sanding laminated dark/white wood

[ed4copies]

I have several successfully laminated maple & purpleheart, bloodwood or even walnut pen blanks. However, once they are turned, the dark colors stain the maple in the sanding process.

Is there a better way (speed, wet/dry or some other combination) to keep the maple a pure white?

 

[darbytee]

Ed, the best advice I got about dark colors bleeding into light colors was to wipe down the blanks between each grit with mineral spirits. It takes a little longer but it seems to do the job.

 

[DCBluesman]

Another option is using compressed air to clean the blanks as you are sanding. If you wait until the end, the moisture content of the darker woods will cause the maple to have been dyed, rather than simply have dark sawdust on them.

 

[JimGo]

Could you rough-turn the blanks, use masking tape to cover over the Maple, sand down the dark wood, then remove the tape and sand the Maple? Obviously, this will only work on certain kinds of laminations, but it was a thought.

 

[Old Griz]

I found that lacquer thinner (Denatured alcohol) works better than mineral spirits and dries faster...

 

[write-n-style]

This is where using a skew has it's advantages.
After turning(AND BEFORE) any sanding apply a coat of thin CA.
I have found this to stop the migrating of colors from dark woods to light.It also helps with the problem of the bushings staining on light wood.

 

[woodguy1975]

Also, if you are going to use a CA finish you don't have to sand the wood so fine. As long as you only sand to 220 grit you can prevent the contamination of the darker wood into the lighter wood. I learned this when I was making mallets from Bloodwood and maple. Sand to 220 lengthwise with the lathe off and apply the CA. You won't get any contamination of you are careful.

John

 

[ed4copies]

Thanks to one and all!!!

I look forward to trying these ideas, but I have a few orders to fill, and a show this weekend, so it won't be for a while.

Thanks again!

 

[Tom McMillan]

I've had pretty good luck with 2 colored pens. I use different pieces of sandpaper for the 2 woods, and I have sanded to 12,000 on several recently before applying a sanding sealer then CA (I don't wipe them down with denatured alcohol). I haven't had a problem with one wood staining the other if I'm careful---I've done a lot of Bloodwood with maple and recently Bloodwood with BOW and purpleheart with BOW (and even have done Bloodwood with holly).

 

[jdavis]

We use two pieces of sandpaperand do not wipe between grits. Not having many problems with bleeding.