how do you finish the inside??

neil mackay

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162
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sydney australia
Here a question for the hollow vessel experts and any body else I guess as well
Until recently I have nearly always turned larger vessels ie 1-14" in dia with fairly wide mouths, of which allows me good access for sanding.
But now I have embarked on smaller dias around 4-6" with much smaller openings ie 3/4-1.5" or so.

So here my question, How do you finish off the inside? In particular sanding to a smooth finish?

This has most likely been answered eslewhere. But I am curious if there has been any advancements or ideas how to get it done.

I have a few ideas that I am working on, nothing really to offer up at present
 
At a demo of my club one of our better turners said, on that subject, that he only sands a couple inches down into the vessel. That way other turners can feel down there to see if it really was sanded. :rolleyes: He said that at shows and such only other turners bother to feel in there and look at the bottom to see if the base was finished smooth.
 
Agree with Frank... I only sand as far inside as I can reach with my fingers... then leave the rest unfinished... if you need to sand deeper, I found a set of surgical forceps that I use to hold little pieces of sand paper... you have to watch and make sure you've turned the forceps so that the edges don't gouge the wood...DAMHIKT... I found my forceps at the local flea market...
 
I to sand down to finger feeling deth.........However, I have a couple vessels I have done that have a larger opening so seeing down in them is more apparant so I use a tear drop scrapper and lightly scrape the interior all the way down including the foot area. Very Light is the key......It works well for me..........
Large percentage of the time i sand just inside the opening a it and call it done.
 
My experience with HF is very limited but I have used hemostat forceps to reach inside to sand. You can also find the hemostat forceps that have rings at the end. These rings clamp shut together. This allows you to easily wrap small pieces of sandpaper. I have also seen people use forceps that have bent ringed ends.
 
The last issue of Woodturning Design has an article about sanding sticks that looks to do what you want to do. I don't know how they work, I haven't tried to make any of them yet.:dunno:

Chuck
 
I have a 9" pair of hemostats that will take the paper way down if needed. If I have a hard time cleaning up the inside, I'll 100 grit with those.
 
Like Dan, I start smoothing the inside with a scraper bit if I can. That gets rid of a lot of the tool marks. Then aftr that, like the others, I'll sand as far as I can reach with a finger, although if there is any visible roughness inside, I'll find a way to scrape and sand it away as best I can, too. I've use the hemostat approach, usually with the sandpaper wrapped around a cushion of some sort, like a folded up bit of rag or sponge. I also use 1" or 2" sanding pads on a drill with an 8" shaft extension. The sanding pads are good for getting the visible, but unreachable places.

And I'll respectfully disagree with Frank's club member who doesn't think the base needs to be finished smoothly. I see a lot of non-turner folks at shows turn the pieces over to check out the bottom. I also see quite a few of them feel the insides, too.
 
Thanks for all the replies, as I am looking at doing some piercing on this one I wll have do a bit more sanding than usual. Although I have yet to work out how much piercing I wll be doing and what pattern etc.
 
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