The 'Finish' (See What I Did There?) Line is in Sight....

A couple of days ago, these bowls entered into the fine grinding phase of this project using the Kutzall 'medium' grit grinding wheel to take down the rough edges and ridges left from rough carving.

With most of the rough edges and ridges taken down, I realized I'm probably going to need to invest in a 'fine' grit grinding wheel in the not too distant future. The 'medium' grit is great for taking stock off relatively quickly, but it does leave swirls that are difficult to sand out. They aren't easy to see in the photo, but believe me when I say they're there.

The next step in this phase required finer sanding. My weapon of choice? My DeWalt random orbital sander.

This was another 'aha' moment in that a standard 5 inch random orbital sander works great on less contoured surfaces, but to get down into the bowl, itself, was a problem. Here's another instance where an investment in a smaller 3 1/2 inch random orbital sander is required. I had one at one time, but it was pneumatic (required a gigantic air compressor and even that couldn't keep up). The one I'm looking at now is electric.

After finishing sanding with the random orbital sander, all three bowls needed finish sanding by hand. Starting with 120 grit and ending with 220 grit gave these bowls a 'smooth as a baby's butt' finish ready for the final finishing phase. So, I packed all three bowls using an old towel and trundled myself up to the other building where finish varnishing takes place.

Through a lengthy period of trial and error, I found that the best way to prep pieces for final finishing in order to get as much fine sawdust out of nooks and crannies and off the main surface is to use mineral spirits. Even though I used my air compressor to blow off residual sawdust and a rag to wipe off even more residual sawdust, it was amazing (once again) to see how much is still there for the mineral spirits to remove.

All done, and beginning to look more and more like they should when all is said and done.

Tomorrow, a coat of wood conditioner will be applied followed by a coat of dewaxed shellac followed by the first of at least three, possibly four, coats of hand rubbed gloss varnish.

The 'finish' line is, in fact, in sight......

DWR