New Sanding Method???????

[Arlin Eastman]

I have seen a few guys like Carl Jacobson and just a few others sand with wax or oil, but it seems they are taking a last cut also with wax to stop tear out.

Anyone else seen or do this??

[iclark]

We wet sanded with walnut oil in at least one class with Richard Raffin. There might have been classes with other instructors, too, but they sort of run together in my memory.

The Raffin class was in a Woodcraft. The turning classroom we were in was not really setup for dust collection.

The wet sanding really reduced the amount of airborne dust that we created.

When I took an acrylic pen turning class, we wet sanded with water.

[Arlin Eastman]

So does it sand well?  Does the grit load up and still able to sand?  Just wondering also how well it works in turning and the last cut??

[MichaelMouse]

So does it sand well?  Does the grit load up and still able to sand?  Just wondering also how well it works in turning and the last cut??

Stearate paper is used because it supplies its own lube to slow clogging.  Open-coated stearated papers may take a few minutes more to the same surface, but don't clog as much.  Soap (stearate) instead of wax or oil is what does it.  

Wet-sanding wood packs the pores and muddies the look, rather than "popping" the grain.  If you want to fill the pores, fill, THEN sand so you can get back some of the depth.  Expect things like loading heavily if you sand wood with water rather than a lubricant. 

FWIW, using wax versus a stearate paper was a fad thirty some years ago in turning forums. Had to do with fear of fisheye when using lacquer.

[AHill]

Wet sanding with oil also helps to fill in pores, which will produce a smoother finish in the final product. I've done it with flat work.