A newbie here with less than 25 pens turned. Thanks in advance. I have turned some light porous wood, sycamore, and yesterday a deer antler. Things generally go well until the sanding stage with light colored materials. I am getting sanding dust in the pores of the blank, especially on the antler. I am using various grits of wet-dry sandpaper up to 1200 grit. Is there a way to avoid the dark speckles in the pores that comes from sanding? Thanks again.
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Pen blank sanding stains
- Thread starter Stanley Bunch
- Start date
Yes, try a sanding sealer to fill those pores first. Shellac or a light coat of lacquer might work as well. Be sure to blow any dust out of the pores first.
Stay off the steel bushings if you are using them. Easy to get the steel particles in the wood pores. You can buy or make plastic bushings if the problem continues.
I think what Richard say is important, that and the age old adage of 'use sandpaper like it's free'--I have encountered this issue when trying to stretch abranet the last extra bit, and it always seems to not be an issue when I go to fresh bits of sandpaper or abranet--whichever I am using. I keep a blower tipped air hose nearby when I'm finishing pens and blow off the dust frequently and also if I'm using Micro-Mesh, I keep it sprayed down regularly with clean water as I progress through the grits--makes a big difference for me.
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I got an air compressor for my birthday. I keep it close and the 50 ft. hose reaches anywhere in the shop. It had come in handy for cleaning off turnings. Sealer would be a good move.
I prefer to do wet sanding using DNA and also use Micro Mesh with DNA. I haven't had an issue since I started using DNA.
Hello Stanley, I agree with all methods above. Any or all these methods should eliminate your problems with dark specks when sanding light colored wood/antler.
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The problem is the wrong type of sandpaper ... never use black silicon carbide (wet/dry) sandpaper on wood or other porous material or anything softer than metal for that matter. Use aluminum oxide paper such as Norton Pro Sand or Mirka Abranet.
I use a set of plastic cone bushings for sanding. if you use the metal ones they metal dust gets in pores and stains it. Also you could pre seal it with ca glue to fill large pores in loose grain woods. ie wenge