottle before making your final cuts. Then make sure only the smallest whispers of shavings are taken off the lubricated wood with a freshly sharpened tool. Re-dampen wood as needed. If you still get a small amount tear out then start your sanding at 80 or 120 grit.
 

john lucas

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I find a couple of things in this situation. First try the things that Karl mentioned. I find that going to a small rounded tip gouge gives less tearout on curly and birdsye maple. I often use my Hunter Osprey on these woods. Sometimes on curly woods a tool with a slightly less acute angle works better. Flat wood workers use a plane with an edge of 55 degrees instead of 45 degrees for woods like these. I find a combination of the 2, a slightly more blunt angle and a rounded tip. The Hunter carbide tools have an cutting angle of about 60 degrees which may explain why they cut better on those curly woods. Well that and the edge is highly polished. I turn a fair amount of handles for my mirrors out of fiddle back maple and often find that the skew will give little chip out places even though it is literally razor sharp. I can usually go over those surfaces with either my Thompson 3/8" detail gouge or the Hunter Ospray and eliminate that tearout.
 
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Grit progression: Rule of thumb is, when moving to the next higher grit, 1/2 the number, so from 80 you go 80 + 40 = 120 grit. Well, that kind of works, and I used to practice that. However, I have found that for the coarser grits, some times I start at 80 grit. Most of the time, now anyway, I start at 100 or 120. Even if I start at 80, I go to 100, 120, 150, 180, then 220, and 400.

Hi Reed,

Great post, very true. I've joked many times that if there was a lathe sanding workshop, I'd be the first to sign-up. But experience is a good teacher too.

Can I ask about 220 grit? Do you really go from 220 to 400 or did 320 get left out?

The other thing I can't understand on 220 grit is the math. 180, 240, 320, etc. just makes more sense with the 50% rule than 180, 220, 320, etc.

My own experience: I powersand with 240 then 320 then 400, but recently I've been doing a little handsanding on details with a pack of Klingspor that goes from 180 to 220 to 320 and I honestly can't tell a difference.

Thanks to anyone who can explain the 220 thinking!
 
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Oh, I did forget 320... CRS syndrome.... On my bowls, I finish with the Doctor's Woodshop walnut oil and one of the grey synthetic steel wool pads. I do remember some years back there was a question about sanding on one of the forums, and I was surprised by the number of people who went from 120 straight to 220.

robo hippy
 

Bill Boehme

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Some people say that they skip every other griIt, but I don't think that it saves much, if any, time in the long run. Some brands of sandpaper have 220 grit, some others have 240 grit, and some of the cheaper brands just have fine, medium, and coarse. I mostly use Norton Pro Sand and buy it in 20 sheet packs which is a lot cheaper than the small three sheet packs or variety packs.
 

odie

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I've never been able to determine any practical difference between 220 and 240.......and invite comment from those who feel there is.

I've been using the Japanese Finkat papers for the last 10-15 years, and have been very happy with the performance of these papers. Last time I used any of the Norton paper, it was the 3x, and I see that is now discontinued, in favor of their new line, the ProSand. (Up until this very moment, I was not aware that Norton has added ProSand to their sandpaper lineup.) I was not unhappy with the 3x paper, but did feel the performance of the Finkat was a little better, and grit was a bit more consistent than the 3x. I am tempted to try some of the ProSand, just to do my own "hands on" analysis. Can anyone here give the forum some realistic hands on comparisons between the Finkat and ProSand?

Norton adds this description about the ProSand:
The backing is latex-saturated and fiber reinforced for better grain retention with higher flexibility for folding and reaching into tight spots.
https://www.thesandingglove.com/Norton-3X-Abrasive-Sheets.asp

This is something I'm not sure is a "real world" benefit, except to those who are not throwing out used paper as soon as is appropriate for smooth transition from grit to successive grit. I'm not sure what the backing paper of the Finkat is, but it might be just a sturdy paper, without any attempts to increase the durability, or make it last longer......it does conform well around corners and uneven surfaces pretty darn well, regardless. I have found the performance of the grit breaks down prior to the longevity of the backing paper being an issue.......so, that the Norton ProSand backing paper lasts longer, it would seem, is less consequential than being aware of the time to replace the sandpaper altogether. (Well, you would think, anyway! o_O )

I do see the ProSand isn't available in grits higher than 400.....and, and I simply must have 600 and higher grits available to me. (I also have some Norton A275 in my arsenal!)

Anyway........any thoughts/discussion on the Norton/Finkat differences is appreciated.....:D

-----odie-----
 
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I guess it depends on the wood and whether it is spindle turning.. My little Christmas ornaments from sycamore, I start sanding with 240. The bass wood, some times starting with 400 seems too coarse. The tulip poplar I turn is soft enough to start at 240. If I were to use 60 grit, there would be scratches to sand out with the finer paper. With red oak, yes, I start with the coarsest paper I can find. Especially where there is a bead or cove where end grain is exposed. However, bowls seem to be a different world for sanding.
 

john lucas

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yea the wood species makes a difference. Most woods I can stop at 400 but sometimes you can still see scratches and have to go to 600 or higher. The finish can also affect where I stop. I did a test one day on several species and several types of finish. I sanded in sections up to 1500 grit. no one in the club could detect where the lines were after 400 grit. At that test I didn't have one of the woods that shows lines at 400 grit. The main reason I go to 600 grit is it seems to take less finish to get to really good gloss with minwax wipe on poly. Other finishes build faster. I don't notice any difference in the final results as far as gloss or sanding lines if I stop at 400 but if I go to 600 the first few coats go on better and build faster.
I don't skip grits. I find that if I spend enough time with the first couple of grits to get rid of all tearout and sanding marks from those 2 grits the other grits go extremely fast so it's really not much time saving to stop. On spindle turning the lines show up more especially if I skip grits.
 
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I do remember reading some where that after about 600 grit, the scratches are invisible to the human eye. Going beyond 400 doesn't do much for woods that are softer, most of the time anyway. For woods like myrtle, koa, and others that have that special some thing, they really show chatoyance, the polishing grits add to the glow. With spray lacquers, the guy who does my spray work doesn't want anything beyond 220 as the finer grits can burnish the surface, and the finishes don't stick, or at least don't stick as well....

robo hippy
 

hockenbery

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I tried to make a rolling pin out of a piece of curly maple. everywhere the grain rippled, I had a small tear out. Not deep, but a major aggravation. I tried resharpening the skew, tried honing it, even tried stropping it. I will have to sand nearly 1/32 off the surface to get below the tear outs, assuming the sand paper doesn't cause any tear outs.

[edit] Did not see John & karls excellent advice. This is redundant[edit ]

Try a spindle gouge next on the curly maple pin.
I have found the spindle gouge will often leave a cleaners surface on Highly figured spindle work than a skew.
Also a left to right cut may be better than a righ to left cut..

The grain in the figure is going in the wrong direction in places.
Light cuts Sharp tool and the skew may still lift and tear fibers it gets inderneath.
The curvature and different angle of approach by the gouge edge will often cut these fibers cleanly or a couple gratis cleaner than the skew.

In any event one edge will be better than the other.
 

Bill Boehme

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With spray lacquers, the guy who does my spray work doesn't want anything beyond 220 as the finer grits can burnish the surface, and the finishes don't stick, or at least don't stick as well....

I don't believe that, otherwise why does finish stick to metal and glass? Aircraft skins are aluminum with a mirror like surface. You never ever under any under any circumstances sand the skin of an airplane. Luthiers sometimes use grits well over 1000 before applying a finish. I sometimes sand up to 1000 grit on figured maple before applying finish.
 
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No idea about the spray lacquer on planes compared to wood. Might be a different spray. I think my guy was using 'catalyzed' lacquer. Used another guy who wasn't as good, and he only wanted it sanded to 150. Another woodworker at a show I went to said it looked like my spray guy sanded to 600...

I have done a rolling pin or 10 out of highly figured maple. To get rid of the tear out, I used a burnished burr on a shear scraper. I am better with scrapers than the skew though...

robo hippy
 
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I think the most important part Al stated. Sand at slow speeds or stop the lathe and sand the bad spots. I think with higher speeds the sandpaper actually jumps over these torn grain areas. I have found that if I stop the lathe and sand just that area until the torn grain is gone I can go through the rest of the grits pretty fast. If you find that your spending a lot of time sanding in that one area go to a course grit. I often use a round cabinet scraper to cut those areas down and then blend in the divot created by scraping or sanding around that area. Then I can go to the finer grits.
Right, thanks John. I really want to get better with the tools to reduce time required for this part of the finishing!
 

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Sharp tools and good technique go hand in hand with sanding. It's something you will probably work on the rest of your life. I know I do. I played this morning with changing the cutting angle on a bowl gouge to see what difference it makes. I took a Stewart Batty ground tool and ground it down to 35 degrees to see what happened. This was cutting across a flat surface like the face of my hand mirrors. It did give a clean finish but left ripples in the wood. I ground it back to 40 and the ripples went away. Ground it at 45 and on that particular piece of wood didn't see any difference in the quality of the cut. With my regular bowl gouge that is ground at 55 degrees I do see an increase in tear out.
The reason I try to cut clean is not to cut down on sanding, but to save the shape and clean details. If you start sanding at 120 it's way too easy to get ripples due to the softer parts of the wood sanding quicker than the hard parts. It's also very easy to sand away any sharp corners or change the shape of beads. So if I can cut clean enough to start with 180 I rarely have any of the above problems.
 

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Like @john lucas said the finish begins with the turned surface.

John I use a pull cut technique for small discs with a convex profile.
Followed by a shear scrape and can usually sand with 320.

One of the beauties of the Ellsworth grind - the wing bevel angle where i’m cutting is around 40 degrees.
I been using this cut for many years but it still amazes me that I can start it in the center

I need to redo this video in higher quality. Fast forward to 4:10 to see the pull cut.
sandcarved ornament disk -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha9yiBEZvTQ
 

john lucas

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That's pretty much the exact cut I do. When I first started doing my hand mirrors I had the left wing ground about 2" long. It was a deep u shaped gouge and the wing was probably 25 degrees or even more acute. I didn't know you could do a push cut at the time. I sort of developed the pull cut on my own. I thought it was really unique until I met another turner who's name escapes me at the moment. He's from one of the islands south of Florida. Anyway he pulled his gouge out and said I'll bet you've never seen a gouge like that, and then I pulled mine out. We had both developed the same cut independant of each other.
 
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Like @john lucas said the finish begins with the turned surface.

John I use a pull cut technique for small discs with a convex profile.
Followed by a shear scrape and can usually sand with 320.

One of the beauties of the Ellsworth grind - the wing bevel angle where i’m cutting is around 40 degrees.
I been using this cut for many years but it still amazes me that I can start it in the center

I need to redo this video in higher quality. Fast forward to 4:10 to see the pull cut.
sandcarved ornament disk -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha9yiBEZvTQ

I did a cut like this for the first time a couple weekends ago on a natural edge maple bowl I was making. I've only been turning a couple months and I always end up with a fair amount of tearout on my bowls that need to be sanded down. Tried experimenting a little and was really amazed with the results. First time I had no tearout on the outside of a bowl! Interior tearout is another matter. Still working on that! :)

BTW, I appreciate all the videos you link to - I've watched quite a few of them and they've helped me quite a bit.

 
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hockenbery

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BTW, I appreciate all the videos you link to - I've watched quite a few of them and they've helped me quite a bit.
Thanks for the kind words. I find the pull cut on the outside of NE bowls works about the best for me.
It almost always cuts the bark cleanly. it works so well on the interrupted cut.

You have nice curve on your bowl,
 
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Emiliano Achaval

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Sanding is such an important part of turning, yet when students come for lessons, we hardly ever talk about sanding. It was suggested that we should have a club meeting with sanding your work as the topic, I believe its a great idea, and we should have one soon. Those of us that have been turning for a while, take it for granted. I agree with @robo hippy , scratches appear when you go back to the house with your latest work. I will add that they also showed up if you stop to drink a coffee, when you go back to the lathe, new scratches are there made by the scratch fairy. Do not rush thru the grits, take your time, use a good light, and yes, pretend the sandpaper was free. Good luck and Aloha.
 

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I've noticed that I can sand a scratch with the lathe turning for a long time and make no difference to it.

The answer to this is very simple......needs coarser grit.

One thing that saves immense amounts of sanding time, is to start at the proper grit. Sometimes, our ego gets in the way of that, and we end up spending much more time sanding than needs to be. The cure is to start at one grit coarser than you think you can get away with! If you think you can start at 220, then bite the bullet, and start at 180. You will thank yourself when you realize you're spending less overall time sanding. :D

When you do discover a scratch that should have been eliminated with a coarser grit previously......you have two choices. Either go back to the proper coarser grit, which invariably means the entire surface will have to be re-sanded. OR, many times, you can stop the lathe and hand sand with the current grit in an opposed direction, or orbital fashion. This may not always work, but it's a heck of a lot better than going back to a coarser grit, if you really don't have to. :eek:

-----odie-----
 
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many times, you can stop the lathe and hand sand with the current grit in an opposed direction, or orbital fashion.

Hi Odie, I find that this method works very well for me. A lot of times I'll lock the spindle and just hand sand an area especially on tear out. ;)
 
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