Fuzzy surface

[Guy Pepin]

I applied a few coats of Watco's Danish Oil to a bowl made of Western Alder, which is not quite a hardwood. This was a twice turned bowl which I had slowly drying for a year. Sanded to 600 grit and applied the oil and wiped. Now after a couple of days I notice some areas have this surface fuzziness about them which, if you wipe your hand across the surface in one direction disappears (see lower photo where I've wiped a finger on one section).
How do I eliminate what are obviously tiny fibers? 000 steel wool? a polishing compound like ultra-shine? I intend to apply a final finish of bees wax.

 

[hockenbery]

I haven’t turned that wood. It think what happed is that some fibers were not cut cleanly by sanding and stood up when the finish was applied.

 

[Richard Morgan]

Sounds like raised grain, which sometimes happens after a finish is applied to a sanded surface. A light sanding with the highest grit paper you used the first time should get rid of it. good luck

 

[robo hippy]

My first guess is that this is tear out. When turning bowls, in side grain orientation, for 1/4 of the revolution, you are cutting with the grain, then 1/4 against the grain, then repeat. One goal of turning is to reduce this tear out to the point where little sanding is needed to remove tear out. You will, most of the time, find the exact same spots on the inside as the outside, but they are in the opposite quadrants. Sharp tools, and I always use a freshly sharpened gouge for final finish cuts! Very light finish cuts. I prefer a shear scrape for my final passes as that seems to give me the best surfaces. When all else fails, you have to resort to the 80 grit gouge/abrasives. I have a bunch of videos up on You Tube, mostly about bowl turning. One on shear scraping. Alder is a nice wood, but it tends to not be the cleanest cutting wood out there. Pacific Madrone, cuts like butter. Oh, if the tear out is obvious when you are ready to sand, you may try spritzing a bit of water onto the wood, let it sit for a minute or two, and then taking VERT LIGHT cuts, turn off the wet stuff.

From a turner over at Woodturner's Resource, "Never take a finished piece from the shop into the house on a sunny day. Sunlight causes scratches." When sanding out your bowls, you need good light and good glasses. Natural spectrum works best. Off the shelf 'reading' glasses may help, but are poor quality.

robo hippy

 

[Michael Anderson]

Something worth mentioning. Given you mentioned the fuzz is only felt in one direction, did you sand in forward and reverse? If you only sand in one direction, some of the longer fibers that didn’t get cut (or are saturated with oil) tend to lay down in that direction. You also didn’t mention if you water-popped the grain prior to sanding higher grits. This can also help with the smoothness of the surface.

 

[Doug Freeman]

It appears that there is some very light tear out (the lighter areas) that need a bit more sanding, and sanding in both forward and reverse helps cut fibers that lay down in each direction. Properly sanded wood will not show the color variation present in the photos.

The piece can be wet sanded with 800 to 1000gr wet/dry paper and the DO. I prefer sandpaper to steel wool/scotchbrite as it cuts better

 

[Guy Pepin]

My first guess is that this is tear out. When turning bowls, in side grain orientation, for 1/4 of the revolution, you are cutting with the grain, then 1/4 against the grain, then repeat. One goal of turning is to reduce this tear out to the point where little sanding is needed to remove tear out. You will, most of the time, find the exact same spots on the inside as the outside, but they are in the opposite quadrants. Sharp tools, and I always use a freshly sharpened gouge for final finish cuts! Very light finish cuts. I prefer a shear scrape for my final passes as that seems to give me the best surfaces. When all else fails, you have to resort to the 80 grit gouge/abrasives. I have a bunch of videos up on You Tube, mostly about bowl turning. One on shear scraping. Alder is a nice wood, but it tends to not be the cleanest cutting wood out there. Pacific Madrone, cuts like butter. Oh, if the tear out is obvious when you are ready to sand, you may try spritzing a bit of water onto the wood, let it sit for a minute or two, and then taking VERT LIGHT cuts, turn off the wet stuff.

From a turner over at Woodturner's Resource, "Never take a finished piece from the shop into the house on a sunny day. Sunlight causes scratches." When sanding out your bowls, you need good light and good glasses. Natural spectrum works best. Off the shelf 'reading' glasses may help, but are poor quality.

robo hippy

Thanks Reed, all very helpful. I will try the spritzing and a shear scraper (once I purchase one). My wife and I had a good chuckle about the sunlight - great quote. Totally agree about Madrone (a.k.a. arbutus here in B.C.) - one of my favourite species.

Guy

 

[Guy Pepin]

It appears that there is some very light tear out (the lighter areas) that need a bit more sanding, and sanding in both forward and reverse helps cut fibers that lay down in each direction. Properly sanded wood will not show the color variation present in the photos.

The piece can be wet sanded with 800 to 1000gr wet/dry paper and the DO. I prefer sandpaper to steel wool/scotchbrite as it cuts better

Thanks Doug. I have the wet/dry paper, but it is black (aluminum oxide I think). I tried using it a while back and it left black marks on my piece so was not impressed. It may have been the type of wood, so I will give it a try.
Thanks!
Guy

 

[Guy Pepin]

Something worth mentioning. Given you mentioned the fuzz is only felt in one direction, did you sand in forward and reverse? If you only sand in one direction, some of the longer fibers that didn’t get cut (or are saturated with oil) tend to lay down in that direction. You also didn’t mention if you water-popped the grain prior to sanding higher grits. This can also help with the smoothness of the surface.

Thanks Michael. Going in both directions and spritzing with water are good ideas which I will implement.

Guy

 

[Doug Freeman]

Thanks Doug. I have the wet/dry paper, but it is black (aluminum oxide I think). I tried using it a while back and it left black marks on my piece so was not impressed. It may have been the type of wood, so I will give it a try.
Thanks!
Guy

Yes the black silicon carbide wet/dry paper might do that if sanding bare wood, dry or wet - particles imbedding in a light color wood, and of it looked a bit like your previous photos those tear out areas could hold some of the grit.

 

[robo hippy]

I do turn some big leaf maple, but as a rule, I don't prefer it. Main reason is that it is difficult to cut cleanly, kind of like the alder.

robo hippy