Sanding issue

[musicman]

Hey Penturners,
I'm attaching a picture of a piece of white limba that while in the middle of my sanding, noticed spots or maybe tiny craters. I started with 120 grit, then 150, 180, 220, 320. At that point, I stopped and noticed this issue. I sanded with the lathe at 645 rpms, and sanded with the grain when the lathe was turned off. I used new sand paper. I had this similar issue with a piece of tiger wood I just worked on also. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dehn0045]

Looks like pores to me - blank appears to be crosscut (or diagonal). You can use a little denatured alcohol on a paper towel to clean the dust out of the pores if you want, or just leave it like it is. No problem with sanding or sandpaper.

Here is a link from HobbitHouseInc that shows endgrain photos of Limba.

limba

www.hobbithouseinc.com

Different woods have different pore structures

growth rings

discussion of growth rings in trees

www.hobbithouseinc.com

 

[monophoto]

Agree with Sam - it looks like end-grain pores (similar to oak), but I'm not familiar with that timber.

 

[musicman]

Looks like pores to me - blank appears to be crosscut (or diagonal). You can use a little denatured alcohol on a paper towel to clean the dust out of the pores if you want, or just leave it like it is. No problem with sanding or sandpaper.

Here is a link from HobbitHouseInc that shows endgrain photos of Limba.

limba

www.hobbithouseinc.com

Different woods have different pore structures

growth rings

discussion of growth rings in trees

www.hobbithouseinc.com

That makes perfect sense. Is there anyway to hide or remove the pores, or is that just part of that type of wood?

 

[leehljp]

Clean it with denatured alcohol, two or three coats of medium or thick CA and let it cure and then lightly sand or use a scraper. IF this were flat wood for woodworking projects, I would recommend a coating of dewaxed shellac or a couple of coats of sanding sealer. With large pores, it often takes more coats. For pens, Medium or Thick CA.

 

[monophoto]

End-grain pores are one of the characteristics of the wood.

If end-grain pores bother you, then you need to find a way deemphasize the end-grain whatever you are making. My desk is solid oak, and the end-grain is disguised by an applied edge banding that replaces the end-grain with side grain. When turning, one option is to design the turning so as to minimize the amount of end-grain that is visible, perhaps by tapering the end so that the end-grail blends into side grain. Or you could do a glue up that covers the end grain with side grain. Or you can make the end-grain a feature in the final product - perhaps as in the case of a wine stopper where the end-grain top of the stopper is shaped in a way that draws attention away from the grain pattern in the wood itself.

 

[jttheclockman]

That is characteristics of that wood.