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finishing walnut

Gary Chapman

Gary Chapman

Joined
Mar 3, 2009
Messages
244
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Location
Madison, Indiana
I am having trouble when finish goughing walnut . I keep getting tears in the end grain. I am having to sand and sand and power sand until I am worn out. I tried putting a sharper edge on the gouge, tried using the rougher with a new cutter but still am getting the tearout. Can some give me sone help? I am avoiding using walnut for that reason. Gary:(:(
 
My experience with walnut hasn't been as bad as that. Some of the shapes I make have tear out with just about any wood, and any dry wood will almost always have at least a small amount of it. Guess that's why God invented sand paper (sometimes I have to start with 60 grit!).
 
I avoid or minimize tear out by "sneaking up" on the final turned surface. Often, heavy turning removal can disrupt the grain below the surface and leave quite deep tear out. Try taking several very light passes with a sharp scraper. I keep a bull nosed "negative rake" scraper just for this purpose. It takes very light cuts - cutting all the way. You should then be able to start with 150 grit paper.

When sanding out the inevitable minor tear out, try applying a finish (I use shellac), then sanding. It seems to stiffen the structure which sands more easily. Also if your lathe will reverse, sand in the opposite direction. Even if you don't see the effects of tear out on the sanded surface, it will become apparent when finishing - it will appear a lighter colored areas. I think of these as "bruised" areas. This is mimnimized with the negative rake scraper approach. You can search the web and find descriptions of how to turn any scraper into a negative rake scraper.

Don't give up on walnut - it is a great wood!

Jerry
 
In addition to sanding in the opposite direction, try hand sanding in some other direction. The "best" direction will likely be where the fibers are supported by the wood under them, so they're less likely to lean away. This works particularly well on pieces turned cross-grain, where the grain directions are all over the place.

Sanding sealer also stiffens the wood structure, for improved fiber support.
 
I seldom have any trouble with Walnut. On my hand mirrors which are turned side grain you have 2 areas that tend to tearout. This is the uphill cutting portion of the circle. Since the grain runs sideways if you look at the square piece of wood you will have tearout at about 10 oclock and 4 oclock. As you rotate the wood past the tool you will see that you are cutting down hill with the grain at 2 oclock and 7 oclock and uphill on the 10 and 4 positions.
You have the same problem on a side grain bowl but it varies slightly depending on the shape. On problem woods I will try a cut going the opposite way. Usually the tearout will be gone in the problem areas and if I'm lucky not as bad in the 2 and 7 position.
The best solution has always been to use a freshly sharpened tool. Slow down your feed rate of of the tool so it doesn't force itself through the wood and take a light cut.
Using a tool with a sharper angle helps if it will still rub the bevel in those areas. I have a bow gouge with a 40 degree angle for these cuts. I will sometimes use my spindle gouge which has the same angle. The Hunter tool has a much sharper angle but you have to rub the bevel not scrape, to get the best cut. If you check out my video on Youtube video it will show you how to rub the bevel. The Hunter tool has about a 25 or 30 degree bevel which is why it cuts so clean.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHxV1VkcBPE
Another option is to coat the wood with paste wax and then try the freshly sharpened tool. This works most of the time although I usually have my 40 degree gouge handy and it's faster than grabbing the johnson's paste wax.
 
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