Sanding Lettering - mops and other options - plus a pattern background question

Attached is my 2nd carving (just got my machine yesterday). I wanted to test out lettering details, so I made a plaque with one of my favorite quotes. Turned out GREAT - but I do have a lot of fraying on there. I know the letters are very deep, and in the future I know I don't need to go that far - lesson learned. That said, I have a couple quick questions I hope you folks may be able to assist with:

1) To help with the roughness, especially around the lettering - I understand that a mop is one option. Is it the BEST option though, and what other options short of hand-sanding would I have? I looked in the store here and on amazon - the mops on amazon look to be very different, and the ones here seem to be a bit pricey. Any advice would be very helpful!

2) So I created a light pattern as a background to the lettering. If you look you can see around the "frame" that there are lines digging down which lead to the diamond pattern corners. How can I avoid that in the future?

Thank you so much in advance for any help you're willing to give this new guy.

-Don

Attachment 87290

Looks like your off and running here. I notice that there seems to be no draft used which rounds the edges, which should help with the roughness. I found while carving some really nice looking fire wood that I should rotate the project , so I can see it from different angles to help me see the heights of the carvings and how they compare to each other. Harder woods and sharp bits also help with the break out and fuzz effect. Sanding mops are great way to clean up and remove the the fuzz effect. LHR sells them here and there are many different ones out there to choose from. H F has a few that seem to work well. They have different grits. I mount them in a drill press and just hold the carve up to them. They look like a round ball of scotch brite pads. This is more personal choice of what you want to get out of the sanding device. The second issue is you ran the background right to the edge of a deep carve with strait edges on the carve region causing the bit to hit and carve the sides. Try playing with the feather feature. The carve region should be more shallow with a feather to taper it back a bit, so the bit does not hit the edge.

Thanks for the response, Mugsowner! I'm not sure what "H F" is - another site I guess?

I was using a very hard walnut for this, and the bit is brand new but for one other carve that I posted in another thread. The depth was definitely part of the problem, I'm sure.

Good point on the carve, I wasn't thinking about it being an angled bit and that digging into the wall. I'll try to taper that in the future.

Thanks again!

-Don

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PghDrake

Thanks for the response, Mugsowner! I'm not sure what "H F" is - another site I guess?

I was using a very hard walnut for this, and the bit is brand new but for one other carve that I posted in another thread. The depth was definitely part of the problem, I'm sure.

Good point on the carve, I wasn't thinking about it being an angled bit and that digging into the wall. I'll try to taper that in the future.

Thanks again!

-Don

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I imagine he means Harbor Freight.

Mike

Yeah, that's the place

OK Thanks folks - I did go to Harbor Freight at lunch today and found they had 2 kind as described for $9.99 each. I grabbed the one that says 400 Grit, which sounds super high but it feels pretty rough and abrasive to the touch so I figured that may be enough for simple fraying. Hopefully I can use it gently enough to work with the exposed lettering without breaking it off, but so far I've really only done test pieces so if it does then it's a lesson learned.

-Don

Update: Just an FYI, the 400 Grit sanding ball at Harbor Freight did seem to help, but on lighter wood it will leave green marks behind. I have another one I ordered from Amazon for around $5 I think that is blue, I'll test that one out too. Meanwhile I think I'm just going to pick up a mop from Carvewright, I'm sure those are probably much better for what I need. Thanks again!

Just a reminder from my own experience. be aware when assembling and using the dust mop that you may have to run it in reverse as I had a sanding strip snowstorm when i ran it the wrong direction and it loosened the nut holding it together after I finished laughing at myself i reassembled it and it works great!

Lighter pressure may help the color bleed. I have use both the H F balls with great success. Most folks like to lean into thier sanding devices a bit to hard, hoping for faster results. I found that this is a slower job to get a better finish.