George said:

No surprises there. Even dry, unless you have an outward taper, the
stuff'll want to stay due to centrifugal forces. One advantage to hollowing
with a pointy gouge is that you already have a path for the shavings - down
the flute. I like to use a pointy gouge for initial space even when I'm
going to transition to the Stewart tool, because it's self-ejecting.

Glad it's not just me having that problem. I'll try that when I *get*
a pointy gouge.

You may find the burnish won't give you all you want. Though you've got wet
fiber, which is easy to compress, it's easily torn away with your wool, so
you may get some artifact as it dries, or as you add a polar solvent like
alcohol. Not to worry, as long as it isn't gross, because it'll sand.

I noticed some of the grain tearing at the pad, so I'm sure that the
reverse happens as well. I also noticed that the time spent smoothing
the piece was basically wasted, as the drying process introduced
artifacts of it's own. It'll need sanding again.

Tips are someone else's mistakes, at best. Urban legend at worst. You're
just going to have to try, and never stop thinking as you weigh options.

I have a tome full of "tips" garnered by making hard-headed mistakes
in my youth. Actually, it's a never ending process. ;-)

Thanks,


Greg G.