Need advice on sanding/finishing light woods

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Blind_Squirrel

Blind_Squirrel

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When I sand/finish light woods like oak, cherry, and maple many of the pens turn out looking dirty. I wipe down the blanks after every grit/mesh with a paper towel, but I still get dirt sucked onto/into the wood :(

What can I do to keep light woods from looking/being dirty?
 
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Scott,
It sounds like you are dragging the metal dust from the bushing back onto the wood while you are sanding. Not that I have ever done such a thing :(
Sand towards the bushing...
And wipe it often with some denatured alcohol.
Harry
 
Are you sanding at a high speed?? Does the paper get hot when you are sanding? It could be that you are melting the adhesive that holds the grit to the paper backing. This can be a problem if you are using the black wet/dry paper for the finer grits. MicroMesh also melts at high speeds because of the heat.

A lot of times we blame the metal from the bushings when the real culprit is heat from sanding too fast.
 
I have done this and still do from time to time, you are sanding the bushings and pulling the grit and metal shavings on to your pen, when I see this happening, I go back up a grit and resand again and sometimes put blue painters tape on the bushings to keep the pen clean as I sand. good luck Howard[:D]
 
Thanks for the inputs!

Russ, I sand at the slowest speed that I can. I found it to be much better all around. It is most likley that I am dragging metal onto the pen. Thanks everyone!
 
You outa try lite woods and buff brass on them like I do for pipe tqampers ! I have found # 1 have cleaN HANDS WHEN WORKING WITH THEM # 2 SEAL some way so it it being dirt don't get in the wood befor you start to handle it !! But if you don't a good coat of wax when done a clean them up a lot ...Thou not always I have started using CA finish to keep grime out and now have v ery little trouble and don't have to do much clean up ..And I do dozens a tampers a month a LOT in very lite color woods and brass polishing on them IS dirty !! so much so I at times use masking tape around edges that the dust can get on and again I wash my hands a LOT !!!Iam very new to pens BUT not turning wood and this has helped me keep my tampers clean ... !!! Pens should be much eaqsier as there is NO brass to buff out on the finished product ...I put a thin coat nail polish on my bushings to keep from draging dust from them on lite colored wood for pens !! seems to work fine !!! BUT I am so new at pens Iam tryng a LOT a NEW things !! my advice is from a KNOW very little newbie ME about pens ! :O)
 
Surprised no one suggested wiping with denatured alcohol to clean. Many here do that, I do when I feel necessary. A wet cloth or paper towel is fine also but it does raise the grain and requires going back to git-go with sanding. Not a bad thing but time consuming. You mention oak. For pens, I avoid certain open grain woods like oak, hickory, some walnuts, etc. because they are hard to finish and do pick up dust easily.
 
I'm with Pipes.

I also seal the wood before final sanding using thin CA. Of course I also do most that was mentioned like; wiping with DNA, clean hands, sand at slow speed and I also use light colored sandpaper.

I handle voids in burls easy enough that open grain is no issue to me. CA takes care of it easily.
 
For coarse grained woods, my mantra is "seal early and seal often." For oak or padauk (along with others) that means sealing before I start sanding. For tight grained woods, like maple, I start after 400 grit. BTW, nothing I make gets sealed less than twice. It just gives a nice surface to begin working with.
 
Thanks for the advice!

My wife wants me to turn an oak European for a co-workers husband that just received a big promotion. I am off to put all of this advice to use. [8D]
 
I use only Finkat sandpaper that I get from Craft Supply. In addition to being a great paper the 600 grit is not black. I sand with 400 and 600 before putting CA on for my finish so if you sand higher for a different finish then I am not sure how is the best way to do this. By the way, I sand at high speeds and with this paper it is never a problem, even with Holly.
 
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