Try sanding with a flex shaft. You rest the hand on the toolrest, touch the
hard-back sandpaper to the piece as it rotates, and nothing gets sanded out
of round.

Good observation about coarser grits actually taking more time overall than
starting with a finer grit. It's also species-dependant, with softer woods
cleaning up faster because they've not hardened by heating with the finer
grit you're using to get out those coarse marks.

Since I use the method I do, I am able to vary the angle of sanding in a way
that makes things go faster. For initial sanding on any grit, I sand from
10:30-1:30 on the disk, so that the action is across the grain. I then
change to 8:00-10:00 to minimize those scratches before the next finer grit,
which initially goes across the scratches, of course.

"Ray Sandusky" wrote in message
...
For best results from sanding - start sanding at 120 or 180, then go to
220,
320 and 400 - you will be amazed at the difference! Starting at 60 does 2
things - changes the form that you made and puts a whole lot of scratches
in
the surface that will take you longer to get out than if you started at a
higher grit. Just my humble opinion...