Sanding methods

Re: Sanding methods

JL

>They are a reasonable choice. The Milwaukee angled drill is a reasonable choice, though more expensive. The standard drills work, they just aren't as comfortable.

Re: Sanding methods

Mike Rubes, Apex, NC

>Hi Ken,

What a timely question!! I was just looking through the catalogs for these items and was wondering what people really thought of them. Do they work well, do they really give a better, more uniform finish? Seems like that no matter how much I sand and how careful I am with progression through the grits, there's always at least one or two little scratches that survive the sanding. I am wondering if one of these things would help eliminate that?

Thanks for your note, I look forward to what others have to say about using those sanders.

Mike

Lathe has been uncovered and bowls are a planin' in Apex, NC!!!

Re: Sanding methods

John K Jordan

>Do you refer to the "bowl powered" sander that uses friction from the bowl rotation to turn a sanding disk? If so, I personally prefer the powered sander for several reasons. I often sand with the lathe running very slowly or stopped completely and the power sander is necessary in this case. I find I get better control and a better surface in some cases if I hold the slowly rotating sanding disk against the wood and then rotate bowl back and forth by hand.

My lathe uses a cylinder rather than a headstock wheel so this may be easier than on some.

Also, I often sand with the disk rotation in the opposite direction to what would be driven by the bowl itself. For the sides of bowls, I like the main cutting action 90 deg to the lathe rotation, especially for light sanding with coarse paper. Also, sanding inside tricky curved sections and close turned detail sometimes requres careful sanding disk positioning which might not be possible with an unpowered sanding disk.

I might vary the disk speed considerably for various surfaces - more difficult or not possible without a motorized drive. And the powered sander is occasionally nice for finishing the bottom off the lathe and for other woodworking tasks.

(BTW, I think I do more sanding by hand with lathe stopped than with the disk - I find this necessary both to get a better final surface with fine grit, and to be able to follow the grain and reduce subsurface damage from coarser grits. If you cause such damage with coarse paper, it is very difficult to remove it later with finer paper.)

JKJ in East TN