Sanding contrasting woods

[EricRN]

I’ve had issues with maple when I pair it with paydays or ebony and try to sand. The color of the parfait or ebony bleeds over onto the maple. Any ideas how to fix this? I’m thinking maybe I invest in a good card scraper and use that rather than the high grit sand paper? I want to make a box with some nice contrasting inlay.

 

[monophoto]

I've had the same problem.

One suggestion that I've seen is to wipe on a coat of shellac sanding sealer before starting the sanding process. Supposedly, that seals the pores in the wood and prevents sanding dust from penetrating.

But I will quickly add that I'm not an expert on this subject, and I would love to hear other suggestions.

 

[jttheclockman]

Evidently this is a project that is not going on a lathe. You are on the right path when you mentioned card scraper. As with turning and using a skew to get to final grit, a card scrapper sharpened properly will do well on flat work. I am not a fan of sealing woods and then sanding.

 

[EricRN]

Sorry. Meant to say padauk not “paydays” or “parfait” in my original post. Auto correct got me. Thanks for the tips. Would love to hear any other suggestions folks have.

 

[mark james]

Sorry. Meant to say padauk not “paydays” or “parfait” in my original post. Auto correct got me. Thanks for the tips. Would love to hear any other suggestions folks have.

Issues with Padauk/Maple sound familiar and makes sense. I actually have had good success with Myland's Sanding Sealer - it is intended for this! Your experience may be different than mine which is pen scale based.

These are small scale Padauk and Maple - and Sanding sealer, and no bleed-out.:

 

[Penchant 4]

In complete agreement with Mr. James.

 

[Dale Lynch]

Yep, no reason why it wouldn't scale up.

 

[mobyturns]

Pretty good advice so far. Sanding dust is different to extractives pulled with a solvent.

One thing I will mention is that any wipe on sealer based upon a "solvent" will always have the potential to draw the extractives from timbers like Padauk / Nara / New Guinea Rosewood / Amboyna.

 

[monophoto]

Pretty good advice so far. Sanding dust is different to extractives pulled with a solvent.

One thing I will mention is that any wipe on sealer based upon a "solvent" will always have the potential to draw the extractives from timbers like Padauk / Nara / New Guinea Rosewood / Amboyna.

This is quite true. A way to avoid the problem is to use a spray sealer rather than a wipe-on sealer.

 

[jttheclockman]

If I were to use a sealer than it would be a spray on sealer with very light coats especially at the beginning. I have seen sealers cause running of colors of woods especially Paduk because the tannins in them. But good luck. Show us the piece when done. Love to see it.

 

[RunnerVince]

I’ve had issues with maple when I pair it with paydays or ebony and try to sand. The color of the parfait or ebony bleeds over onto the maple. Any ideas how to fix this? I’m thinking maybe I invest in a good card scraper and use that rather than the high grit sand paper? I want to make a box with some nice contrasting inlay.

I just finished a pen in maple and padauk, and I am in the "use a sharp skew chisel" camp. I used a freshly sharpened (not just honed) skew, took super light cuts, and took my time, then went straight to finishing, with no sanding. The pen turned out great.