Grey/silver-ish bands when sanding

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LagniappeRob

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I've apparently started doing something wrong... A couple of pens lately with lighter wood have grey bands in them. So as you turn them by hand on the lathe, there will be a lengthwise grey band then natural color, then grey, etc. One to three bands on a barrel. I have a Kauri blank on there now and it did it, darker than the last (Ambrosia Maple which had almost a silver color band to it).

I don't know what I've done or not done to suddenly start getting these (last couple of weeks). I'm blowing the blanks with compressed air nozzle between grits. Tried different sandpaper. Tried using DNA to clean them. To get rid of them I have to re-cut them slightly. But they'd come back again when sanding.

Any thoughts? TIA! Rob
 
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Charlie_W

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Could you be sanding onto the bushings and transferring that onto the blank? The color sounds right. Are these segmented with aluminum? Lengthwise sanding after rotational sanding?
 
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Justturnin

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Houston, Tx
Try sealing the wood with a couple of coats of this before sanding. This will seal it up so that metal waste cant get in there, or at least make it work harder to get in there.
 

LagniappeRob

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I try not to hit the bushings. I may pull them off, and sand, and just check final sizing with the calipers.

The compressor is pretty low end, twin tube. I guess it could be. How would I stop it, other than buying another compressor? I'll pick up a new brush on the way home. Seems like you'd want stiff over soft, but I'll take your word for it. (Y'all have been doing this longer than me.)

Think I'll pick up some sanding sealer too... I need some for the engraved IAP blank I hadn't finished yet. Since I'll already be at the hardware store, I might as well finally remember to get some.

Thanks for the suggestions. I wasn't having this problem before, so I'm not sure what I changed...
 

KenV

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Rob --

If the above do not work, think about your tool technique. You may be "bruising" the wood. That generally happens when forcing the tool, and the bevel, and especially the heel of the bevel burnishes/ compresses the wood. It can happen when pushing a tool that " could be sharper".

Bowl turners can get this trying to turn the corner with the incorrect bevel angle for the radius of the curve.
 
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LagniappeRob

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New Orleans, LA
Ok so at lunch I went across the street to home depot and got a couple new brushes and some sanding sealer. Talked to Cap'n Eddie, and stopping at his house on my way home tonight and picking up one of his carbide tools. Hopefully these will nip this in the bud. Thanks
 
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