Abrasives

[John Shillabeer]

Are all Woodturning Creekers conservative like me and using good old fashioned sandpaper plus the occasional bit of 0000 steel wool? Perhaps you have tried the more modern alternatives.
Am I missing out by not trying any of the newer synthetic pads and such?
John

[Brian Kent]

I have tried plenty. Keep coming back to sandpapers.

[Don Nicholas]

Be careful with using steel wool, it can very quickly get caught and ripped from your hand.

[Roger Chandler]

I find that I prefer synthetic pads for knocking down the nibs when finish is applied.......I have 4 grits of it, and usually use the gold and white for fine finishes.......the burgundy color and gray color do well for bowls & such with oil finishes.........my pads are made by 3M. I think 0000 steel wool works great, but it does sometimes leave little slivers of the pad in the pores of the wood.........just blow those out with compressed air.

[Reed Gray]

I quit using the steel wool years ago. I would get done with a piece of black walnut, and after wiping down with a rag would see a lot of 'hair' all over the bowl. The grey synthetic pads do the same thing and leave no hair at all. As far as abrasives go, there is a lot of new stuff out on the market. I guess the biggest difference from older abrasives is that the particles are put on to the backing by static electricity, so particle size and orientation is much better. There are plastic type backings now like the blue discs from Vince, which is far better than any paper I have seen. Also, there are ceramic particles which cut better and longer. The Dry Ice discs (Norton I think) have a particle type paper backing. Much more flexible and tear resistant than standard paper backing. Who knows what will come out next.

robo hippy

[Scott Hackler]

I use the grey and white synthetic steel wool pads for the last stage of polishing finials. Really works well at high speed unless you don't monitor the heat produced and it started to melt and grab hold of the finial you just spent 30-45 minutes turning down to nothing diameter....and snaps it off..... Wait... what were we talking about??

[John Keeton]

I sand most by hand, and I use USA 1 sandpaper from Online Industrial Supply. For power sanding, the blue discs from Vince. I use steel wool, but only on finished wood with filled pores - never on raw wood for the reasons stated. For utility bowls, I sand to 320, sometimes 400 and apply an oil finish. For an art pieces with a film finish, I sand to 400. If one has gone thru the grits correctly, that should produce an excellent surface for a gloss finish.

I suppose the synthetic pads are fine, but I just have never had the need.

And, Scott, after a couple of broken finials, I never use anything but a very small piece of sandpaper on finials, sanding up to 2000 on Blackwood, less on other woods if they will be lacquered.

[Marc Himes]

I like Sandpaper and use Vince also for working on unfinished wood. I use Wipe on Poly as my main finish and use 1500-2400 grit micromesh between each coat to get rid of any little particles or irregularities. I tried Steel wool and the synthetic abrasives but they always leave marks or faint lines when I used them so I stick with the other products I mentioned.

[John Shillabeer]

Thanks folks.
Based on your comments, I think I'll try some pads for fine finishing between coats.
BTW, does anyone know of a good source of our sorts of abrasives in Canada?
John

[Thom Sturgill]

If I'm sanding on the lathe, I keep a piece of the grey synthetic wool behind the paper - usually Norton 3X. This helps prevent heat build-up. For power sanding, I like both Vinces disks and the Norton Dry Ice which seem a bit more aggressive than Vince's at the lower grits.

[Michael Stafford]

I am lucky in that I have access to a Klingspor store and I can buy Klingspor gold by the pound. It is a wonderful cloth backed sandpaper. I also use woven pads.

The important thing about using sandpaper is to use it like John Keeton was buying it for you. That is to say, use it one time, perhaps twice and throw it away. Once the grit is dull you are just burnishing the wood and that results in the fibers being turned down which distorts the appearance of the grain and makes it look muddy. Sandpaper is a cutting tool.

The other thing to remember is to not worry about what grit you have to start with. If you have tear out don't try to remove it with 240 grit paper. Use 80 grit or 60 grit to quickly remove the tear out and then work your way up through the grits. The worst thing you can do is try to remove scratches with paper with a grit that is too small which only results in heating up the wood and potentially creating heat checks. Sometimes the best way to remove tear out is to sand it with the lathe stationary. Sometimes wetting the surface with a little water can help remove tear out. Lots of tricks and very few rules so try whatever works. Just be careful sanding. If your fingers get hot you are pushing too hard and not allowing the grit to cut. I also like to back up my paper with a piece of woven pad not so much to protect my fingers from the heat but to eliminate hard spots from where bones are pressing against the wood in places rather than just finger pads.

Me, I was glad when my tool skills improved enough so that I didn't have to start sanding with 24 grit.

[Paul Engle]

I sand up to 400 , then the white 3M pads and then finish (polish) off with brown paper bag ... not on the finishes , just the bare wood.