The way I sand is a great way to go, especially with heavily spalted, or interrupted edge pieces. This isn't heavily rotted, but I still start with the finest 2" disc I stock, 150. Then I go to a 3" Velcro back, still not pressing and building heat. With 3" discs and my setup, 120 is as aggressive as I dare. I almost ruined the flex shaft one day when I actually used one of the 60 grits that came with the starter package.
I ran a hard-back 150, then 220 on soft back, set grain with water, and ran a powered 320. If you look at the second picture, you can see the total amount of dust for all three grits which settled other than in the Dust Collector pipe. For the curious, it's a 3/4 Delta with the impeller after the chip collection can. Jet makes one similar, as does Dust Boy. Best way for the small shop to go, in my opinion. Also, note that I take advantage of both gravity and centrifugal force to direct dust at the collector. I can only suppose those hoods they make with collection port above center in the rear are for people who do their sanding on the opposite side.
I reverse to hollow, securing it with an approximately 2" (2 1/2) base. I am going to leave extra weight in the bottom to compensate for a narrow footprint. We had a family conference about the edge. I had left it broad enough to either make it a rim outside or undercut inside when I roughed it. Susan and I decided on a rolled edge, the forming of which you see in frame four. I'm using the 3/4" forged gouge to trim the rim and then shape it. It's the one I got at Lee Valley to replace my old carbon steel original, which is now less than 3" of an original 5. Students of shavings will note that both sides are smooth, indicating a good cut with no scrape to reference. The bevel touches, as evidenced by the burnishing. I cut downhill from center in either direction, then proceed to hollowing.
That's a Hamlet (or Packard, same thing) spindle gouge working in the last frame. Note the tearing on the shavings, and also no long curls. Tells you I'm still cutting for round, and pretty aggressively. Next >