Great video There is a sixth reason for wet sanding - you hinted at it but didn't give it the attention it deserves. Wet sanding causes wood fibers to stiffen and stand up so that the abrasive can more easily/quickly sut them off to produce a smooth surface. This is a very effective way to deal with torn grain. An issue that I think needs more attention - the interaction between the sanding lubricant and the final finish. I think that has the potential of being a significant problem, and Ive never found a good discussion of the subject.
@@MikePeaceWoodturning There was a good deal of discussion on wet sanding at last week's segmented woodturning symposium in St Louis. One take on it was from a guy who was trained as a French polisher ... he said he never lets sandpaper touch bare wood above 220 grit. After 220, he applies sanding sealer or finish, then moves up the grits wet sanding. Another presenter (Pete Marken) demonstrated his process which involves sanding to no more than 400 grit (dry), then applying finish (up to 10 coats), then wet sanding with micro mesh up to 12000 grit.
I have not seen much about appying sealer before wet sanding but have seen several suggestions for doing so before using a liquid abrasive like Ubeaut EEE and Yorkshire grit. I need to play with that some.
Excellent video, sir, clear and to the point. I've been wet sanding my furniture restoration s. Has been a total game changer. Especially when smoothing out the paint, leaves such a nice sheen and deepens the color. Thanks again!
I am absolutely sold on wet power sanding with walnut oil because it polymerizes and forms its own beautiful finish. I start with a sanding sealer and then sand through the grits in forward and reverse and get amazing results every time.
Thanks for the shout out for my suggestion to make a video on this subject. You seem to have done a great job on the video, but I see from the comments below that there is more to learn. You Tube is such a great idea with the exchange of information and new ideas. Waiting for more videos Mike, keep up the good work!
You made a convincing argument for wet sanding, Mike. I've wet sanded flat surfaces like cabinet doors but have yet to try it on the lathe. I'll try it on my next bowl. I'd really like to cut down the sanding dust. Most of my sanding materials should permit wet sanding techniques. I'm finding your channel a real "treasure trove" of useful tips I've not discovered on other channels. I've been turning for less than two years so there's a lot to learn. At my age, I'll never catch up to your experience but your videos are certainly speeding my progress. Thanks!
Love your videos Mike, I'm a big fan of wet sanding and especially on acrylics I where I use water with a squirt of dishwashing liquid in it, enough to make bubbles on the surface and I sand with Abranet sanding mesh. It's expensive but lasts so well it becomes cheep. Richard...
Thanks Mike for yet another great 'tips & tricks' video!!! One little trick I regularly use are synthetic wine corks to clean my sanding disks! They are made of a similar rubber like material as the commercial block sanding disk cleaners yet cost nothing if you enjoy a glass of wine occasionally! ;>) Regular 'cork' wine corks won't work, but the synthetic corks do and one will last me many, many cleanings! Just a thought for another 'quick tip'!!! Again, THANKS for all your time and efforts to make these great videos for 'newbies' like myself! Safe turning to you and yours ALWAYS!
I live in a very dry environment and sometimes the wood becomes so dry that it is very rough and chippy. I found putting some butcher block oil on it and letting it soak in helps both with turning and sanding. Since being diagnosed with asthma, wet sanding is my favorite method (especially when it is too hot to wear a mask).
Your comfort is never worth the long term chronic lung issues you may have from breathing in dust. I would not feel comfortable enough simply knowing the wood is wet. I care about you, it's never too hot for a mask!
April touched on another good reason to use oil or oil/wax -- you can get extraordinarily smooth cuts on your final few passes with the gouge. The same applies to scraping. I almost always use Mahoney's Walnut Oil as part of my finishing, so there's no downside. I completed a 10" wide, 5" tall spalted soft maple bowl from a dry rough turned blank this week. The walls were a bit more than 1/16" thick -- something I could never have done without the oil. Clyde
I am guessing that the oil also slows the water loss and drying and warping while turning. Similar to me sopping on water on the very thin bowl I turned and broke in an earlier video.
Mike, I only use the walnut oil on dry rough turned blanks -- it's a recent discovery born of idle curiosity, to be honest. When I'm turning green wood very thin, I use an inexpensive mist coolant system originally developed for use on metal milling machines and metal lathes. I bought one first to cool/lubricate the grinding process on a 2" x 72" belt grinder, then thought to try it on my wood lathe. However, now that you've thought of using oil on green turnings, I'm going to have to try it -- I'm sure there are use cases where one is better than the other. You can never have too many things in your bag of tricks :-) Clyde Edit -- now I have to try adding soap and/or glycerin to my mist coolant...
Very good tips and another very good video. I've been wet sanding for years. I'm not sure who got me started, but I believe it was Ed Davidson. I always use water as my lubricant when turning plastics or mixed media -- wood that has been mixed with plastic resin. I almost always use walnut oil as my lubricant for wood, but that's because that's my favorite final finish. By the time I'm through wet sanding I'm also through applying the finish! If I'm not going to be using walnut oil as the final finish, then I might use another lubricant -- something that will be compatible with that finish so I don't have to wait for the walnut oil to cure first. As you said, the only downside to wet sanding is the mess. Which is why my wife made me move my lathe out of our living room. With all the advantages of wet sanding you and your other commenters mentioned, I seldom dry sand anything. Some only wet sand at the hight grits. I don't. I start out wet sanding.
I've been using the Howard's product since Carl's show. I order it by the case. Thanks for the tip that it's on your pages. I liked that you mentioned both Carl and Sam as your inspiration. That changes what could have seemed like a "copy cat" piece into an addition to the topic. Class, Mike!
Thanks, Bob. We all stand on the shoulders of giants. If you use Howards by the case you will want to watch next weeks video on making your own sanding butter to save some money.
I cannot speak to most of the oils you mentioned for wet sanding but one that was my wet sand of choice for quite a while when I first started turning was Mineral oil. I then topped it with my final finish of Minwax Antique Oil. It was fine at first but after about 6 months all the bowls that I had given away turned very sticky and the only way to correct that was to re turn them inside and out and dry sand and then re apply Minwax . The same happened with Salad Bowl finish so for me, I have dry sanded with dust extractor and respirator ever since. Mineral oil NOT for me.
Thanks for sharing. Interesting that we have had such a different experience. Perhaps since I sand with a lubricating paste that includes beeswax? I always made sure I finished with a clean paper towel with no stain.
Excellent video as usual. Have tried just about every lubricant you mentioned and after this video tried citrus degreaser. Had some in the garage since I'm a serious cyclist and use it to clean bike chains. It worked very well and, in my opinion, better than anything I previously tried. Thanks for the tip.
Thanks for the insight Mike. I too wet sand, in a small shop it's a must! I usually use a homemade concoction of Danish Oil, Mineral Oil and Beeswax. If the wood is punky I harden it off first with a good soaking of cellulose sealer.
Greetings from New Zealand Mike, I always enjoy watching your videos on how to do stuff I have been turning wood for a year now and seeing videos like this helps me learn stuff I have just set my self up for power sanding on my mini lathe and closest I have to a real thin lubricant is kitchen bench oil which is a tung oil based penetrating oil I use on items that come into contact with food hopefuly this should work as a sanding oil as all my other wood finishes contain shellac.
I appreciate that creative idea. Those abrasive sticks are cheap and seem to last forever, though. Your comment did prompt me to find a cheaper one to replace the one in my Amazon shop.
I started wet sanding after using water just to see if there were any scratch marks on a cutting board i was sanding, after dry sanding to 600 grit and hitting it with some water the surface of the cutting board seemed to drop back to something like 240 grit when wet, hence i began sanding wet to get it to a smooth surface again before applying an oil finish. Not sure if the grain pops up like that when you go straight from dry sanding to an oil finish though.... food for thought.
You mentioned using drying oils like tung and boiled linseed oil, I use teak oil as a finish or to make grain pop in figured woods, I'm now thinking it would work for sanding but was curious if anyone else has done this. Great video.
Hi Mike, I’ve used Boiled Linseed oil at times but i don’t like how it darkens the wood. Other than that; nothing else, so i’m looking forward to that video about the sanding butter.
Around 2:20, you address the issue of the sandpaper "loading up". This is why I quit wet sanding-about 3 seconds sanding, the paper loaded up and quit cutting. Or at least I thought it quit. But you say the grit is still there. I used various lubricants, water, mineral oil, even paint thinner. I'm asking here, not critiquing, was the paper still cutting? Was I mistaken in believing that it was all clogged up and useless? I would really like to give it another try as I had given it up as a lost cause.
I think you can overdo the wax lubricants. Sometimes you can use too much. With the lubricant I use, beeswax and mineral oil, adding a bit can dissolve the build up. Don't give up on it. Play with it.
@@MikePeaceWoodturning OK. I wasn't using the wax lubricants, only the liquid (mineral oil, water, etc) so that may have been the problem also. I'll try some wax and see how that works. Thanks for your reply. Always find your videos informative.
I just tried wet sanding after watching Sam's post and will never return to dry sanding again. No matter what mask I would wear when dry sanding I still suffered later that night. So I just bought 5L of citrus degreaser, and after watching your video it confirmed wet sanding all the way from now on.
i have yet to succeed wet sanding danish oil. it clouds the finish , and seems to never or take weeks to dry, is that the norm? i use brand new oil and humidity is stable.
Sounds like a problem with your finish. Wet sanding should not take longer to dry than applying a coat. The first coat looks dull perhaps because of the fine dust in the slurry but disappears with more coats.
I started using wet sanding on my pen turning projects seem to work well. I like the lamp that you were working on I have to give that a try. Thanks for your videos.
I used to use boiled linseed oil warmed in a jug of hot water , then I found baby oil [ mineral oil ] which is thinner and smells better too ,,. Regards Alf
Thanks Mike for yet ANOTHER great video!!! Since I'm really cheap and always looking for ways to save a buck or two sooo I can purchase more woodturning items, I use synthetic wine corks for cleaning my sanding pads when I can instead of purchasing those 'expensive' sanding disk/belt cleaners!!! Yeah! I know it sounds silly, but when you're working on a retired budget...every penny counts and the synthetic wine corks works great and I feel better about 'recycling' tooo! ;>) Again, THANKS for all you do and safe wood turning ALWAYS to you and yours!!!
I learned something about mineral oil the hard way. I have colitis and mineral oil is a lubricant laxative. I'd wear gloves if finishing with mineral oil.
@@MikePeaceWoodturning true story, man I have to admit I felt pretty dumb when I found out. I have SUPER dry skin and was using it as a lotion. It absorbs into the skin....
I always wet sand but i put the liquid on the wood i tried it on the sandpaper but i didnt like it i didnt think it was effective as wetting the wood i use mineral oil or my own orange wax liquid
Great video
There is a sixth reason for wet sanding - you hinted at it but didn't give it the attention it deserves. Wet sanding causes wood fibers to stiffen and stand up so that the abrasive can more easily/quickly sut them off to produce a smooth surface. This is a very effective way to deal with torn grain.
An issue that I think needs more attention - the interaction between the sanding lubricant and the final finish. I think that has the potential of being a significant problem, and Ive never found a good discussion of the subject.
Excelent points, Louie. I will touch on the finish issue next week in my video on Sanding Paste for Woodturning.
@@MikePeaceWoodturning There was a good deal of discussion on wet sanding at last week's segmented woodturning symposium in St Louis. One take on it was from a guy who was trained as a French polisher ... he said he never lets sandpaper touch bare wood above 220 grit. After 220, he applies sanding sealer or finish, then moves up the grits wet sanding. Another presenter (Pete Marken) demonstrated his process which involves sanding to no more than 400 grit (dry), then applying finish (up to 10 coats), then wet sanding with micro mesh up to 12000 grit.
I have not seen much about appying sealer before wet sanding but have seen several suggestions for doing so before using a liquid abrasive like Ubeaut EEE and Yorkshire grit. I need to play with that some.
Excellent video, sir, clear and to the point. I've been wet sanding my furniture restoration s. Has been a total game changer. Especially when smoothing out the paint, leaves such a nice sheen and deepens the color. Thanks again!
Glad to hear it's working for you!
I am absolutely sold on wet power sanding with walnut oil because it polymerizes and forms its own beautiful finish. I start with a sanding sealer and then sand through the grits in forward and reverse and get amazing results every time.
Excellent!
Thanks for the shout out for my suggestion to make a video on this subject. You seem to have done a great job on the video, but I see from the comments below that there is more to learn. You Tube is such a great idea with the exchange of information and new ideas. Waiting for more videos Mike, keep up the good work!
Thanks for your support, Gil. I know I have a lot to learn about wet sanding.
@@MikePeaceWoodturning As do most of us, myself included.
You made a convincing argument for wet sanding, Mike. I've wet sanded flat surfaces like cabinet doors but have yet to try it on the lathe. I'll try it on my next bowl. I'd really like to cut down the sanding dust. Most of my sanding materials should permit wet sanding techniques. I'm finding your channel a real "treasure trove" of useful tips I've not discovered on other channels. I've been turning for less than two years so there's a lot to learn. At my age, I'll never catch up to your experience but your videos are certainly speeding my progress. Thanks!
I appreciate your feedback, Paul. Thanks.
Nice!!! I got some inspiration for wood surface preparation of my new home.
Great!
Love your videos Mike, I'm a big fan of wet sanding and especially on acrylics I where I use water with a squirt of dishwashing liquid in it, enough to make bubbles on the surface and I sand with Abranet sanding mesh. It's expensive but lasts so well it becomes cheep. Richard...
I appreciate your sharing, Richard.
Thanks Mike for yet another great 'tips & tricks' video!!! One little trick I regularly use are synthetic wine corks to clean my sanding disks! They are made of a similar rubber like material as the commercial block sanding disk cleaners yet cost nothing if you enjoy a glass of wine occasionally! ;>) Regular 'cork' wine corks won't work, but the synthetic corks do and one will last me many, many cleanings! Just a thought for another 'quick tip'!!! Again, THANKS for all your time and efforts to make these great videos for 'newbies' like myself! Safe turning to you and yours ALWAYS!
Thanks for sharing. I will just have to experiment with more wines to find the right cork. But the holidays are here! Happy Thanksgiving.
I live in a very dry environment and sometimes the wood becomes so dry that it is very rough and chippy. I found putting some butcher block oil on it and letting it soak in helps both with turning and sanding. Since being diagnosed with asthma, wet sanding is my favorite method (especially when it is too hot to wear a mask).
Thanks for sharing, April.
Your comfort is never worth the long term chronic lung issues you may have from breathing in dust. I would not feel comfortable enough simply knowing the wood is wet. I care about you, it's never too hot for a mask!
April touched on another good reason to use oil or oil/wax -- you can get extraordinarily smooth cuts on your final few passes with the gouge. The same applies to scraping. I almost always use Mahoney's Walnut Oil as part of my finishing, so there's no downside. I completed a 10" wide, 5" tall spalted soft maple bowl from a dry rough turned blank this week. The walls were a bit more than 1/16" thick -- something I could never have done without the oil. Clyde
I am guessing that the oil also slows the water loss and drying and warping while turning. Similar to me sopping on water on the very thin bowl I turned and broke in an earlier video.
Mike, I only use the walnut oil on dry rough turned blanks -- it's a recent discovery born of idle curiosity, to be honest. When I'm turning green wood very thin, I use an inexpensive mist coolant system originally developed for use on metal milling machines and metal lathes. I bought one first to cool/lubricate the grinding process on a 2" x 72" belt grinder, then thought to try it on my wood lathe. However, now that you've thought of using oil on green turnings, I'm going to have to try it -- I'm sure there are use cases where one is better than the other. You can never have too many things in your bag of tricks :-) Clyde
Edit -- now I have to try adding soap and/or glycerin to my mist coolant...
Very good tips and another very good video. I've been wet sanding for years. I'm not sure who got me started, but I believe it was Ed Davidson. I always use water as my lubricant when turning plastics or mixed media -- wood that has been mixed with plastic resin. I almost always use walnut oil as my lubricant for wood, but that's because that's my favorite final finish. By the time I'm through wet sanding I'm also through applying the finish! If I'm not going to be using walnut oil as the final finish, then I might use another lubricant -- something that will be compatible with that finish so I don't have to wait for the walnut oil to cure first. As you said, the only downside to wet sanding is the mess. Which is why my wife made me move my lathe out of our living room.
With all the advantages of wet sanding you and your other commenters mentioned, I seldom dry sand anything. Some only wet sand at the hight grits. I don't. I start out wet sanding.
Thanks for sharing your experience, David. I am surprised your wife ever let you put your lathe in the livingroom in the first place!
I've been using the Howard's product since Carl's show. I order it by the case. Thanks for the tip that it's on your pages. I liked that you mentioned both Carl and Sam as your inspiration. That changes what could have seemed like a "copy cat" piece into an addition to the topic. Class, Mike!
Thanks, Bob. We all stand on the shoulders of giants. If you use Howards by the case you will want to watch next weeks video on making your own sanding butter to save some money.
@@MikePeaceWoodturning Thanks for the heads up. Always nice to hear from you personally, Mike. Consider y'all a real friend.
I cannot speak to most of the oils you mentioned for wet sanding but one that was my wet sand of choice for quite a while when I first started turning was Mineral oil. I then topped it with my final finish of Minwax Antique Oil. It was fine at first but after about 6 months all the bowls that I had given away turned very sticky and the only way to correct that was to re turn them inside and out and dry sand and then re apply Minwax . The same happened with Salad Bowl finish so for me, I have dry sanded with dust extractor and respirator ever since. Mineral oil NOT for me.
Thanks for sharing. Interesting that we have had such a different experience. Perhaps since I sand with a lubricating paste that includes beeswax? I always made sure I finished with a clean paper towel with no stain.
Excellent video as usual. Have tried just about every lubricant you mentioned and after this video tried citrus degreaser. Had some in the garage since I'm a serious cyclist and use it to clean bike chains. It worked very well and, in my opinion, better than anything I previously tried. Thanks for the tip.
I will have to try that again.
Another great video Mike, pacted with some excellent tips and tricks.
Cheers
Mike
Thanks for commenting. Have you done much wet sanding, Mike. Give it a try.
Very nice video! There is a lot of information here! SAFE TURNING, John.
Thanks for that comment, John.
Lots of info here and timely too. I like to sand outside but winter is coming. Thanks.
I like that too when handsanding. I have a special place just outside my basement shop door.
I will definitely try this out.
You should!
Thanks for the insight Mike. I too wet sand, in a small shop it's a must! I usually use a homemade concoction of Danish Oil, Mineral Oil and Beeswax. If the wood is punky I harden it off first with a good soaking of cellulose sealer.
I appreciate your sharing. My video on making a similar concoction with a abrasive to use as a liquid sandpaper will be out Friday.
Greetings from New Zealand Mike, I always enjoy watching your videos on how to do stuff I have been turning wood for a year now and seeing videos like this helps me learn stuff I have just set my self up for power sanding on my mini lathe and closest I have to a real thin lubricant is kitchen bench oil which is a tung oil based penetrating oil I use on items that come into contact with food hopefuly this should work as a sanding oil as all my other wood finishes contain shellac.
Thanks for you support.
Can also use polyurethane wine corks to clean abrasive grits. I turned a little holder for them to preserve my finger tips
I appreciate that creative idea. Those abrasive sticks are cheap and seem to last forever, though. Your comment did prompt me to find a cheaper one to replace the one in my Amazon shop.
I've tried something similar. And noticed that they wear very very quickly. So as long as I can get them for free, I'll continue using them.
Good video, Mike. I’ve never done wet sanding, but I’ll have to try it now.
It is defintely worth exploring. Thanks for commenting, Rick.
I started wet sanding after using water just to see if there were any scratch marks on a cutting board i was sanding, after dry sanding to 600 grit and hitting it with some water the surface of the cutting board seemed to drop back to something like 240 grit when wet, hence i began sanding wet to get it to a smooth surface again before applying an oil finish. Not sure if the grain pops up like that when you go straight from dry sanding to an oil finish though.... food for thought.
Interesting observation!
You mentioned using drying oils like tung and boiled linseed oil, I use teak oil as a finish or to make grain pop in figured woods, I'm now thinking it would work for sanding but was curious if anyone else has done this. Great video.
It will work. Try it and compare with other products I showed to see which you like the best.
I like to do a good sanding with wood conditioner and 400 grit. I find it fills the grain and hides tool marks.
Thanks for the info. Never tried wet sanding but will now.
As I said in the video, it is still pretty new to me. Let me know how it works out for you.
Hi Mike,
I’ve used Boiled Linseed oil at times but i don’t like how it darkens the wood.
Other than that; nothing else, so i’m looking forward to that video about the sanding butter.
Thanks for the video!
I wet sand after applying a ca finish on some things.
Always learn something from your videos.
Thanks, Billy.
Great tips Mike, thanks. One question, if I want to finish with lacquer or polyurethane, what do you recommend I wet sand with?
It shoulld not matter as long as you clean off all of the excess. All finishes have a solvent compatible with wax.
@@MikePeaceWoodturning ok thanks
Awesome that he mentioned Gil Grace. He's my awesome brother!!!
Gil has been an active supporter of my channel and I appreciate it. Are you a turner also, Judy?
No. I used to have a shopsmith, but never did much with it.@@MikePeaceWoodturning
Around 2:20, you address the issue of the sandpaper "loading up". This is why I quit wet sanding-about 3 seconds sanding, the paper loaded up and quit cutting. Or at least I thought it quit. But you say the grit is still there. I used various lubricants, water, mineral oil, even paint thinner. I'm asking here, not critiquing, was the paper still cutting? Was I mistaken in believing that it was all clogged up and useless? I would really like to give it another try as I had given it up as a lost cause.
I think you can overdo the wax lubricants. Sometimes you can use too much. With the lubricant I use, beeswax and mineral oil, adding a bit can dissolve the build up. Don't give up on it. Play with it.
@@MikePeaceWoodturning OK. I wasn't using the wax lubricants, only the liquid (mineral oil, water, etc) so that may have been the problem also. I'll try some wax and see how that works. Thanks for your reply. Always find your videos informative.
Cool video
I'm going to try wet sanding Mike, thanks for the tips
Let us know how it works for you.
I just tried wet sanding after watching Sam's post and will never return to dry sanding again. No matter what mask I would wear when dry sanding I still suffered later that night. So I just bought 5L of citrus degreaser, and after watching your video it confirmed wet sanding all the way from now on.
It is amzaing isn't it?
I appreciate your comment, Mike.
thank you
Thanks for the information Mike.
i have yet to succeed wet sanding danish oil. it clouds the finish , and seems to never or take weeks to dry, is that the norm? i use brand new oil and humidity is stable.
Sounds like a problem with your finish. Wet sanding should not take longer to dry than applying a coat. The first coat looks dull perhaps because of the fine dust in the slurry but disappears with more coats.
I started using wet sanding on my pen turning projects seem to work well. I like the lamp that you were working on I have to give that a try. Thanks for your videos.
Thanks for your support!
I don't always think about wet sanding with a drill, but good idea. Good vid....Sam
Thanks for commenting, Sam.
I used to use boiled linseed oil warmed in a jug of hot water , then I found baby oil [ mineral oil ] which is thinner and smells better too ,,. Regards Alf
Thanks Mike for yet ANOTHER great video!!! Since I'm really cheap and always looking for ways to save a buck or two sooo I can purchase more woodturning items, I use synthetic wine corks for cleaning my sanding pads when I can instead of purchasing those 'expensive' sanding disk/belt cleaners!!! Yeah! I know it sounds silly, but when you're working on a retired budget...every penny counts and the synthetic wine corks works great and I feel better about 'recycling' tooo! ;>) Again, THANKS for all you do and safe wood turning ALWAYS to you and yours!!!
Use it up, wear it out, make do. I hear ya. I appreciate your comments.
I learned something about mineral oil the hard way. I have colitis and mineral oil is a lubricant laxative. I'd wear gloves if finishing with mineral oil.
Thanks for sharing!
@@MikePeaceWoodturning true story, man I have to admit I felt pretty dumb when I found out. I have SUPER dry skin and was using it as a lotion. It absorbs into the skin....
I always wet sand but i put the liquid on the wood i tried it on the sandpaper but i didnt like it i didnt think it was effective as wetting the wood i use mineral oil or my own orange wax liquid
I think I have better luck coating the wood first as well.
Do you have a bad bearing on your lathe or live center?
No, I believe that noise was from the bowl slipping on the leather pad on the friction chuck.
I dry shave have done years
Shave or sand?