Natural edge bowls: What's your process?

[jerickson]

I have some wet wood set aside for natural edge bowls. However, I'm not sure how to go about finishing them. My main question is when to sand. I would like to turn to finish thickness with the wood wet, but I have never been able to successfully sand wet wood. In the past I've used wood that was already mostly dry, so this wasn't an issue.

So, what do you guys and gals do? Just let it sit and hand sand it later?

Robo Hippy, I know you turn most of your bowls to finish thickness when wet. Any tips on sanding and finishing?

Thanks everybody, and Merry Christmas!

[iclark]

I have not tried natural-edge bowls yet. After a private lesson from one of the professional turners in our local turning club, I became a believer in air-powered disc sanders.

My favorite is the Grex 105* Random Orbital Sander.

I use it with foam sanding pads and Abranet disks.

This has really improved my sanding both on and off the lathe.

A couple of drops of appropriate oil add to the air tool before each use avoids have to add an oiler to the air hose.

A word of caution, though, sanding a punky wood bowl on the lathe either by hand or with an air-sander while the lathe is turning makes it way too easy to reduce the wall thickness in the punky areas.

[robo hippy]

I prefer to let them dry first. Any attempt to do so before hand just makes for more work. The down side is that the warped bowls have to have speeds around 20 rpm to be able to keep any abrasive, hand held or power, on the wood as it spins. I have an articulated arm rest I made for myself that I use to support my arm and the drill while I sand, which makes it easy to spin the bowl with one hand, and hold the drill with the other. If I am turning an end grain piece, I do some times finish them wet. This is mostly because I want lots of wrinkles in them as they dry. Cutting end grain is a lot cleaner than cutting side grain, so usually, only minimal sanding is required. I have heard a lot of people like the Abranet mesh stuff for wet sanding. I tried a little of it on some bowls. With the coarse grits, 80 up to 220, it cuts a lot slower than the standard discs. 220 and above cuts about the same.

robo hippy

[Arlin Eastman]

Sorry no advise from me.

I only turned wet once and then let it dry. I prefer to turn everything dry.

Arlin

[jerickson]

Thanks for the replies, everyone! RH, I appreciate the advice. I'll try hand sanding after it dries, I think.

If I'm able, I'll turn it nice and thin so it'll partially dry during the turning. It's ash, so there's not a ton of water in it compared to some other woods I've turned.

[EightFingers]

I sand them wet. They actually dry out pretty fast and the sanding gets easier. You're going to get a few clogged up pieces of sandpaper, but it won't be long till it gets easier.

[badwhiskey]

I've let them dry. But if they are thin, they dry quickly. Careful turning too thin, a lot will sand off if you get aggressive with it.

[MichaelMouse]

I will do one grit - 120 - and that open coat stearated, just to check for a fair curve with no lumps. Even then it's often necessary to kick off the pills of dough with a file card or brass flux brush. I'll surface dry a bit with compressed air and centrifugal force to prepare for the sanding.

Then it's dry and lap sand with 220/320 under power, with a final 320 along the grain to take out any rogue scratches. The flex shaft I use is extremely handy with this kind of sanding, because it is so light and maneuverable. I tried a rotary sand mandrel on a motor shaft but wasn't really satisfied, since I had to hide the surface of what I was sanding. If you have one, a dual shaft sander and sanding mops are excellent ways to finish sand, though you will have to hold the piece with both hands in case you push too hard. It can run away like a bowl being buffed.

Upper right shows a 120 surface ready to reverse and hollow.
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d160/G...-Dries.jpg

Bottom two are 120 with an alcohol wipe to reveal pattern.



Couple of hints in this picture. First, you can see a compression ring from the heel of the gouge down low. Soak them and sand the rise with the 120, because they're twice as tough to disappear after the piece dries. Second, you can see the threads of wood on the edge where the gouge has exited to air. I like a small butane torch to clean them up like threads ("cables") on clothing, rather than trying to cut or sand them away.

[tim t]

Arlin, you don't know what your missing only turning dry!!

[Dennis Puskar]

Never sanded wet wood twice turned and then sand dry