Spittoon 2

Elm is really bad, too, but I finally found a way to do it, and haven't had trouble with it any more. I use an inertia sander, and I start with a very low number sand paper (60 or 80). I go as fast as possible for the bowl I'm turning, reversing directions for each grade of sand paper, and go up to 400 grit. For the finer paper, I sometimes raise the grain, but sometimes, it isn't necessary, and I never get the wood very wet. I hope this helps. I like to turn big, open half-log bowls out of trunk sections of the local trees as I see them being removed. I'm guessing that that's what you're doing.