Scary example?

David is an expert turner and knows how a procedure should feel. Like all experienced turners he thinks with his hands and fingers as much as with the brain

Sanding at the bottom, or top are equally acceptable, depends on what you are comfortable with. I do both, I also frequently sand in reverse rotation. BTW I also use an old sanding rubber block as a sanding pad to shield my fingers from friction heat.

As to sanding inside, as long as the opening is adeqquately sized and the speed is lowered and MOST IMPORTANTLY the tool rest is removed, sanding with a finger inside the form is actually safe. Just make sure that your finger is free to move without catching on anything.

You are correct. A stubbed finger is one reward for sanding with rotation toward it. The other is more dust in your face. A burned knuckle or twisted finger is easy to acquire by stuffing paper into a rotating narrow neck.

The reason I can say this is because I've done it. I even find myself doing it when I know it's stupid, but I am of Polish ancestry, and it makes learning difficult. One thing I have learned is not to try to insulate my fingers when I do sand by hand. I want my discomfort to remind me that heat-hardened surfaces come from pressing when sanding.

Yep.. me too!

I see most of the pros sand on the top, including Dick Sing....

My reasons for "bottom sanding":

If/when the paper is removed from your hand, it travels AWAY from you...

Dust goes directly into my DC hood...

I can SEE what's being sanded and how the sanding is going.... especially with pens, I'd rather see the paper AND the pen, not just the paper..

For years, I'd move to the other side of the lathe to hand sand, so that with the paper on top, I was out of the "line of fire"... Sanding on the bottom works much better.. *g*

Every night when I clean the shop floor, I find a couple of small pieces of sandpaper that got pulled out of my fingers and sent across the shop...

mac

Please remove splinters before emailing

"Bradford Chaucer" wrote: David is an expert turner and knows how a procedure should feel. (clip) As to sanding inside, as long as ...followed by a list of caveats. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Evidently David did not mention the risks and necessary precautions, or Tom would not have raised these questions. Anyone demonstrating to an audience should presume that many of them (or most) know less than he/she does. The risks and precautions should always be discussed. When you get good enough to put on demos, it is possible to lose touch with beginner-itis.

He was sanding by holding the paper on the top.

That's how I do it, too. I learned that from an old lathe hand in a machine shop. Unlikely though they may be, you want any problems that occur to kick your fingers toward you ... not draw your arm in.

I can see that there is already a contrary opinion posted. I disagree with it.

Deal with the sanding dust coming over the top by placement of ventilation and not standing in line with the ejected dust. You ARE wearing a respirator ... right? Right???????

I do NOT wrap anything around my fingers when around rotating machinery. It sounds like a good way to donate a finger by having it rudely yanked off my hand. No thanks.

Bill

Yup ... I'll bet that paper coming at you would really hurt!

Er, um ... if you are holding a strip to sand (I use rolled cloth strips for pens) and you are sanding the top, the paper will be pulled from your top hand ... but remain firmly held in your bottom hand.

But if you are sanding the bottom and somehow become 'one with your work', the lathe is pulling you toward itself. Can you see where this is going? Can you react (correctly) before it gets there?

Sand the approaching surface (usually the top) and take your flogging, if it ever comes, with the strip of free-flying cloth.

Bill

Nah, we know better than to take unnecessary risks.

Personal experience here.

As I was lapping a long shafts end that had to run in a babit bearing I just had poured, I was holding a longer piece of emery cloth sanding belt, just going back and fort to get it smooth. Was holding the sanding belt just between thumb and index finger with both hands, just going back and forth, one inattentive moment as one hand did not take up the slack the sanding belt doubled and got pulled in between the bottom belt and the shaft, BOM. I bend over and picked up the belt, and glanced at my hand, thumb was nearly ripped from my hand, so 11 stitches later, a lesson/experience, watch what you're doing, even if it seems safe, it might not be so safe, and the machine wins every time. I do sand on top, but with the wood turning away from me, reverse is a handy thing to have, but you can stand on the other side of the lathe also. If you have only a small amount of space especially, DON'T sand on the bottom as you can get trapped in between the turning and ways so fast you'd not even know some pieces of you are missing !!!!! Been there done that, so you don't have to do it anymore ;-)))

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Unlikely though they may be, you want any problems that

/SNIP/

I generally sand on the top, but with my thumbs pointing at me and my index and middle fingers hold the free edge of the sandpaper against the base of the thumb. Not orthodox, perhaps, but it has served me well.

Max