Sanding dark wood with sapwood?

[jdmyers4]

Question: how do you sand a dark wood, such as desert ironwood, that has lighter areas of sapwood and retain the light color of the sapwood? The darker color sawdust will contaminate the surface of the lighter sapwood - making it a muddy color.

 

[DCBluesman]

Sanding sealer will minimize the transfer. Either thinned lacquer or thin CA would be my recommendation.

 

[artistwood]

i use a very fine scotchbright, sanding with the grain to eliminate the overlap of colors. wipe with the grain with clean papertowel, then, 3 coats thin ca and sand as usual starting with 600 grit paper. i have the overlap of color problem on some of the carvings i do and also on pens. this has worked on both. ......bear

 

[kirkfranks]

Sandpaper held to the bottom of the blank (the normal safe method) with the right hand. Compressed air blower shooting off the sawdust from the top of the blank with the left hand.
This helps keep the sawdust from getting rubbed back into the grain.

This is my method. I am sure someone else uses reversed hands:wink:

 

[RussFairfield]

The problem from having both heart and sapwood in the same piece is greater than the color difference. The two areas of the tree have a difference of movement with changes in humidity. Since all pens will move towards a lower moisture content with age, there is a greater probability that the pen barrel will crack because of that difference.

 

[jdmyers4]

Russ, doesn't the finish protect against most moisture absorption?

 

[tim self]

I'm not Russ but will interject here. The other night I left my pen roll in the truck with the windows down. All pens had CA finish 4-5 coats. WELL, it rained that night. Had to refinish all the wood pens. The wood WILL absorb moisture.

 

[GouletPens]

After sanding, use acetone to rub down the wood before finishing...it will help out a lot in getting the dust off. Do this in conjunction with the air blower method and you're good.