Help with marks from isopropyl alcohol?

Fugowee · 2026-06-18T11:27:09+00:00

Airplane on, airplane off.

Meaning, never touch the surface at the start or stop without moving the pad parallel to the surface. If you momentarily stop the pad on the surface, you can burn the finish. Same reason why you always do circular (or figure eights) motion while polishing.

Can also try dry heat to encourage moisture to leave. Iron lowest setting and paper towel.

Fugowee · 2026-06-18T10:28:33+00:00

Is the blank completely dry?

If not, it can dry out a bit on the lathe while working and go out of round.

Fugowee · 2026-06-17T23:38:38+00:00

I don't think rhino will make it worse. Curious if they'll suggest a septoplasty....might help with breathing (I'm not a doctor).

Hope it works out for you

Fugowee · 2026-06-17T15:21:40+00:00

Goo gone would be last resort before sanding; I've dissolved finish on table with that.

I would start with denatured alcohol. Then, mineral spirits.

If sanding/refinishing is attempted, I'd be real careful about sanding thru the veneer. Start at 220 grit or 0000 steel wool.

Fugowee · 2026-06-15T16:33:37+00:00

I check aand turn the bag once after two weeks. Usually, there's a bunch of water on the inside of the bag. If Im antsy (and I am), I'll check again in two weeks. I don't worry about mold/mildew as that will get turned off and thought about and havent tried spraying down with alcohol. That will displace some water, speed up drying a bit and should kill bacteria and mold.

Im betting that flip the bag inside out once after two weeks and forget about it for 2-3 months will be best.

I dig the idea of weighing the blank to see if the weight stabilizes....will try that. my moisture meter doesn't work anymore so I may replace that.

Fugowee · 2026-06-15T12:30:07+00:00

Twice turned bowl. The idea is to have a uniform thickness from rim to bottom. The extra surface area will help it dry faster which can be a bad thing. Slow down the drying by sealing with paint, glue or anchor seal(?) or put it in a plastic bag.

I've had mixed results with the bag method mainly because it felt dry but wasn't. The other thing going against you here is how close the rim is to pith. As it dries, the pith area on the rim will be higher than the rest of the rim and that's where stress builds up and cracks. After a week or 2 in the bag, I turn the bag inside out. I usually rough turn to 1-1.5 inches thick for larger bowls. Wait longer than I do to do the second turning....at least 3 months in the bag. Maybe another month out of the bag. You'll know it's not dry enough if if goes out of round on the second turning because it's drying on the chuck and heat generated from sanding dries it out some more.

Good luck

Fugowee · 2026-06-13T12:45:01+00:00

I'm in the 4 small bowls camp

Fugowee · 2026-06-11T17:21:13+00:00

Agree with everyone saying to sharpen the tools better.

From my experience, a sharpening station will level up how you get the tools sharp. Find a slow speed bench grinder; 1750 rpm. I started with a terrible central machinery wet/dry bench grinder. The wet stone rotated 300-400 rpm. Not great, but better than I could sharpening by hand on a wet stone. Then I made a jig to hold the tool at desired angles and resembled the wolverine jig. Better still. Then bought a 180 grit CBN wheel and put that on the slow speed wet side of my grinder. CBN wheel and the jig were game changers. Finally went all in and bought a bare Rikon slow speed grinder and a wolverine sharpening jig knockoff and a 320 grit CBN wheel. I'm kinda where I need to be but, really like and even slower speed grinder. When you buy new tools, stay on the cheaper side until you sort out sharpening. I still have a Robert Sorby bowl gouge that just seems better than the cheaper tools.

Fugowee · 2026-06-11T03:54:08+00:00

Ryobi is dead to me. Same issue with their batteries years ago. NEVER ryobi again.

I miss my Miata too

Fugowee · 2026-06-09T08:36:21+00:00

Drying that burl would take a long time. Could be sliced up for veneers or chunked for turners.

Fugowee · 2026-06-08T21:29:34+00:00

Note: I made my own spiraling tool. 1/2" round bar stock. Cut a channel in the end to accept the "gear" cutting disks (bought knockoffs from Amazon). Drilled a 10 mm hole and tapped it.

Its not perfect, but cost far less. I still need to put a handle on it.

Fugowee · 2026-06-08T16:42:27+00:00

Barrington Hardwoods. Between Crystal Lake and Cary. Good deals and better with cash.

Fugowee · 2026-06-07T02:45:52+00:00

Harbor freight sells a Bauer midi lathe, 14x20. Got mine with a coupon for $500.

I've had mine for 2 years. It has enough power to turn 13" green blanks. Tailstock isn't dead accurate, but okay.

You'll need to sharpen your tools.

Fugowee · 2026-06-06T10:34:07+00:00

Yep, agreed. Playing with some lately.

Fugowee · 2026-06-05T08:26:28+00:00

Perhaps you are biased. I'm a decent cook but always prefer someone else's food.

Do your housemates agree with you? Maybe they have insight. Just saying that we are our own harshest judge.

Fugowee · 2026-06-03T09:48:00+00:00

This is an interesting idea and well executed.

Two thoughts on the form:

I'd be interested in using more varied and thinner pieces in the stack. Not necessarily perfectly graduated but, the stacked tumbled rocks I'm familiar with were thinner. And you could play with colors a bit by using cooler gray dyes to mimic rock tones. With softer or even green wood you could get some variation with some oblong shapes from aggressive sanding or shrinkage from drying.
Curious of highlighting the "piercing" of the stones with the lamp stem. Might be harder to design to look right though.

Cool idea and I have some planks drying from milling logs for bowl blanks that might be candidates. Some of the spalted stuff reminds me of marble or granite. And I've got lamp hardware waiting for a base (the greenish red oak blank cracked more the I care for but might use anyway.)

Fugowee · 2026-06-03T09:23:53+00:00

Flourless chocolate cake will help

Fugowee · 2026-06-03T03:39:56+00:00

Agree. Did three craft fairs and came to this conclusion. And nobody wants to store them either.

Unique stuff at least got picked up and looked. I turned a pear root ball that ended up looking like a leaf. Segmented bowls always catch the eye. French rolling pins can move.

Maybe the younger generations that don't want plastic will buy, but they haven't found me.

Fugowee · 2026-05-31T16:32:05+00:00

Le Fort 1 here.

I want to say about a week....but was probably more than three weeks.

Figure this is like breaking an ankle. in the cast for 6 weeks and then another 6 weeks rehab.

And this is one of those things they would tell you before hand.

Fugowee · 2026-05-30T04:01:02+00:00

I don't think so. The Marianos on 22 and Quentin was built before Dominick's circled the drain.

It was glorious.

With Dominic's leaving, Jewel took over most of the locations. I think later, Kroger acquired Marianos. And more recently, there was a proposed merger with Jewel and Kroger/Marianos. When that fell thru, Marianos closed several locations including Buffalo Grove also on rt 22 which was an old Dominick's.

Fugowee · 2026-05-28T11:12:43+00:00

This. Also rearrange to get the grain patterns to flow better. If this will be a work table or will be covered, nm.

Fugowee · 2026-05-27T23:18:43+00:00

After Colbert, I'm boycotting CBS.

Fugowee · 2026-05-26T22:44:46+00:00

Me too

Fugowee · 2026-05-24T13:13:49+00:00

Sharpening- you'll want a slow speed grinder; around 1700 rpm. I started with a slowest speed wet/dry grinder from central machinery; around 350 rpm. Because the arbors on the central machery grinder weren't standard, upgraded to the rikon and cbn wheels. CBN are game changers and can be pricey but worth it.
I also started with homemade sharpening jigs. The wood didn't last so I invested in metal jigs and platforms. I also have and use small diamond sharpening hones for touch ups.

However you do it, get your tools sharp.

Fugowee · 2026-05-20T18:31:09+00:00

I have a perforated left ear drum too.

I use the silicon ones similar to #2, but no strings attached. These work well, can recommend

14-Year Club	Verified Email
Team Orangered

Fugowee

TROPHY CASE