bowl sanding

any suggestions on bowl sanding. I am having trouble on the inside bowl making it smooth an free of streaks. hand sanding doesnt seem to work

Hi Frank. Welcome to the forum. I know what you mean about hand sanding bowls. It's the pits, and at least in my case, I've never gotten results I'm happy with.

I use a couple methods on the insides of my bowls. Much of the time, I use a right angle drill and a 2" sanding pad. For problem areas and for finish sanding, I use the same 2" sandpaper disks on a pneumatic random orbital sander. I also have a 3" electric ROS for bigger stuff.

A less expensive, but still workable option is what I call "sandpaper on a stick". That would be tools like the Sorby Sandmaster or the Monster Bowl Sander (I have the Monster version).

Also, the sandpaper you use can make a difference. My current favorite is the blue disks from Vince's Wood 'n Wonders.

I Frank, welcome to the Family!

I do the same as Vaughn, the only thing I'd add is change your paper often, and make sure you are going slow enough, if you sand too fast, IMHO, you create too much heat, this does two things, one, the sandpaper loses its bonding, so the grit falls out, secondly, I find it hardens the surface of the wood, making it difficult to sand at all.

Just my two cents worth, I hope it helps!

Cheers!

Hey Frank! and Welcome
I use a 3" sanding disc on a soft hook & loop pad on a big electric drill. Also a 2" based on the size of the bowl of course. Reversing the drill often and not a lot of pressure seem to help. Good luck!

Good advice from above.

Another way to help is, if you have a reversible lathe, use it.

Light pressure and changing directions (reversing) help you not glase the wood and makes the fibers stand up for a smoother finish.

I do forward for a slow count of twenty, then switch and go the other way.

I keep going back and forth till all of the previous grit marks are gone, then I switch to the next grit.

Hope this helps.

Bruce

Welcome Frank. You have gotten lots of good advice. I pretty much follow Bruce's method but between grits I also use my air compressor and blow the bowl off to make sure it is dust free before starting the next grit. I found that if you don't you can have grit left on the bowl which is not good. I use a angle drill bought from HF and it works well. As Stu said a light touch is in order because the hard you bear down the worse it will get.

I use 3" firm backed hook and loop and sand lightly in both forward and reverse as mentioned. If there are bad areas I lock the chuck in place and sand them down gently and then start the lathe back running slow. I usually use a lathe speed of about 250 give or a take a bit. Sand thru the grits and do not make large jumps as it becomes to difficult to get out the previous marks or you will be sanding to long in one grit to get them out.

One thing I have learned early on is to use good sandpaper.
I have gold and green hook and loop from craft supplies and use them to sand thru the lower grits but when i get up to 220 and more I really like Abranet but its expensive.