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sanding green wood

H

herb

Joined
Mar 4, 2007
Messages
56
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8
Location
Lakewood, Colorado
Hi,

Mostly I turn blanks and dry them. Sometimes I finish turn green wood. The problem is trying to sand them while still on the lathe. Sanding paper fills up immediately. Is there a way around this?

Herb
 
I have 2 methods I use. One is to use a hair dryer to dry the surface. This works but can cause surface checks. When I turn natural edge bowls I turn them pretty thin. they tend to dry pretty fast so I can often just touch them lightly with the hair dryer and then sand.
the other thing I do is to use the screen type sandpaper. You can buy the courser grits wherever drywall supplies are sold. The finer grits I got from Eagle America but I just thumbed through their catalog and didn't see it anymore. It is called Abranet and looks like wire screen. It doesn't clog very easily and if it does a quick wipe across a crepe rubber belt cleaner makes them almost like new.
I should mention that before I start sanding at all I use a round nose scraper in a shearing action on the inside and a John Jordan Shear scraper on the outside. If I do that successfully and have clean cuts with the bowl gouge I can usually start sanding at 220 so I don't end up using much sandpaper anyway
 
First, go with open-coat paper. Doesn't load up so fast.

Second, blast with compressed air from the inside out to get rid of unbound moisture. As you spin it'll help throw it off the outside. Before you sand there, blast for a dry look.

Third, sand the inside first. Inside fiber gets under compression as it dries, so things don't open, they close with warmth. Don't use it as an excuse for pressing hard, though.

Fourth, clean the paper often. Good stiff nylon brush is probably enough. I use a brass flux brush with the disk motionless. With a bit of care you can have your grits and clean 'em too.

Fifth, don't be in such a hurry to go beyond about 120/150. You're still going to have a piece near the fiber saturation point, so you will have to sand again after it's dry. I do the 220, set up with water and a 320 after things are dry.
 
The only time I sand green is on hollowforms. I generally get a better cut on the end grain, and can wet sand with finish starting at 220. For bowls, the cleaning of the paper is too much wasted time. I let them dry and warp, then sand and finish. Much easier. You do need a lathe that will spin at 20 rpm or so, depending on how much the forms warp. I also do the LDD soak as this helps the sanding, especially on problem and harder woods.
robo hippy
 
I use wet/dry sandpaper with water and a plastic dishpan on the lathe bed under the turning to catch most of the drips. I run the lathe at a slow speed or hand sand with the lathe stopped. Green wood wet-sands rather quickly so the process doesn't take long.
 
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You might want to try Albronet and copressed air. Also, the screen mesh can also be washed. It does fairly well up to 220 grit.

Aaron
 
I turn most of my hollow forms with wet wood. I sand them while they are wet. I put a plastic bag on the bed of the lathe and I pull it up in the back to somewhat contain the spray. I use cloth backed sandpaper. Wet the paper and wet the bowl. Sand away. Keep spraying with water. It keeps the sand paper clean and cutting, and also keept the wood cool - therefore no heat checks. I only wet sand to about 150 - 220 grit. Then when the vessel/bowl dries - I sand to a higher grit. I do this when I turn an open bowl with wet wood also. Works great.

Sanding wet like this does make a mess a bit, but is worth it. No dust, sandpaper lasts a long time, no heat checks, etc.

Remember to clean up the lathe bed when you are done and oil it or wax it.

Hugh
 
MauBow,
I purchased a 20# box of odds and ends from Klingspor. Still have some left. You do get some unusable pieces (36 grit) but it is still worth it. Be ready for a bit of a mess if you try this. I have a stripe up one wall and on the ceiling - that I put there before I got smarter and put up the plastic bag. It contains most of the spray but not all of the spray. Wear a face shield as the residue will cover your glasses if you stand in the wrong place.

Any cloth backed sand paper will work - it is just that I use the Klingspor.

Make sure you clean the lathe bed and oil it when done.
Good luck.
Hugh
 
Sanding Green wood can be a challenging. Crepe block to clean discs are good, using compressed air works, and open distribution does help prevent clogging of discs. Recently I created a Power point presentation discussing what make a quality sanding abrasive and you can find it by going to my website at:
http://www.vinceswoodnwonders.com
Look at link What Makes a Quality Sanding Abrasive. Also if any one needs a sample of my product drop me an email.

Vince
 
Not direct, but great grounding. www.uama.org www.fepa-abrasives.org

Have to take exception with Vince on use of closed coat abrasives on wet wood. Wet sanding on metals, where there is no stringy structure and the swarf is easily washed away, perhaps . For wet wood, a bit of space between particles, especially if its got a bit of stearate, helps a lot.
 
Brian Hahn, thanks for the tip!

I do like Brian Hahn. I wet sand green wood... but I use an old 409 spray bottle to spray the piece with LDD, because I soak in LDD and it's handy in my shop.:D But I never put a pan under the piece to catch the drips. I will from now on. I think that's a brilliant idea, and my unbrilliant mind didn't think beyond an old dirty piece of vinyl. :o
I sand all the way through the grits, then spin the piece pretty fast, and get rid of what moisture I can. Then I let it dry a few days, and put it back on the lathe, and slow turn it and sand the final grits again. Works for me.:cool:
 
Steve Worcester said:
if you are going to soak in LDD and then dry and re-turn, why sand?
Click to expand...
I may not have been clear in my previous post. :)
I soak Green, rough-turned pieces in LDD.
But when I turn a green wet piece to finished thickness, I wet sand them. I don't have water piped to my shop, and the LDD is very handy, and I usually have a 409 bottle full of it to spray bowls I am coring and rough turning so they don't warp and lose too much moisture while I'm working. I use that to wet sand with, rather than getting water from the house. I'm lazy, what can I say?:p
It's the finished turned pieces that I'm sanding wet. Hope that clears up the muddiness.:o
 
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