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DougM
02-26-2007, 01:50 PM
Howdy all!

I just "finally" finished doing my second project...yes I know very very slow..I was having one of those moments and forgetting about the 3 1/2 inch extra needed when staying under the rollers, and then couldn't figure out for the life of me why my carving was coming out at only 3 inches...sigh. Anyway I have some areas of the carving that are too small for a drumel sanding piece to fit, and I was wondering what else I could use to get into the small areas?

Also not having much experience with stains and finishes could anyone offer some advice? (I am a wood turner mostly doing pens and such so do the finishing on a lath using friction polishes)

Thanks everyone!

Doug

Aaron B
02-26-2007, 01:55 PM
I like putting some blonde shellac on the carvings first so that it will get into the open wood pores a little. That way when I apply the stain the color is more consistent from a non-carved area to a carved area.

Gman_Ind
02-26-2007, 07:22 PM
I hate sanding it is pure drudgery to me. I finally bought a Dremel contour sander and it works fairly well. the Dremel was on sale $49 at a home center, I think it was Menards. I used a router bit I inherited and ended up burning the end grain with a highly detailed profile. I used both a concave and the convex pad and it actually worked. Hint use the next smaller OD pad it will flex into the larger OD and work better than a pad the same dia as the wood profile. It is not magical there still is a job holding onto the sander so it would not skate up and down on the wood. I bought some vibration absorbing gloves because my hands were vibrating long after the machine was off. BTW the gloves are worth the $24 they stopped the tingling in my hands even when I was using an old Porter Cable RO and using 80 grit on hard maple end grain .

rjp736
02-26-2007, 07:24 PM
I use wipe-on-poly. This stuff works great for carvings because it is thin and runs into the hard to get places. Won't use anything else.

Gman_Ind
02-26-2007, 07:31 PM
I spray my polycrylic especially on detailed routings. I have been spraying all day today actually. It is time to go back for another coat.
When I have carvings to finish I hope to be able to just spray as usual.

DougM
02-26-2007, 08:29 PM
Wow thanks for the ideas and info guys!

Once I finish this I'll post it up.

Doug