On Jul 25, 12:57 pm, TWW wrote:
Many years ago I attended a presentation by a guy who wrote on the
psychology of computer programming. He put a picture up on the screen
and asked people to find all the defects. There was a wide range of
numbers from people in the audience but nobody found them all.

The reason I bring this up is I have a problem with noticing torn
endgrain on bowls at least until after I put some finish on when all
the defects often appear out of the blue. Do the experts in this group
use teir fingers to find defects, expert vision or some other magic
techniques? Thanks for the ideas.


I think that probably everyone needs help in locating torn endgrain on
a bowl, especially that which shows up after the finish is applied.

The thing that I've found most helpful it to keep a small spray bottle
with water in it. When you think you've gotten the piece sanded
perfectly, spray a little water on the end grain portion. The water
will make the defects jump out at you and the wetted area will be
easier to sand to get rid of the torn grain.

Incidentally, torn endgrain is best fixed with a very sharp tool if
you have enough meat left in the piece to stand another pass or two.
It often takes a lot of heavy sanding to eliminate torn end grain and
you must start with something like 60 or 80 grit. I the early days of
my turning, I often used 35 or 40 grit to take care of torn grain. You
then have to go through the grits, with each new one removing the
scratches from the previous grit.

Good Luck,

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com