Sanding







I normally power sand all the way thru 320. But I do not turn the lathe on.

My normal grits are 120, 220, 320, then power buff with a cotton buffing wheel and white diamond compound (which doesn't contain diamond!).

Think about it.....when you are sanding with the lathe on, you are sanding 100% of the circumference of the bowl, when mostly you really only need to sand the end grain. If you leave the lathe off, you only sand each area as much as it needs to be sanded, then move on to the next area. If one area is a little rough, sand it more. But you don't have to sand the whole thing just to smooth one little spot.

The vast majority of power sanding discs are much too firm. If you wind up with sanding swirls, you need to make some new discs. A disc of 1/2" plywood with a tee nut and a 1/4" bolt with the head cut off, forms the base. For 4-5" discs, a piece of foam 1" thick glued to the face of the plywood makes the cushion.

Cut this foam out of 4 lb. ester foam, which you get at a foam supplier.. Glue with contact cement.

After attaching the foam, chuck up the device and sand the edge of the foam to a 45 degree angle by sticking down a coarse piece of sand paper and using it to round and form the foam. It will make huge clouds of rubber dust, so wear a mask.

Lastly, cut a piece of leather 3/4" larger in diameter than the largest diameter of the floam. Contact cement this disc in place with the flesh side to the foam. You can use hook & loop tape to hold commercially available sanding discs, or you can attach the sandpaper with double-sided carpet tape stuck to the leather. Just whack it off and fold the excess back over itself until none of the tape sticks out past the leather, then plop it down on a sheet of sandpaper and trim to the leather with a utility knife.

The purpose of having the leather stick out past the foam is to keep from pressing the edge of the sandpaper (which is where the swirls comes from) against the wood. Rather, it just 'floats' over the wood. Also, the soft foam prevents sanding gouges and burns, plus it is flexible enough to sand pretty concave contours, such as the inside of a bowl.

Do not substitute canvas or other materials for the leather, as they will not work as well. 2-3oz tooling leather is just right and you can get it at any leather supply store.

A sanding pad constructed as above and using 320 grit paper will produce a surface that is comparable to 600 grit hand sanding. Then power buffing with a cotton buffing wheel/white diamond will make the wood gleam!!!

Incidentally, the wax bonding agent in the buffing compound will not affect any finish I have ever used. You apply so little compound that the wax cannot be more than a few molecules thick, and if you are concerned, just buff it again with a clean buffing wheel





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