What to use for sanding bowls?

[Ron Hardy]

I have only finished 2 or 3 bowls so far. And so far I've been hand sanding them which has taken longer then I expected and I still have not been able to get the tiny swirls out of the bottom. I have looked at the Sorby Sandmaster, or similar product, as a alternative. What do you guys use to sand your bowls and is the Sandmaster worth the money. I found it on sale for $39
Any help would be appreaciated , I am open to any other suggestions.

Thanks
Ron

[Ron McKinley]

Keep in mind that the Sandmaster, like any passive sander, is not going to do much for the bottom of the bowl since the center or bottom is hardly moving. I recommend power sanding but first watch Mike Mahoney's YouTube video on how to do it right. ..........Ron

[Troy Donson]

Ron, I personally use products from http://www.vinceswoodnwonders.com/ Vince is very knowledgable and helpful, (he answered a ton of my newbie e-mails). His products are what I have been using for the past 18 months or so and I am very happy with the results. He also has an excellent tutorial on his website...

[Bernie Weishapl]

I bought a Harbour Freight angle drill with 2" and 3" wavy sanding discs. I have sanded a lot of bowls with it and it works well.

[Mike Lipke]

I also use the Harbor Freight Right Angle Drill ($30, roughly) and Vince's stuff. Start with 80, 120, 180, 220,320, 400. Bowls come out great.

[George Morris]

i use a passive sander from sanding glove. also power sanding with a dewalt cordless drill. The passive is a great pc of equipment very well built! G

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ron - I use the cheapest 3/8" electric drill I can find and Vince's sanding disks! Trick is to go through all the grits while keeping the drill moving at all times!

[Richard Madison]

Also have a couple of the HF drills, but use a straight drill where ever it will reach to save wear on the right angle drive drills. The first HF drill is about 4 years old and the bearings are pretty sloppy now but it still works. Second one is a backup, bought on sale for about $20. Recall reading a thread wherein most folks said their passive sander stayed in a drawer somewhere. Different strokes for different folks.

[Joseph M Lary]

You can build that passive sander , i was it on the web not sure where , I built 2 you need a bolt, nut a pc of tubing for a spacer, a bearing out of a inline skate wheel pc of 2x4 velcro & a pad. 2 small screws , Ill look for the plan i down loaded.

[Joseph M Lary]

here it is a little vag but you can do it how ever you want, made my handle about 30" long to hold it under my arm in my arnpit for better control with one hand.

[Wilbur Pan]

I've had problems with swirl and scratch marks, but this week I figured out a sanding routine that eliminated that issue for me. For sandpaper, I'm using Norton 3X, cut into suitable sizes, and all the sanding operation was done by hand, and I tried to keep my hand moving back and forth as fast as possible.

First, I cranked up the lathe speed and went at it with the 100 grit paper. I know that this is counter to the usual advice to slow down the lathe speed, but I was looking for speed to get rid of my tool marks, and time was more important to me than scratch marks. I went through quite a bit of 100 grit, but over all the time spent on this stage was less than what I had been doing before.

Second, I sanded the bowl with some more 100 grit with the lathe stopped, mainly along the grain lines in the bowl. This took out most of the circular scratches.

Then I turned the lathe on at a slower speed, and worked my way up through 400 grit. Going from grit to grit was relatively fast here.

Next, I used some sanding sealer on the bowl, I was still able to see a few scratches here and there, mainly due to my not moving my hand back and forth fast enough.

Then I sanded the sanding sealer with 400 grit, and then applied another coat of sanding sealer. I followed that with wax and buffing on the lathe with a paper towel.

This is the best finish I have ever gotten, and I can't see any scratches at all.

I think that what had stopped me from figuring this out before is that somehow I had the idea that I should use equal amounts of sandpaper with each grit. My epiphany came when I realized that when I sharpen my plane blades and chisels, I spend most of the time on my coarse grit waterstone, and relatively little time on the higher grits. So it seemed to me that the same should apply to sanding.

From here on out, I plan to be using about 3-4 times the amount of 100 grit sandpaper compared to the higher grits.

[Jeff Nicol]

Ron, I agree with Steve, Bernie and others get an angle drill for power sanding. Start at the heviest grit neccesary to remove large tearout and any tool marks. As you progress through the grits I do one in reverse and the next in forward. Each time I change direction I switch the drill to the oposite direction so they oppose each other. Once I get to about 220grit you can see if there are any areas that are not being completly cleaned up of tool marks or tear out on end grain. I will then stop the lathe go back a grit and work out the areas that are still problematic. Then turn lathe on and sand out any of the work you havd just done. Work up to the 400grit and see how things look. Every piece of wood is different and some steps may not be needed but it is nice to know them all. Some times a larger grit will be stuck some place in the wood and then become embedded in the proceeding grit and that may be what is causing you to nto be able to get rid of the swirls. So take care to remove all the dust and any loose grit between grit with compressed air. Also if you start with a brand new piece of 120grit to start you should use new or close to new of the next grit and so on. The reason for this is that after a few uses the grit on the disc will degrade and become less sharp and actually cut like a lesser grit. The last thing I do is when I am at the 400grit stage I will wet the piece down to raise the grain a bit and resand with the same disc. This really makes a difference in the final finish. I learned this from another SMC member Greg Haugen when he did a demo for our club, thanks Greg! Then I will take some 600 and do some hand sanding following the grain to finish off. By then you should have a very near perfect surface to apply your finish to and show your great work of art!

Good luck, and time spent preparing the piece for finish is the toughest part of turing!

Jeff

[Dave Ogren]

Another vote for Vince's Wood N Wonder. I also bought his $80.00 sander knock off and am really happy with it. I think that the quarter or about 135 degree is the bigest part of why it works so well. Good luck and happy turning.

Dave

[Thom Sturgill]

I usually start with 120 or 150 on an electric drill. I use a standard 3/8" drill, but if buying new, I would probably buy an angle drill. If that is not getting a good finish I go back to 100 or 120 hand held first with the lathe running and then with the lathe off and rubbing from edge to center to knock off any ridges left by the circular sanding. I have disks up to 320, but 220 and above are likely to be hand held, first with the lathe on low speed and hand moving constantly and then with the lathe off.

I follow up the grains quickly as Wilber says, it takes less time each grade as the first sanding is to level the surface and subsequent sandings are to smooth out the previous levels scratches. I take it up to 400 grit (wet) and apply a sealer made from thinned (1pt Deft-4pt Lacquer Thinner) Deft brush on lacquer. I sand after the first application if the grain is raised, but keep applying until the wood will not take any more. Then re-sand at 400 or 600 grit to remove brush strokes, runs, etc. and start building coats of rattle can lacquer (6-8 or more). Then sand the finish to remove orange peel (400 grit LIGHTLY and dry) and VERY quickly run up through the grits to 4000 or so, using mineral spirits for lubrication, to check if I sanded through (it will leave a dull spot) or scratched too deeply. If needed, respray and wet sand again, usually starting at about 1800. Then buff with White Diamond followed by Don Pencil's PL and apply Ren Wax and hand buff with a soft cloth.
This leaves a glass like, flawless finish. Oh yes, I use a toothbrush to gently clean any crevices that may accumulate white power as needed.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

The 80 grit gouge is my favorite tool. I got the Sandmaster knockoff, and I'll say it marginally works also. I usually take the thing off the handle and chuck it in a drill...... The passive sander does a good finishing job, IMO, but not the heavy stuff. Maybe 220 and up, I use the passive sander.

To keep the heat from bothering you, try a piece of leather in the sandpaper..... From a jacket or similar, not a belt. Well, I guess you can use a belt.