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sanding crosscut poplar wood

Joined
Sep 27, 2007
Messages
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Location
Belgium
Hi,

the poplar platter I'm turning gives a lot of difficulties to sand:
the crosscut wood feels very 'hairy' - soft and porous. Does anybody know how to sand this well?

Thank you - Squirrel
 
You might try a few approaches.

1 Take very light finishing passes with a very sharp tool. I like a scraper with a negative rake grind.

2) If your lathe is reversable, try sanding in both directions at each grit.

3) Coat the the "fluffed" areas with a quick drying finish like shellac. Then sand. It seems to force the wood fibers to stand "proud" for removal by sanding.

Hope this helps.

Jerry
 
Goes with the wood. The whole willow family, including the true poplars, are fuzzy and fine-fibered. Sand along the grain after a P400, then dampen the piece, let dry, and sand again. Sanding round-and-round in either or both directions won't make a bit of difference.

If it's still giving you the wrong feel, use thinned shellac or lacquer as a sanding sealer as suggested, where you sand the finish rather than just the wood.

The good news is that the grain reversals that give you the fuzzies can be quite attractive with the proper finish.
 
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