Hello from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
B

Barknark65

Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2026
Messages
1
Location
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
I am very new to perturbing and hope to pick up some good tips on this site.

I have a Nova Midi Lathe with reverse for sanding. I recently purchased a beginners kit from William Wood Wright with a 7mm mandrel.

I have a question for the group. Do you sand in both directions when finishing the pen and do you sand with the grain when the lathe is stopped??

Thanks
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Hello from the beaches of NJ!

I have a larger Nova lathe and only rarely put it in reverse (be careful if reversing a lathe mounted chuck, it can come off the lathe during the reverse spin. You MUST lock the chuck down with the safety screw if spinning it in reverse to prevent this). I sand at medium slow speeds with the full complement of sanding grits, usually starting around 320 or higher depending on the surface of the blank. When I am ready to switch to the next finer grit, I stop the lathe and sand horizontally (headstock to tailstock) around the entire blank to eliminate any circular scratches. I then wipe the blank with a clean rag.

I then go to the next finer grit and repeat.

Many people choose to reverse the lathe for dust collection - reversing tends to drive the dust to rear mounted vacuum input, allowing it to be more efficient. I personally haven't noticed any advantage to reversing the spin for any other reason and choose not to do it.

Have fun!!

Kevin
 
Barknark65 said:
I have a question for the group. Do you sand in both directions when finishing the pen and do you sand with the grain when the lathe is stopped??

Thanks
Click to expand...
Welcome Dave, Yes, Sand both while the lathe is turning, and with the length of the blank with the lathe stopped. When switching grits, wipe the blank and sandpaper with denatured alcohol moistened paper towel. This removes any loose grit and prevents the coarser grit particles from getting onto the finer grits.
 
Welcome aboard Dave

Sanding and finishes are very personal things. It's known here, that if you ask 5 pen makers how to apply a finish, you will get 9 responses.

I don't often run the lathe in reverse. I use Zona polishing paper, spinning, and the stop the lathe and sand laterally to remove the radial marks.

Sometimes with a particularly grainy piece of wood, I will apply my CA finish in both forward and reverse. I find it fills the grain better.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom