Bruce Hoover is a longtime resident of Virginia's Eastern Shore. He has been involved in woodworking most of his life. Several years ago after sustaining a severe spinal injury he made woodturning his hobby. He has been turning for about six years and is now a full time professional woodturner. He has studied under Myron Curtis of Virginia Beach, VA, John Penrod of Tallahassee, FL, and Frank Sudol and Michael Hosaluk of Canada. He and his wife Janet exhibit in juried art shows throughout the year and have received several awards for their woodturnings. Bruce specializes in hollow forms, tea kettles and pierced Christmas ornaments.

Bruce is the self-proclaimed past president of the I Hate to SAND Club. Bruce has developed and markets the Sanding Glove " for woodworkers and wrote an article in American Woodturner (Spring 03) about his Square Aim Laser, which is an improved design for a laser hollowing guide that he shares for all to use and benefit from.

The morning demonstration was all about sanding and finishing: Our final finish can only be as good as the sanded surface it is applied to, which starts with clean turning.

Bruce began with a demonstration of shear scraping the outer surface of a hollow form. He used a side ground gouge with a near vertical presenting angle. He used a detail gouge for end-grain work and a shear scraper for final clean up. A cabinet scraper can also be used for cleaning up.

Next, dry sanding was discussed. Angle head drills were discussed. Bruce uses a slower speed model (0-1300 RPM). He modifies the speed control by placing a small curved piece of wood under the trigger with a rubber band. This prevents too high a speed and reduces fatigue on the holding hand. Slower sanding speeds reduce heat and give the abrasive time to work. (The larger the vessel one sands the slower the speed used.) Bruce always uses fresh paper and not partly worn paper. As he sands from one grit to the next finer, he blows off the piece to remove residual grit particles. He stressed to look over a vessel after each grit is used. If a defect is found it should be eliminated before going to a finer grit. He showed how a pneumatic die grinder (without air source) can be used as a self-powered sander, and how orbital sanders with variable speed and a contour pad can be used. Bruce uses a foot pedal to control the orbital sanders on-off switch. If a piece is out of round he sands at a very slow speed with a soft sanding pad.

If a vessel has a rim and one needs to sand it to keep the detail intact, a detail sander such as a Black and Decker Mouse is used. This will produce a crisp edge. To sand the neck of a vessel Bruce uses a Foredom Tool with a drum sanding attachment. This is also ideal for sanding fluted carvings on a bowl surface. Hand sanding was discussed using The Sanding Glove^TM with the Velcro surfaces on the fingers. This is especially useful in bowl bottoms. Bruce uses lacquer sanding-sealer applied by hand on a paper towel. He uses two coats and then sands. He may apply a third coat. He uses water based sanding sealer on softer, lighter color woods so that they are not darkened. For hollow forms he uses a forceps to hold the paper to sand inside the neck or opening. For deeper hollow forms with a larger opening the angle head drill is used with an extension placed through a sleeve to better stabilize the shaft. Flap sanders are also used to do the interior of vessels. These are used at a high speed.

Self-powered sanding attachments are useful to do the interior walls of hollow forms. There are self-powered sanding attachments that can be attached to your boring bar. For more aggressive sanding an extension can be made for the air sanding head.

Smaller Items: Bruce uses a 3-M Sanding Sponge (fine or super fine). Place the sandpaper on the sponge-grit side to the back of the sandpaper. This prevents slipping of the paper and excessive heat to ones fingers. Self-powered sanders are useful on smaller pieces. Forceps to hold the paper are useful on smaller items. When sanding finials the 3-M Sponge is used with sandpaper and folded around the finial. Steel wool sheets (Easy Sand) are useful on smaller pieces. This gives a burnished surface that finishes quite well. For final sanding on small pieces, the Sanding Glove" is useful. For final sanding a small base after parting-off, use PSA or double-sided tape and stick one side to your finger and the other to the sandpaper. For sealing cracks use accelerator then CA glue then accelerator. Then sand (you have sealed the crack and have not left a blotchy area). Black CA glue can be used to create an instant spalt line in the crack. To make CA glue applicators use polyester batting (available at fabric stores). This can be used to repair punky areas. To apply CA glue to an entire vessel use disposable Nitrile rubber gloves. This gives a surface that can be sanded and lacquer sealed. Sanding discs can be cleaned with an air hose or a cabinet scraper.

Wet sanding: To wet-sand dry wood, use mineral oil. To wet-sand wet wood, use water to moisten the surface. This can be done with a mister or a wet cloth. Wet sanding with 320 grit is like dry sanding with 500 or 600 grit paper.

Bruce then roughed out an ornament of wet maple. He first shaped the top of the ornament, then the bottom of the globe. (He does not use a pre-determined lathe speed.) He then determined how deep to drill the hole in the globe to leave about ¼ thickness in the bottom. As he drilled the hole he blew the shavings away. Bruce then hollowed the ornament starting with a drop-nose chisel. Shavings were cleared with compressed air. A curved nose tool was then used for the interior sides and bottom. He used a one-eighth inch bent aluminum rod as a wall thickness gauge. Vacuum caps were used on the ends of the gauge rod to prevent scratching of the exterior surface of the ornament.

Next Bruce turned a dry, previously roughed out hollow ornament in the tear drop style. The top and bottom were trued. A shear scraper was used to finish the surface. The hole was trued up with a three-quarter inch bit. The interior was trued up and thinned to about three thirty-seconds of an inch. He then measured the depth with a homemade depth gauge. The bottom was then defined with a drop nosed chisel. The ornament was then sanded from 180 thru 320 grit. Then 500 grit was used with the Sanding Glove". Sanding sealer was then used followed by steel wool. The ornament was then parted off. It was reversed and mounted on a jam chuck. Bruce then finished off the bottom of the ornament. Sanding sealer was used followed by steel wool.

A finial was then made from dry square stock. It was placed in the headstock with a screw chuck. The tailstock was brought into place. The piece was then rounded and the finial formed. The bottom of the finial was turned so that it fit into the top of the ornament. Details of the finial were then formed. The upper tip of the finial was formed. The finial was then sanded using the 3-M Sponge backer starting at 240 grit then to 320. The tailstock was removed and the top of the finial parted and flattened so that it could be drilled. The finial was finished with Mylands Friction Polish at a slow speed after which it was parted off. An eye pin was glued in the top of the finial. Bruce placed a bee-bee in the hollowed portion of the ornament to demonstrate that it is hollow.

Next, a double-hole ornament was formed using a previously hollowed-dry ornament body. The surface was trued, shear scraped and sanded. The opening was trued with a seven-eighths inch bit. The interior was then trued and thinned. The three-quarter inch bit was then used to drill the second hole in the ornament. It was then parted off. A tenon was formed on the waste block. The ornament was reversed chucked and sanded. Two finials would then be made. A longer decorative bottom one and a smaller top one. Bruce used 5-minute epoxy to glue the finials in place not CA glue.

A discussion followed about shop tips and organizers, which was quite varied and detailed. The Square Aim Laser was discussed and members can refer to the mentioned article for details. This completed a very interesting and informative demonstration. Because of the numerous topics discussed, more detailed coverage will be available in the edited demo tape, which will be in the club library in December 2003.

--Bob Gunther

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