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November 2008: Inside This Issue

Welcome to all of our new U.S. and International subscribers and thank you for joining us! This is the twenty-fourth edition of Lathe Talk, a free monthly newsletter (e-zine) for subscribers of Steve Russell’s "Woodturning Videos Plus" woodturning website. This newsletter will be delivered on or about the fifteenth of each month to the email address you indicated on your sign-up form. All back issues of this newsletter are available to subscribers here.

Lathe Talk will offer tips and tricks to make your woodturning easier and more productive. I’ll also show you ways to save money in your studio, so you can stretch your hard earned money. In addition, we will periodically offer subscribers only specials on our videos and e-books. If you like this e-zine, please do a friend and me a favor by forwarding it to them. If a friend DID forward this to you and you like what you read, please subscribe by visiting our subscription page.

Woodturning with Steven D. Russell DVD Video - Volume #4 "Turning Elegant Bottle Stoppers" is Now in Post Production: My latest video is now in post production and is expected to be ready to ship in early December. This will be a 2-hour double DVD set on turning elegant bottle stoppers. We have had tons of requests from our Lathe Talk subscribers to make this project video.

This video will include four projects and will feature my techniques for turning traditional wooden dowel bottle stoppers, a wooden dowel stopper with a cabochon stone inlay, an acrylic acetate stopper with a threaded metal cone stopper and an acrylic acetate stopper with Cubic Zirconia (diamond simulant) inlays, set in 18kt solid gold with a stainless steel metal cone bottle stopper. Look for more details in next month's Lathe Talk. Lathe Talk subscribers will receive a special discount for any Volume #4 purchase made in December.

December's Lathe Talk will Publish in Early December: Due to the holidays, the December issue of Lathe Talk will publish in early December, instead of our usual mid-month distribution. January's Lathe Talk will return to our normal publishing date.

Tool Reviews Library: Our new Tool Reviews Library is off and running with the first few reviews uploaded. These include a review of Lyle Jamieson's Hollowing System and Kel McNaughton's new Carvers Jig. The next reviews to be posted will include the Laguna LT18 Bandsaw, The Jet Tools DC 100 Dust Collector, The Jet Tools Variable Speed Mini-Lathe, Baldor's 8" Low Speed Grinder, Baldor's 8" High Speed Grinder and two Stihl Chainsaws, the 026 and the 066.

If you have any suggestions for tools, products or finishes you would like to see reviewed, please let email me at wturningvideosplus@comcast.net

Our new Tool Reviews Library can be found here.

Woodturning Glossary: We have begun building our new 2,000+ word multimedia woodturning glossary on our website here.

The first installments to the library will be basic navigational items and the initial upload of Phase 1 words and definitions. Due to the massive size of this project, it will be built in several stages with text uploaded first, then some photos and a few video clips. Once Phase 1 is complete, we will begin Phase 2 uploading in the same manner and continue through the planned 20 Phase upload.

This will make the library useable from the get go, as we continue to build and refine the interface. This will be a massive undertaking that will eventually include pictures, video segments, drawings and even a few audio files. As the glossary becomes larger, we will split off each group of alphabets into their own unique pages, to keep the page load times fast. I'm still looking for a good on page search engine to enhance the user interface and make navigation easier and faster. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

When complete, this will be the most comprehensive multimedia woodturning glossary on the Internet. Future plans call for foreign language versions and downloadable plans for projects and jigs listed in the glossary. We'll keep you updated on our progress.

Link To Our Free Educational Libraries: If you belong to a woodturning club or association, please consider asking your Webmaster to add a link to our website's free educational libraries. There are currently 30 articles in the Main Library and 32 articles in the Tips Library, covering beginner to advanced topics.

Please help us to share this valuable learning resource with other turners in your woodturning clubs, associations, or on your own woodturning website links page.

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Thanks in advance for your support of our educational efforts.

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Additional $10.00 Discount off Our Volume I, II and II Super Deluxe Combo Pack. From now until the end of November 2008, you can save and additional $10.00 off the current sale price of $90.00 on any Volume #1, 2, and 3 Super Deluxe Combo Pack ordered from our website. With this special sale, your price will be $80.00 (plus taxes if you live in Texas) plus postage. The regular price of this combo pack is $130.00.

With this package, you receive the 70-minute pen video and the 2 hour, 20 minute (2 disk set) bowl videos, plus two electronic books. You can view the books on your computer monitor or print individual pages, chapters or both books with your computer printer. Additional information on specific topics covered in the e-Books and the DVD videos can be found here.

To access this special offer, enter the coupon code 11987 on the shopping cart page in the coupon box area. Click the "recalculate" button and your discount will show on the screen. Offer ends November 30, 2008 at 12:01 midnight, CST. Additional subscriber only discounts and specials will be offered in future editions of Lathe Talk.

Inlaid Cocobolo bottle stopper finished with
spray lacquer using my lacquer finish shortcut.

Overview

I've always been a fan of deep and lustrous lacquer finishes. The kind of glossy surface that looks like it's a ten-foot deep pool of pure liquid. However, it takes a lot of effort to obtain such a finish and I've always experimented with ways to build a multi-coat lacquer finish faster. My experiments were focused on ways to achieve the same quality of finish in less time, which is a difficult goal to achieve with any finish.

Some of my lacquer finishes have up to twenty, or twenty-five ultra light coats of lacquer. Even the simple lacquer finishes may have five to ten coats. Since each coat must be applied individually, it can take quite a bit of time to build the finish to a sufficient level. Lacquer is an easy finish to apply, since each successive coat bonds to the previous layer without the need for sanding, or abrading the surface.

That means you can spray another coat on the surface as soon as the previous coat has dried sufficiently. The time interval between successive applications of lacquer varies with ambient conditions. Temperature, relative humidity, dew point and air currents in the room, as well as the viscosity of the product (spray or brush on) and the retarder, all contribute to the drying time. In the past, if I wanted to apply a twenty-five-layer lacquer finish, it might take up to two days to apply, depending on ambient conditions.

If you reapply the lacquer too fast, it may run on you. Applying too thick a coat can also cause the lacquer to sag, or run towards the lower part of the turning. This means you get to either sand it back off, or use some lacquer thinner to wipe it off and start all over. To get a good lay down, you need the right ambient conditions, apply very light coats and wait until the lacquer has dried sufficiently before applying each successive coat.

Depending on conditions, you may be able to apply several coats in short order, but trust me… When you have a rush order to fill that has to get on the FedEx truck the next morning, the conditions are never good. It's too cold, too hot, too humid, too windy, too dusty, or something else prevents you from finishing your "red-ball" rush order.

This was one of the reasons I started experimenting with finding a way to apply multiple coats of lacquer on a surface in the shortest time possible. My quest would prove both frustrating and rewarding, as experiments usually do. My compressed gas assisted lacquer finishing protocol is a way to shorten the time required before you can apply another coat of lacquer. It is not intended to change the rules we all live by when we spray or brush lacquer. It's more of a helping hand that allows you to finish your project faster.

Forced Air Delivery

One of the more promising experiments that I conducted involved the application of a low pressure forced air stream onto the wet lacquer surface. Initially, this was done with compressed air, but this proved less than ideal for several reasons. First, there was too much moisture in the air coming from the 80-gallon reserve tank. The air in Houston is so thick with humidity that you drink it more than breathe it sometimes, so you have to use moisture control devices to dry the compressed air to an acceptable level.

I use a two-part moisture control system that involves an inline separator near the tank and a screw on absorber near the tool (used when spray painting). This works quite well, but screw on disposable moisture absorbers are just too expensive to leave on the supply line all the time. There are inline specialty heater/driers you can buy to dry and filter the compressed air supply, but they will redefine your idea of the word "expensive."

Obviously, you need dry air if you will be spraying it over a freshly lacquered surface. When I used my two part system, the air was nice and dry and produced good results, but they were still short of ideal. Another challenge with compressed air is oil residue in the air. This can be separated by a filter, but most of the in-line filters only do a fair job of removing atomized oil. If you want to really remove the oil, you'll need another expensive filter.

If you do not remove all of the atomized oil from the air, you can get surface defects in the lacquer finish called "fisheyes." Fisheyes are small circular depressions in the lacquer film. Surface contamination with silicone can also cause fisheyes. For these reasons and others, I needed to look for another option. Something that could be used "if and when" it was needed, even if I only wanted to spray a single bottle stopper, or a writing pen. It had to be fast, easy and preferably inexpensive.

3M's dust remover is used in my
compressed gas lacquer application protocol.

Although I could make the air from my compressor work with some expensive add-on accessories, the expense and maintenance issues were not appealing. I could also use the heated air from my HVLP spray rig if necessary, but I wanted something that was simple, involved no setup or cleanup and was ready to go when needed.

I started experimenting with various compressed gases and finally settled on a product sold as "Dust Remover," a compressed 1,1-difluoroethane gas sold to remove dust and lint from surfaces, electronics and other things. Using compressed gas eliminated many of the potential problems (moisture, oil, other contaminants etc.) with using compressed air from the air compressor.

The dust remover gas has performed superbly and I have been using it for the last few years to speed up the interval between my lacquer applications. In the past, it may have taken forty-five minutes or more to apply 10 – 12 coats of lacquer, depending on ambient conditions. Using my compressed gas protocol, I can now apply 10 - 12 light coats of spray lacquer on a small project in about twenty minutes give or take. That's a 50% reduction in application time! You might be able to go even faster, but I'm satisfied with my current speed and finish results.

Of course, I still have to wait for the lacquer to set up before buffing, (overnight, or up to two days) but this application protocol has allowed me to significantly speed up my finishing process. This is very valuable option if you are trying to finish multiple copies of a project. Another benefit of quickly setting the lacquer is dust control. Once the lacquer is tack free, dust will not stick to it as it continues to cure. This is a great benefit if you are continuing to work in the area on other projects.

Caveats to Using Compressed Gas on a Lacquer Surface

Note: Lacquer should only be sprayed in properly certified spray booths, or in areas with sufficient fresh air supply - while you're wearing a full-face respirator with the proper vapor cartridges installed. Please follow all manufacturer safety precautions and wear all protective equipment that may be required when working with, spraying, or brushing lacquer.

This protocol has been a significant time saver in my studio. It has allowed me to rapidly apply multiple coats of lacquer on finished pieces much faster than spraying the lacquer and waiting for it to dry in the open air before reapplication. However, there are a few caveats to using this protocol:

• This product is a compressed gas and as such, should only be used in areas with sufficient ventilation and ample fresh air. Do not use it in closed areas, or areas without ample cross ventilation. I always wear a respirator with the proper type of organic vapor cartridges installed when spraying any material in my studio.

This protocol also works to speed
the drying of metal leaf adhesive.

• Since the gas is compressed in the can, you must take care to not get the tip of the applicator too close to the freshly lacquered surface. If the tip gets too close to the surface, the pressurized gas can cause the lacquer to blow off (known as "cratering"), or make it uneven on the surface.
• As the gas is used from the can, it gets very cold and frost can form on the exterior of the can. You must be careful to protect your hands from the cold if you will be using it for extended periods.
• When the cans are full (new), the gas has a tendency to gush out at times. If this cold gas hits the lacquer, it may cause the lacquer to blush (cloudy appearance), or cause moisture from the air to be deposited onto the surface of the wet lacquer. To prevent this problem, make sure your tip is at least four inches away from the surface and spray very light bursts of gas on the surface.

You can also use this protocol
with spray spar urethane.

• These compressed gas cans have a trigger that allows too much gas out of the can if the trigger is pulled all the way back. For use on lacquer, I only pull the trigger back the slightest amount to provide a light volume of gas.

Compressed Gas Assisted Lacquer Application Protocol

Here is the protocol I use for speeding up the interval between applications of spray lacquer:

• Sand the project to the desired grit and blow off any remaining dist with compressed gas.
Apply a lacquer sanding sealer to the surface and friction dry with clean paper towels. Next, cut the surface back with synthetic wire wool (I use the white colored variety), or fine abrasives. I do not use "steel" wool anymore because the synthetic wire wools are much better and do not leave metallic residue in the pores of the wood.

Lacquer sanding sealer is used to seal
the bare wood surface before applying the lacquer.

• Shake the can of spray lacquer for at least two minutes before application. Everyone likes to shake the can once or twice and give it a go, but it is critical for the can of lacquer to be thoroughly mixed. If you proceed without mixing the lacquer adequately, your results will fall short of your expectations.

Using Master's Magic spray lacquer
to finish a Cocobolo inlaid bottle stopper.

• Lightly spray a coat of lacquer on the surface of the project - If the project is mounted on the lathe, rotate the spindle by hand as you apply the lacquer. If the project is not on the lathe, use a Lazy Susan turntable, or an electric rotating presentation table when spraying lacquer.
• Immediately after the applying the lacquer, lightly spray the compressed gas across the surface of the project as you rotate it by hand. I usually keep the tip of my applicator about four to six inches away from the surface and only pull the trigger a tiny bit to get a light flow of gas.

Using 3M's dust remover to speed
the drying of lacquer between coats.

• I continue to apply the gas for 30 seconds to a minute on small and medium projects, more on larger projects as the piece continually rotates. You can see when the lacquer starts to flash off, as the surface loses some of its wet look.
• Once the lacquer has set up a bit, I reapply another coat and repeat the procedure until I have applied the required number of coats. Upon application of the final coat of lacquer, the piece is allowed to thoroughly dry and cure before buffing. The time required to fully cure varies with the product used and ambient conditions.

Final Thoughts

Spray shellac is another finish
that can be used with this protocol.

This protocol has been a real timesaver for me and I have used it extensively for the last few years when working with spray lacquer. I have also used it when working with other finishing products as well like spirit stains, spray shellac, spray adhesives for metal leaf, paste waxes and other products. While you may not think you need to speed up your finishing now, this is another protocol that you can keep in mind for the time when you do need it.

Try this protocol the next time
you use Krylon's spray acrylic finish.

If you want to give this protocol a go, practice on scrap wood first! This protocol requires finesse and a light touch. Practicing on scrap wood makes sense and will allow you to hone your application skills on inexpensive wood. When you have developed the right "touch", try it on one of your regular projects. I think you'll find it as useful as I do. Good luck!

Overview

A pneumatic drill with a foam sanding mandrel
makes a great tool for power sanding.

Most woodturners would agree that sanding is one of the least desirable parts of the woodturning experience. Thankfully, new tools and abrasives have become available in the last few years that make sanding not only easier, but faster as well. Almost any electric or pneumatic drill can be outfitted with a foam-backed sanding mandrel and a hook and loop abrasive disk for a cost effective and simple sanding solution.

For years, this is how I sanded my faceplate projects and hollow forms. In the early days of my studio, I used electric drills with foam sanding mandrels and either sticky backed, or hook and loop backed abrasives. This approach worked well enough initially, but as the volume of my business grew, I quickly found out that few electric drills were up to the task of prolonged use.

Using a Sioux Dual Action sander to finish sand
a natural edge Honey Mesquite platter.

After I burned up five new electric drills over the course of one summer, I switched to pneumatic drills for all of my sanding. While the move to pneumatics eliminated my failure problems with electric drills, I was still limited to rotary action when sanding. While rotary sanding is a great choice for many sanding tasks, it is far from ideal for others.

Quest for a New Finish Sanding Solution

Like so many things in life, there is no single tool, protocol, or product that is best at everything. As my studio continued its growth, I began to experiment with other tools to sand my projects including passive (inertia) sanders, ultra high-speed sanders (15,000 RPM Right Angle Grinders), giant electric rotary sanders with 5" and 6" disk heads, random orbital sanders (also known as "DA" sanders) and numerous versions of similar tools that were pneumatically powered.

Dynabrade's pneumatic palm sander features a
3" Velcro-faced sanding pad and a 3/16" orbit.

When the dust had settled, I found out that Random Orbital Sanders (ROS) offered the extra performance I was looking for when my rotary tools fell short. Very few woodturners I've met through the years use random orbital sanders in their studios. When asked why, most say they're too expensive, they don't work well and can be cumbersome to use on smaller projects. While I would agree that ROS can be a wee bit expensive, they can be very useful in certain sanding situations.

Most of the bad rap that ROS get comes from the fact that they will stop if you press to hard on the pad whilst sanding. Random orbit sanders do not turn the abrasive pad only in a circle like a standard rotary drill; rather they spin the pad as the pad moves in an eccentric orbit. This simultaneous spinning and oscillation creates a very effective sanding action. However, if you are a bit heavy handed the pad will simply stop, whereas a rotary sanding tool like an electric drill will slow a bit, but keep on running.

However, when you're working with the finer abrasive grits (P400, P600, P800 etc.), the dual action of a ROS produces a more uniformly sanded surface than a typical rotary tool. This is especially true when sanding inlaid crushed stone, sanding across metal band inlays, sanding timbers that feature significant differences in the density between early wood and late wood, or when sanding spalted timbers with a highly variable structural density to name a few.

The key to using ROS is to think of it as a final finishing tool, not a primary sanding solution. If you keep a light touch and limit the ROS to the final finishing grits only, a ROS can produce superb results.

Random Orbit Sanders for Woodturners

AirVantage's 5" random orbit palm sander is
an excellent choice for medium to large size projects.

One of the criticisms I've heard about ROS is that they are just too large for the average turned bowl or platter. In the past, many ROS featured pads that were 5" or 6" in diameter, which severely limited their use in the average woodturner's studio. However, in recent years small palm sized ROS sanders have become available that feature 2" and 3" Velcro faced sanding pads. There are even a few models with 1.5" pads, so pad size is no longer an issue.

Another complaint I've heard is that the size of the random orbit is too large for smaller projects typically turned on lathes. While it is true that older ROS had orbits that were better suited to flatwork projects, newer ROS have orbits as small as 3/32," which is about half the orbit size of a typical ROS. This means the size of the orbit is also no longer an issue.

Grex's Dual Action sander features a very powerful
motor with a 2" Velcro-faced sanding pad.

The last complaint I've heard is that ROS are too expensive. Some models do indeed have prices that hover in the stratosphere, but there are some affordably priced models as well. Newer palm sized models are easy to use and comfortable in your hand. The smaller 2" and 3" pads offer a seamless transition from rotary tools and are the perfect size for most faceplate projects. The tiny 1.5" models offer even greater range capabilities, as do the 5" and larger models.

Random Orbit Sander Advantages

• Orbit Size - The tiny 3/32" random orbit on newer models leaves an incredible surface when used with finer finishing grits.
• True Palm Size – Many pneumatic ROS are available in sizes that comfortably fit the palm of your hand and can be used for extended periods without fatigue.
• Velcro Faced Pads – Most ROS are now available with Velcro faced pads for easy grit changes. Although Velcro faced abrasives are slightly more expensive than other abrasives, they are far easier to use. Most woodturners agree that the extra expense of Velcro abrasives is outweighed by their ease of use.

Sioux's Dual Action sander features
a 3" Velcro-faced sanding pad.

Random Orbit Sander Disadvantages

• Cost – ROS can be expensive, especially the pneumatically powered models and the high-end electrics.
• Size - Some units are too big to fit in the palm of your hand, limiting their use to large and jumbo-sized projects that are better suited to the larger 6" and 8" pad sizes.
• Compressor Capacity - If you go with a pneumatic ROS, you'll need a good size compressor. I use a heavy-duty industrial air compressor with a 5HP motor (240 Volt) and an 80-gallon reserve tank. If you have a compressor smaller than 5HP/60 gallons, it may lack sufficient power and air capacity to keep up with your tool.

Using a Dual Action sander to finish sand the outside
of a 16" Honey Mesquite bowl with 800-grit abrasive.

• Use – ROS work best when the project is not turning on the lathe. Although you can use a ROS while the lathe is running, the RPM must be very, very slow. If the lathe runs fast, the ROS pad will stop or skip around on the surface, a condition known as "hiccupping."

ROS Protocol

As good as ROS are for finish sanding, I do not feel they offer significant advantages when using course abrasives. Therefore, I limit my use of ROS to grits above 400 grit (P400) and use traditional rotary pneumatic, or electric tools for courser abrasive work. My typical protocol for a bowl is as follows:

• Shear scrape the surface to 180 or 240 grit equivalent. This reduces the amount of sanding needed and further refines the desired profile.

Using the 3" AirVantage pneumatic palm sander to
finish sand a Mesquite platter with 800-grit abrasive.

• Power sand with rotary pneumatic, or electric drill with 180, 240 and 320-grits. After each grit, sanding dust is blown off and lathe direction is reversed. (Note: Chuck is locked onto the spindle with a grub screw to prevent the chuck from unscrewing when reverse sanding for safety. Some lathes do not offer this safety option.)
• Use a ROS for 400, 600 and 800-grit abrasives. After each grit change, dust is blown off and lathe direction is reversed. Depending on the project, finer grits may be used above 1,000-grit.

Recommendations

If you already have a suitable compressor, take a look at a palm sized ROS. Try it on some of your projects and see what you think… If you're like me, you'll find that a ROS is another tool worthy of being in your woodturning toolbox. It gives you additional options for those projects that can benefit from the dual sanding action and on those that incorporate mixed media inlays.

Metabo's electric random orbit sander features integrated
dust control and a 3" Velcro-faced sanding pad.

If you do not already own a compressor, look for electric model ROS or stay with your current rotary action sanding options. The costs involved with getting setup for pneumatics can be prohibitive and may be better spent on other tools that will help you to grow as your needs and desires change.

We will be conducting our very first subscriber poll next month!: Lathe Talk is now two years old! It seems like only yesterday when I published my first volume. My how time flies! We have had many requests from our subscriber base to publish a second "Premium Version" of Lathe Talk with lots more multi-media content like embedded project videos, high definition photographs, downloadable project files and more. We want to know what you would like to see as we move into our third year. Look for next month's opinion poll and please take a few moments to tell us how we may improve Lathe Talk!

Our subscriber base is growing every month! Thanks to all of our new and existing subscribers for our continued record setting subscription pace! Our subscriber base continues to see explosive growth every month.

We're proud of the fact that Lathe Talk is now being distributed to thousands and thousands of professional and hobby woodturners all over the world. If you have any suggestions or topics for Lathe Talk, or any other comments, please let me know.

Help Us Spread The Word: Please let your woodturning friends know about my Lathe Talk newsletter and encourage them to subscribe. Working together, we can make Lathe Talk a valuable educational resource for woodturners around the world. Take care and let me know if I can help you with any of your woodturning questions, or challenges.

Steve