Sanding a once turned bowl

[Brad Adams]

I usually turn bowls from green to finished thickness. For you guys that do this, how do you sand them? Do you let them dry for a few days before sanding? Wet wood will really clog up the sandpaper. It seems that some wood sands better wet than others.

[robert baccus]

I probably wet sand I/2 of my once turned pieces--not that many. Wet sanding goes fast on normally difficult woods--keep a spray bottle handy and a face mask that goes to your toes. Really fairly easy and followed of course by some curing method.

[Reed Gray]

I let it dry first, takes 7 to 10 days and then they are totally dry. Just a lot easier to do for me. Problem is lathe rpm. I had my Robust programmed to go down to 15 to 20 rpm before turning off. Most other lathes turn off at 50 rpm. The older 3520A would go down that low. You just can't keep any abrasive on the wood at any higher speeds. I use a recess, and expand a 4 jaw chuck into it. I have to wiggle it around a bit to get it to mount, but it is good enough for sanding, though I wouldn't want to turn one like that. I do have a clip up on sanding a bowl on You Tube. I explain it a bit more there. Type in robo hippy. If you can't get your lathe to go that slow, then, if you have a 2 or 4 position spindle lock, that can do the job.

robo hippy

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

I wet sand once turned bowls using foam backed abrasives. Several of the normal woodworking supply stores sell it. I sand to 320 then set the bowl aside to dry. Use Robo's tip to keep a spritz bottle next to you. I finish with a pneumatic 2" ROS once the bowl is dry. The trick is to do a really good job with your final tool passes. Resharpen before the final pass and be fussy to avoid a lot of heavy sanding.
faust