Finishing Sassafras

[JosephTree]

I'm in the final phases of a new bowl I've hewn from a green Sassafras log. I know that it can be finished to a lovely creamy smooth surface, but it's looking very porous now at the 100 grit sandpaper stage. Will it smooth out as I get to 220 grit and then to steelwool, or will that not happen until I fill the pores with wax and buff it down?
Any wisdom shared will be deeply appreciated.
Thanks!

[Ashbys]

Joe ,
I have a question, why are you stoping at 220 grit and then to steel wool?
I only ask because I have never been fond of using steelwool for anything that is used for food or could be. Steel wool often breaks and as soft as sassafras is could inbed itself in the wood to come out at a later point. Wouldn't a 400 - 600 grit paper give you a finish, at the same time sealing the wood tighter?

If you don't have access to the finer sandpapers I will be happy to send you the information to get up to 4000 grit.

Just asking

Ash

[JosephTree]

Ash, Good question! I just am so new to the working of wood that I limitied my thinking to the highest number in the assortment pack I found in my sandpaper cabinet. I looked again and found 600 grit sheets tucked in a corner. Avoiding metal fragments sounds like a very good idea.

I've also noticed that the wood changes significantly overnight as it equalizes moisture. I take the piece out of its plastic for about an hour or so each evening and sand for a little while after the surface has dried out a bit. As the piece is only about 3 weeks from having been part of a growing tree, I think I was wrong to expect it to stabilize so soon.

I think I also need to start writing a journal of my activity so I can remember and improve my results over time.

One thing I liked about tung oil which I used on some pieces many years ago was that I could put a first coat on and take it back to almost nothing and have a lovely surface to build on with very fine further applications. These days I just don't want to use tung oil on a piece to be used for working with food. I'm using a mineral oil + carnauba + beeswax prep for my recent efforts.

[Claude]

In the "for what it's worth" category, there's a group of wood-turners in the UK that turn a lot of green wood on lathes. What they usually do is turn a bowl to rough shape, but leave the wall thickness around 12-15% of the bowl diameter. For a 12 inch diameter bowel, that means leaving the wall thickness around 1.5 inches thick. After the bowl is roughed out, many of them put the bowl into a black plastic trash bag, and seal with a twister, leaving it in a room-temperature area. Every couple of days, they take the bowl out, turn the plastic bag inside out, and then put the bowl back in. The inside of the bag will be really wet when they take the bowl out each time, so that's why they turn it inside out. Their object is to allow a slow, controlled, drying out of the wood, which prevents cracking. They will continue this process until the plastic bag is no longer wet on the inside. Then they let the bowl sit on a shelf in a closet for another month or so to completely dry before doing their finish turning.

Claude

[JosephTree]

Thanks, Claude. That's a modified version of what I'm doing. I just leave out the lathe. I have found the Brit's site, I think. They do all sorts of old timey hand working green wood stuff, and I like the site a lot.

Joseph

[kev.b]

A good UK site for turning and indeed carving is http://http://www.woodworkersinstitu...um/default.asp

worth a look.
but i will admit its not as good as this site.

[RWG]

Hi Joe,
I've made a few bowls and have tried it from dry wood as well as green wood. Something you might consider is holding off the final stages of sanding until the bowl is completely dry. Putting a coat of mineral oil on the wood before you put in plastic each time will help keep it from cracking. Are you using power tools or hand tools to make your bowl? Rip Mann has a couple of books on bowl making, but he is a purist and uses only an adze. No sanding at all.

Rod