mm finishing

[sgimbel]

I am doing a srtaight CA finish on seam rippers. When I MM to 12,000 I get a lot of scratches in them that I don't get in the short pen blanks. Do I also need to sand the long wood length wise like I do with regular sandpaper?

 

[JBCustomPens]

What do the scratches look like? Tiny rings, or kinda diagonal?

Either way, try not to press so hard with mm, and sand lengthwise with all grits up to 1500 or so.

 

[Steve Busey]

Are you wet or dry sanding? I wet sand at about 1000rpm, with some slow side-to-side motion to build up a slurry. Finish off with a good polish.

 

[sgimbel]

They are tiny rings. I didn't think I was pressing very hard and yes it is all wet sanding.

 

[Whaler]

Do you finish off with a plastic polish? If not try Hut Ultra Gloss, Plast X, 3M 09009 or something similar.

 

[sgimbel]

I'm trying to turn it on centers which was recommended by Ken, the inventor, but turning it on centers I can't get it real tight because the one end has a 10mm drill hole and if I try to tighten it down it will crack. So trying plastic polish doesn't work well because it stops spinning with any pressure I put on it.

 

[Monty]

I'm trying to turn it on centers which was recommended by Ken, the inventor, but turning it on centers I can't get it real tight because the one end has a 10mm drill hole and if I try to tighten it down it will crack. So trying plastic polish doesn't work well because it stops spinning with any pressure I put on it.

Just snug the tail stock a hair more to the blank and it should hold without any damage to the blank.

 

[spnemo]

Is your MM nice and clean? If not use a firm toothbrush to clean.

 

[Mac]

I don't use my MM wet.
I also either buff (off of the lathe ) or use hut PP while on the lathe.

 

[ToddMR]

For me personally, stopping the lathe and sanding it length wise on every mm grit helped me a lot when I had an issue like that.