Sanding - The Woodturner's Friend and Enemy

Once a piece of wood has made it around and around the lathe, it is time to sand it before the finish goes on. Sanding is one of those things that wood turners assume someone must like to do, but not them. Still it is something that we all go through so it should be made as safe as possible.

The dust that a lathe can kick up is incredible, especially with dry, spalted wood. While turning mostly shavings are made and these are too large to be a problem for a person's lungs. Their weight quickly takes them to the floor and their size prevents them being a breathing problem anyway. Sanding dust, on the other hand, can be extremely small in size, especially as higher grits are used.

This dust may stay in the air for a long time and is easily breathed into the lungs. While allergies can certainly be a problem, for most the difficulty is the layering of the dust on the surface of the lungs causing long term breathing problems. The solutions are threefold.

First of all we start at the source, the wood. Make the need for sanding as limited as possible by getting the best surface from the tool. A final sharpening before the final cut will help as will making that cut gentle and fairly slow so as to reduce tearing of the wood.

In the lower grits especially some wood turners like to use paste wax on the wood or the paper so as to catch a lot of the dust. This needs to be avoided in the higher grits as left over wax may interfere with the final finish.

Second there is the opportunity to remove the dust from the shop before it gets to the lungs. Dust collectors are designed to extract down to incredibly tiny particles. They may be ceiling mounted or floor models. Many if not most have a noise problem but hearing protection is easy to use.

Third is the use of a sanding mask. While there are many on the market, it is best to have one with a rating of N95. This means it has an efficiency rating of 95% for particles 0.3 microns and larger and is not resistant to oil (the N). As far as woodturners are concerned, this will take care of the breathing dust problem. Clean up is another matter

Remember that you have only one set of lungs and safety is an individual concern. Turning wood is more fun the longer you can breathe.

Gifts For Woodturners: Things to Consider Before Buying That Present

Your spouse, relative, neighbor or friend is a woodturner, and you are thinking of getting him or her something related to that interest. Getting them a fancy chunk of wood (called a "blank") or a new tool or kit seems like an obvious choice. But before buying that present, here are a few things to consider before getting gifts for woodturners.

What do they turn?

Most turners tend to do one type of turning more than others. For example, some prefer doing spindle turning, making things like chair legs, baseball bats, boxes, or eggs. Others prefer bowls, bowls, bowls. Some do mostly hollow forms, such as vases, urns, and vessels.

Buying a pen kit for a turner who does pens might be ideal, but it wouldn't work for a bowl turner. You actually need special equipment to make pens, so unless you are sure the person has everything else they'd need, and that they'd actually turn it, it's best to skip the pen kit.

How big is their lathe?

Lathes come in several different sizes, from mini lathes, to heavy iron monstrosities. The "swing" is the measurement of the largest diameter piece of wood any particular lathe can accommodate.

A mini lathe has a swing of about 12 inches, and other larger lathes can handle 14, 16 inches, or more. If you get a wood blank for them to turn, you'll need to know what size they can handle.

What is their skill level?

Beginning turners have many failures. My goal, as a beginner, was always, "a finished piece, not a masterpiece." So spending money on tools that they wouldn't even know what to do with is foolish. So is buying wood blanks that are likely to end up as an expensive pile of shavings.

However, if you know they can do spindle turning and have turned a tool handle, for example, you can assume they have the skills to complete a similar project, such as the handle for a cheese knife or ice cream scoop. One of those kits might be a great gift.

Are they purists?

Many turners start out working with wood only. Eventually they may venture into playing around with embellishments, such as stone or metal inlays, carving, coloring, and burning.

If you know for a fact that your turner friend does these things, you might get them something related. Or present them with a book focused on the type of embellishments they enjoy.

Believe me, nothing is more exciting to a wood turner than a related gift. But make sure you consider these factors, so you give gifts for woodturners that are a good use of your hard earned money, and something they will actually be able to make use of.