Tried a new tool a couple weeks ago...
John in NM
This is a 1" inflatable drum meant to go in a drill press. Modified for the lathe since I use it less than my drill press and I already had a couple jacobs chucks on a MT2 for the lathe.
I'd never used one of these much, but I have a much bigger one on the other spindle of my flap sander and I've found it useful for axe handles and stuff like that. In this case I needed something much smaller to smoothly finish sand finger grooves on grips I make and the spindle sander drums that work well for shaping are too hard for finish work and leave a scalloped edge. This really does the trick, and has pretty much eliminated hand sanding.
I'm also very impressed with how long the sleeve seems to last, I just did about 60 walnut grips and it's still got life in it - though walnut is of course not as hard on sandpaper as beech - the other wood I use for grips.