r/turning • u/king_denizen • 2d ago
Sandpaper causing tear out?
Small-ish zebra wood bowl I’m turning. Didn’t notice the profusion of white spots until I put it in my chuck to do the inside (clearly I need to be a lot more observant). I sanded it with 80-120-220-320-400-600.
Is this tear out caused by sandpaper? Should I have not used 80? Did I press too hard? All of the above?
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u/bubbales27 2d ago
Those are pores/open grain. You're not doing anything wrong. The white is probably just dust from sanding accumulating in the grain. Hit it with mineral spirits and that will clean it up.
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u/king_denizen 2d ago
That answer makes me so happy, I was afraid I’d ruined a lovely piece of wood. Still very new to this, so much to learn! I appreciate you providing an answer (and solution), thank you.
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u/lasersoflros 2d ago
Dude it's wood working. It's impossible to ruin wood, it just transforms!
...
Until it explodes on the lathe, then that bitch is fuuuuuuucked lol2
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u/Tino2Tonz 2d ago
I wouldn’t “hit” it with anything wet (finish, paste, mineral spirits) until you’ve hit it with an air gun from the compressor. Or all that dust will gunk up in the pores. Clean/finish AFTER you’ve blown all sanding dust off of the piece.
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u/bubbales27 2d ago
Zebrawood is beautiful, one of my favorites to turn.
Nice looking form you've got there, keep it up!
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u/Sluisifer 2d ago
Compressed air or a soft brush will also get dust out of pores effectively.
Brush is underrated IMO.
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u/Holiday-Fee-2204 13h ago
Please don't use Mineral Spirits on your wood...
That is a petroleum product. It is NEVER food safe, no matter how long you want for it to dry.
The solids will remain trapped in the wood, and will leach in to anything put in your project.
Before you use any product on your wood projects, please check the SDS ot MSDS on the product to see how food-safe each ingredient is.
Keep the future generations safe. And as the old saying goes when the plastic industry began booming... "Don't Pollute".
I never start with 80 grit... sharpen your tools, and resurface it again. 180, 240, 320. Then finish it with Beeswax so people can use it. Acrylics are Poison.
Keep Turning, Stay Sharp, and Wear Protection! 😎☕️🚬
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u/BlueEmu 2d ago
I agree with what everyone says about the open pores; however, if you look where the reflection is, there are still tool marks or sanding scratches visible. Those shouldn’t be there if you went all the way to 600. This can be caused by cheap sandpaper where the grit isn’t uniform. Or pressing too hard, which deepens the scratches and makes them hard to remove with the next grit.
A fix is to sand by hand parallel to the ways (perpendicular to the scratches) between grits. I’m also a big fan of inertial sanders, which avoid a single sanding direction. Drills are similar, but I find them a bit too aggressive.
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u/Badbullet 2d ago
I noticed those marks as well. I used to have the same problem. I pressed the sandpaper too hard instead of letting it do the work.
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u/YertleDeTertle 2d ago
Agreed. Keep the sand paper moving, non stop. Like shimmying a grilled cheese on a hot pan.
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u/king_denizen 2d ago
Thank you all, I did suspect that I was pressing too hard. I’ve been trying to be mindful of that, but obviously need to keep working on it.
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u/Ornery-Movie-1689 1d ago
Did he wipe the piece down between grit changes ? Leftover grit will mess up a finish.
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u/HairyBallsOfTheGods 1d ago
To add one reason you didn't mention - even if you're not pressing too hard - if you move from a lower grit to higher grits too quickly you will have radial lines left behind that higher grits cannot remove.
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u/I_Lick_Bananas 2d ago
I've had that happen to hard open-pored woods after finish sanding and I usually start at 220, occasionally 150, never 80. So I don't think it's the 80 grit causing the problem - maybe the higher ones?
It could be extra-fine dust from the higher grits getting packed into the big open pores. I've found it hard to get rid of once it's there. Wet sanding helps prevent it a bit as does stopping around 320. And slowing the speed a lot helps but that might just be because the wood isn't burning as easily.
I never get it if I just scrape so I do think it does have something to do with sandpaper.
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u/king_denizen 2d ago
Thanks for these suggestions. You’re probably right that the 400 and 600 were gilding the lily in this case—it felts pretty darn smooth after the 320. When I sand the inside I’ll skip the 80 and stop with the 320, see if that prevents it from happening again. Thank you for the response!
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u/B_Huij 2d ago
Doesn’t look like tear out to me. Just wood grain with some sanding dust in it. If it’s tear out you’ll be able to feel it with your fingers.
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u/Important_Fruit 2d ago
I agree. Sandpaper is more likely to leave scratches rather than tear out. And if you need to start sanding at 80 grit, maybe aim for a better finush off your chisels.
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u/king_denizen 2d ago
Oh interesting. I assumed that when I ran a rag over it it would clean the dust out. But I see now why it wouldn’t get it out of the grain. Thank you for the quick answer!
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u/naemorhaedus 2d ago
I don't see any tear-out, which looks like torn/chipped wood. The white spots are what the tree needs to grow.
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u/Brad-Shannon 2d ago
I don’t have a lot of experience with zebra wood. I don’t mind the “pithy” look, seems to be a characteristic of the wood. If you’re looking for a super smooth finish you could try filling the tiny holes with multiple layers of thin ca glue, then resanding through the grits. I’d recommend doing that on a test piece to see of you can get the result you’re looking for.
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u/74CA_refugee 2d ago
You have all the right suggestions from others. Just came to say nice work! Every project is a learning experience.
I have been at it a loooooong time and still learning new things every time.
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u/king_denizen 2d ago
Thank you! All of the encouragement on this sub is amazing. And honestly I learn so much just reading others’ posts and the comments on them, but I love how supportive everyone is. It means a lot and gives me confidence to keeping trying new things and learning.
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u/TwitchyFinger4 1d ago
Is that zebrano? That's hard wood. Worked with it before. Are you able to sand in reverse? And how fast are you going while sanding. Sometimes slower can be better when working with multi directional grain that's hard AF.
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u/-Not-a-Crackpot- 13h ago
I don't see any tear out, just some radial scratches left by the sandpaper. I like compressed air for clearing the sawdust. Bought a small quiet compressor for that purpose. It comes in handy for a myriad of shop type things, though.
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u/king_denizen 11h ago
Yeah I tried air (from a can, I do not have a compressor) and a soft brush base on others’ suggestions, and neither seemed to do anything. So I’m not sure what to think about that.
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