George
One of the best things you can do is to sharpen well and often, especially
before that last cut. Make or buy a jig. Making one is a lot cheaper and not
hard. Look for the sharpening section of my web site.

--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com


"Kip" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Mar 15, 8:43?pm, "George" wrote:
I'm a relative newbie to woodturning and I've run into a problem and don't
have my mentor handy to get the solution. Also, I've searched online and
haven't tumbled to the answer.

I'm turning a fairly small walnut bowl, ~4" diam. The turning is all done.
There are rough patches inside the bowl and on the outside separated by
180
degrees, which are clearly due to tearing of the end grain. I've gone over
them with the scraper, and I've sanded. And I've done both procedures
again, but the patches are still there.

I know this is a common problem that must be faced and dealt with, but
obviously I don't know what next to do.

Suggestions?

George

A lot of the tips you have already gotten should help. One other
thing that I have found useful on torn grain is to rub paste wax into
the tear out area then shear scrape or sand. Principle is the same as
the sanding sealer but I like the wax better since there's no waiting
to dry and no solvent fumes. When I'm sanding and see an area where
wax would help, I apply it, sand - and if necessary, wax again- and
then continue sanding with the same grit for a bit before moving on to
finer abrasives.

Hope this helps
Kip Powers
Rogers, AR