I'm an amateur. I'm not a production turner. I hold my sandpaper by hand, for
sanding while the project is turning.

To avoid really hot hands and fingers, and get a bit more uniform pressure on
the turning object, I use a pad or wad or ball of newspaper. Make a
manageable-sized wad of crumpled newspaper and use it as your backing or
support for that piece of sandpaper you have been using for sanding your
bowls or spindles. You will have to use both hands - one to manipulate the
newspaper wad, and the other to hold the sandpaper in place, as you move
around your project.

You'll get more uniform pressure on the sandpaper - not just the places where
your fingertips or knuckles were bearing down on the paper, before. No more
hot hands.

Maybe not so good in tight places or sharp surface features like beads and
grooves - but great for most other turned surface shapes.

Don't use wadded up fabric - it will grab and take fingers along for the
ride. Newspaper will just shred or tear and let go.

Really crumple the newspaper and work it and flex it and crumple it again,
making your wad more flexible and able to conform to your work surface shape.

This may be old hat for many of you, but a recent discovery for me. I like
it.
tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.

In message . net, tom
koehler writes
To avoid really hot hands and fingers, and get a bit more uniform pressure on
the turning object, I use a pad or wad or ball of newspaper. Make a
manageable-sized wad of crumpled newspaper and use it as your backing or
support for that piece of sandpaper you have been using for sanding your
bowls or spindles. You will have to use both hands - one to manipulate the
newspaper wad, and the other to hold the sandpaper in place, as you move
around your project.

Tom, I had always understood that if the paper in your fingers is too
hot, you were overdoing it and needed to back off.. Do you still find
the heat issue, or does your "ball" compress so that you can not press
too hard ?

--
John

Sanding should be done at slow rpms, in the 500 or less range, it just
works better. Add to that, higher speeds and more pressure will
generate more heat, and cause the wood to crack. As far as sanding
pads, an old flip flop works great, or different densities of foam
work great to back the abrasives. I guess news paper will work, but
doesn't give a very uniform backing.
robo hippy



On Mar 15, 2:18*pm, John wrote:
In message . net, tom
koehler writesTo avoid really hot hands and fingers, and get a bit more uniform pressure on
the turning object, I use a pad or wad or ball of newspaper. Make a
manageable-sized wad of crumpled newspaper and use it as your backing or
support for that piece of sandpaper you have been using for sanding your
bowls or spindles. You will have to use both hands - one to manipulate the
newspaper wad, and the other to hold the sandpaper in place, as you move
around your project.

Tom, I had always understood that if the paper in your fingers is too
hot, you were overdoing it and needed to back off.. Do you still find
the heat issue, or does your "ball" compress so that you can not press
too hard ?

--
John

On Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:33:12 -0500, robo hippy wrote
(in message
):

Sanding should be done at slow rpms, in the 500 or less range, it just
works better. Add to that, higher speeds and more pressure will
generate more heat, and cause the wood to crack. As far as sanding
pads, an old flip flop works great, or different densities of foam
work great to back the abrasives. I guess news paper will work, but
doesn't give a very uniform backing.
robo hippy



You are right, of course, about the speed, and I do use slow speed when
sanding my work. I mentioned the crumpled wad of newspaper as a handy
expedient - I don't have any bits of foam or old flip-flops on hand at the
moment, but I do have lots of newspaper. You are also right that a wad of
crumpled newspaper likely won't give the uniform pressure that a foam pad
will - but it is more uniform pressure than my fingers could provide, and the
paper is always available and very cheap.
tom koehler

--
I will find a way or make one.

Charlie just said it better, but I'll add my 2cents for the 'annoyance
factor'.

I understand that sanding at higher rpm with greater pressure makes for
more heat and that heat causes cracks. Forgetting that (which of course
isn't realistic) I _think I find that fast sanding with less pressure
produces a 'smoother' surface than slow, but may produce more circular
'scratch lines'.


I also 'think' I find that cutting with gouge or skew at high rpm
produces a smoother surface than slow. Maybe all I'm doing is laying the
grain to a greater degree at high speed than low. Wax or oil stiffens
the fibers and dampening with water raises the grain. Both help prevent
burnishing the fibers instead of cutting them and like lather for
shaving my beard makes for a smoother cut, but next day the whiskers and
wood fibers will rise again.


As I understand it, proper sanding is a cutting procedure as with skew
or gouge. The consequences of cheap abrasives with dull or poorly
uniform and distributed grits are akin to dull tools and excess sanding
pressure is somewhat like excess pressure on the bevel of a skew or
gouge. Sanding materials are called abrasives, but do we want to abraid
or rub or polish our wood with sand paper or should we leave that for
metal workers or buffing?


I think that if sandpaper is another tool for cutting wood, then tool
selection, edges, bevels, timbers, degree of drying, technque, etc. that
apply to cutting tools also apply to sandpaper. Speed and pressure are
important in sanding wood turnings, but there are many other things to
consider, reverse spin, powered abrasives, etc. Sort of like the things
we discuss re grinding and sharpening steel.


I'm often wrong, maybe we woodturners should sometimes abraid, polish,
rub, and burnish the spinning wood with abrasives that aren't as sharp
as they could be. I don't know, but I admit to sometimes using worn out
sandpaper.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

On Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:18:36 -0500, John wrote
(in message ):

In message . net, tom
koehler writes
To avoid really hot hands and fingers, and get a bit more uniform pressure
on
the turning object, I use a pad or wad or ball of newspaper. Make a
manageable-sized wad of crumpled newspaper and use it as your backing or
support for that piece of sandpaper you have been using for sanding your
bowls or spindles. You will have to use both hands - one to manipulate the
newspaper wad, and the other to hold the sandpaper in place, as you move
around your project.

Tom, I had always understood that if the paper in your fingers is too
hot, you were overdoing it and needed to back off.. Do you still find
the heat issue, or does your "ball" compress so that you can not press
too hard ?



I check the wood for temperature issues, and so far have not been alarmed.
Y'know, the sandpaper only has to get up to about 140-150 degrees and it is
too hot to hang onto for any great length of time. Yes, there is enough
compression in the wad of paper, I think, to keep me from putting too much
pressure on the work. In any case, I use just enough pressure to keep the
sawdust flowing nicely.
tom koehler


--
I will find a way or make one.

tom koehler wrote:
I'm an amateur. I'm not a production turner. I hold my sandpaper by hand, for
sanding while the project is turning.

To avoid really hot hands and fingers, and get a bit more uniform pressure on
the turning object, I use a pad or wad or ball of newspaper. Make a
manageable-sized wad of crumpled newspaper and use it as your backing or
support for that piece of sandpaper you have been using for sanding your
bowls or spindles. You will have to use both hands - one to manipulate the
newspaper wad, and the other to hold the sandpaper in place, as you move
around your project.

You'll get more uniform pressure on the sandpaper - not just the places where
your fingertips or knuckles were bearing down on the paper, before. No more
hot hands.

Maybe not so good in tight places or sharp surface features like beads and
grooves - but great for most other turned surface shapes.

Don't use wadded up fabric - it will grab and take fingers along for the
ride. Newspaper will just shred or tear and let go.

Really crumple the newspaper and work it and flex it and crumple it again,
making your wad more flexible and able to conform to your work surface shape.

This may be old hat for many of you, but a recent discovery for me. I like
it.
tom koehler


That is what this group is about: sharing ideas and brainstorming. I
couldn't use a two-handed method myself, because with my left hand I
hold the dust collector hose to catch most of that dust I'm making.

--
Gerald Ross
Cochran, GA

How do you get holy water?... Boil the
hell out of it!

If your fingers get hot - the wood is getting hot too. That can
cause small surface checking. And if you press hard you start
loading up the paper, which then stops cutting - and starts
burnishing the wood - compressing the grain - which WILL spring
back as the wood absorbs moisture - which it WILL do.

Hand sanding also leaves parallel scratches and even fine parallel
scratches can still be seen.

A turning club member who puts amazing finishes on his pieces
offered this sage advice - "Sand as if the paper was free". By
that he meant - use a new piece of sand paper BEFORE it begins
to load up.

If you also do flat work, you'll note that finish sanding is typically
done with a random orbital sander (ROS). Auto detailers use
them as well on car finishes. There are rotating head hand
sanders that do the same thing - with velcro for quick change.

Gerald,
If I just have the hose for dust collecting, I use a bungee cord
around it, and hook both ends onto the lathe bed. With the Jet mini, I
use the bendable arm lamp that comse on the lathe to wrap around the
hose (that lamp is worthless otherwise). Otherwise, especially on
bowls, I use a hood.
robo hippy

On Mar 16, 9:23*am, charlieb wrote:
If your fingers get hot - the wood is getting hot too. *That can
cause small surface checking. *And if you press hard you start
loading up the paper, which then stops cutting - and starts
burnishing the wood - compressing the grain - which WILL spring
back as the wood absorbs moisture - which it WILL do.

Hand sanding also leaves parallel scratches and even fine parallel
scratches can still be seen.

A turning club member who puts amazing finishes on his pieces
offered this sage advice - "Sand as if the paper was free". *By
that he meant - use a new piece of sand paper BEFORE it begins
to load up.

If you also do flat work, you'll note that finish sanding is typically
done with a random orbital sander (ROS). *Auto detailers use
them as well on car finishes. *There are rotating head hand
sanders that do the same thing - with velcro for quick change.