Are some persistent circular streaks forever?

Arch, I must admit that I have been trying to figure that one out for a while, with only moderate success. Sometimes there are a million of them, sometimes only a few, some times none, sometimes they sand out, sometimes you can sand through to the other side, and they are still there, even though they don't show on the outside. For some reason, they appear 95% of the time on the inside of the bowl and not on the outside. Some one told me it is because of rubbing the bevel and to grind off the shoulder of your gouge. that seems to work, but only sometimes. Why? My best guess is that it is some variation of Murphy's Law. robo hippy

Hi Arch

NO PROBLEM

Just freeze them, put your lathe there too, jump right in there with it and start turning, them fibers will stand up straight and never budge. Tong Firmly Planted In Cheek. that's worth 2 cents Canadian I think.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

Thanks robo, Misery does love company and it's good not to be alone. The bevel burnishing suggestion seems reasonable, but my money's on Murphy. :(

Thanks Leo, moving my turning shop into a walk-in cooler for summer in S. Fla. is more a two dollar than a two cent idea. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

Hi Arch:

I have minimal experience with NIP, but one thing that I have found to help with other woods is to rub paste wax into the nasty area, then power sand. If you have a really bad place, you may want to start with

60 grit, sanding with the piece still. It may take more than one wax application: oh-you do not need to let the wax dry. Just rub it in and go for it. Hope this helps Kip Powers Rogers, AR

Hi Derek, Thanks for a clear explanation of my problem and your logical and helpful suggestions for solving it. I'll sure give a try tomorrow with hopes your advice will help me and maybe some others. BTW, I really enjoyed moseying around in your blog. Some helpful and interesting stuff there.

Thanks Kip, I'll try your suggestion with the others and just maybe some of these streaks will go away. I don't know why they are so inconsistent since I use the same techniques... or think I do. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

In my (limited) experience I have found that if you treat the streaks like trolls they eventually lose interest and go away.

Thanks Kevin, I haven't even limited experience with them, but it's probably the same way with streakers. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

The only way I've been able to completely remove them all is to sand by hand in between grits, or with a foam backed or plastic power wheel on my drill or other motor. I avoid doing the last grit on the lathe if I can, except if I've decided to polish with rouge or something. If the wood has been pressed real hard, as with the bevel of a gouge, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and sand really deep.

Most times I stop at 220 or 320 grit, but if it's going to be used as a tool, like in the kitchen, I stop at 150 or even 100. If it's a fine grained wood that will polish well, I might go to 600 and polish with rouge, but in ALL cases you have to pretty much lick the rings at about

100-150 grit or you're stuck with them.

In recent years I've been sandblasting almost everything, and this helps a great deal with the rings, but I still have to stop while my compressor rests and look at the wood real close in strong light to see the circular marks and mark those places that need more ring removal work, or go over them with 150 grit by hand.

Once the finish is on, it's often too late to fix without clogging lots of paper with finish or sandblasting the whole surface again.

Use STRONG LIGHT (direct sunlight is best), CLOSE INSPECTION at 150 grit, turning the piece in your hands to look at it from different angles. Off the Lathe inspection is going to give you the best chance of finding the buggers.