End grain sanding on bowls

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Russell Eaton

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Joined
Sep 9, 2009
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788
Location
Stockbridge GA.
After buying a new lathe I am trying to turn a couple of bowls. It seems like it takes forever to sand the end grain cuts smooth. I don't think that I am doing it wrong and was wondering if anyone had any tips. As always any advice is helpful. I turned my lathe speed up and that helped some, and I am turning with a sharp carbide cutter. It still takes about 20 min. to sand through the end grain.
Thanks for any help Russell
 
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Sounds like a lot of tear out - carbide cutter is not a guarantee against tear out and all carbides are not made the same.

Bill Grubine has DVDs that address this well but have you tried shear scrape with a bowl gouge, a negative rake scraper, or use of sanding sealer to stiffen the endgrain.

Other things that help is to be sure to use the range of grits, power sanding with a drill helps, as does paying close attention to sandpaper being a consumable - over sanding with wornout paper wastes time and can damage a piece of work.
 
as a new turner i must agree with ken. learning to sharpen your tools and proper cutting techniques will improve your finish a great deal. i watch the pros and get "hands-on" help every chance i get. your goal should be to eliminate sanding altogether.
 
When I've had similar problems, it often turned out that my tools weren't so sharp,
my sandpaper wasn't so new or I was skipping grades. (not intentionally, when you
cut up a large sheet ,sometimes you don't know what grade it is if you forgot to
mark it with a sharpie..)
Sanding sealer helps.. it makes the grain stand up nice and stiff while you sand it off.
I've even used sanding sealer and a razor sharp scraper.. you barely need to touch
it.

after that I don't use any water, so you don't raise the grain again.

If all else fails, I rub some dirt in it and call it 'rustic'. :tongue:
 
Russell

If you are using the carbide cutter as a scraper, you will experience what you are. You want to get a good bowl gouge and get a good cut. When used as a scraper, the carbide will get dull very fast, and sharpening is a must for it. One of the toughest things to do is scrape with a tool, because the edge failure happens very quickly. Sharpen the scraper or, use a bowl gouge and use the tool to cut. Mark Sillay is awesome for demostrating the proper way to use a detail gouge for this very thing.


Robert
 
What wood are you using Russell? Something like kiln dried walnut can be a pain in the patootie at almost any end grain cutting, softer woods will also tear more easily, etc.... Try moistening the end grain with a damp cloth before the last cut. Do a search on how to shear scrape. It is a technique where you angle up the tool, and close up the angle to less than 90 degrees. The lightly drag the cutter in a pulling cut. You just kiss the wood with the cutter, and get shavings like whiskers.
I also suggest you go out to the firewood pile for your stock on learning to turn bowls. It's a whole new, fun world, turning wet wood. Good luck!
 
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