1) Tips for sanding....
- Keep the sandpaper moving around. Don't stay in one spot too long.
- Constantly keep using new (unclogged or used) areas of the sandpaper.
- Light touches. Don't press too hard
- If your fingers are burning, you're doing one of the above wrong.
- Do
NOT, under any circumstances, wear a glove! There's no good excuse for it in the slightest.
- Sweep in and out from the center of the turning (especially on your plate as you have room to do that)
- Use quality sandpaper. It makes a difference!
- Start with a low grit number, take out ALL cutting marks and tearout, etc. before moving on.
- Don't skip grits ... like jumping from 150 to 320 or something like that.
- Don't wrap the sandpaper around a finger or hand or allow it to do it itself. Tear off short sections.
- When you don't feel as much "grab" to the paper, it's dull. Throw it away.
- You can roll it up to get to coves and beads.
- You can put some foam rubber on the backside to help support it and make it get into those coves and beads easier.
- If you have some tearout or othe problem area where the wood fibers are just laying over on you as you sand, try supporting those fibers with CA glue, mineral oil, thinned finish, wax or just whatever is going to be compatible with your final finish to help stiffen and support those fibers as you sand them.- If possible, use the reverse capabilities of your lathe to sand both directions.
- Wipe or blow off the wood after sanding with every grit. The last grit particles are lodged on the wood and you don't want to sand grooves in the wood at the next grit level with those leftovers.
- Try not to round over edges of your wood piece unless they're designed to be rounded.
- Take precautions for your lungs due to the dust.
- Don't get your hands inside a vessel or other tricky area such as bark inclusions or holes, etc. just to sand them. Use something else to reach in there or around those areas for you.
- Heat is the enemy of sanding. It not only hurts your hand (if hand sanding) but also harms the wood and may create heat cracks or scortch marks if you get it too hot.
- Move your tailstock (with sharp center point) way out of the way ... yes, it hurts to stick the back of your hand or elbow with that point!
- and just a whole lot more that others will chime in on or you'll learn with experience like the rest of us did ............
2) That's called a "passive sander". It's alright but not nearly as effective as "power sanding". Power sanding is done with a hand drill and a foam covered attachment fitted into the drill. You can just as easily make one or the other yourself without buying one already made. Both can been seen
here.
Hope this helped,
