jrav Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Was playing around with some smaller PVC blanks I had done recently and got tired of trying to sand them to a reasonably consistent surface texture. For the heck of it, I took the plug and rubbed it vigorously against a short napped rug that my plants are on...nice surprise! Completely smoothed the surface to almost glass-like with just a few strokes, I suspect from the modest amount of heat/friction created by stroping on the rug. Been playing around with this idea over the weekend and found that wooden dowels and just about anything capable of exerting light force and frictional heat will accomplish the same end without dust and raw fingers. Very cool shortcut, especially on the little stuff when pressed into a rug for head work/smoothing. Dowels and flat wood, rubbed with light force are not bad for very fine shaping as in rounding a belly or getting a darter head just right. Some of this might be from compression of expanded foam as well, but then the sintra factsheet mentions malability at somewhere around the 150 degree/F mark on thin sheets. Not hard to hit on bare denim for a surface sheen. Rough-cut end of the sanding block has it place here for less dust as well, but it's a rougher finish. Not quite sure on the surface adhesion of epoxies when smoothed like this, it may indeed require a bit of roughing to maximize it. Certainly does serve well as an intermediate step though, eyeballing a smooth reflective surface for bilateral symetry makes inconsistencies jump out as opposed to the looking at rough sanded surfaces. Takes about 20 seconds on a cheap rug. Any of you folks noticing quirks like this with the expanded foams? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hazmail Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 jrav- Great find, I will have to try this for getting those sanding marks out, might save some precious time. thanks .pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atrophius Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Yeah, that sounds pretty good, being a thermoplastic with such a low malleable point. Will have to do it on my next one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark poulson Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 Maybe hitting it with a hair dryer on high first would speed up the process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DHurtig Posted May 26, 2009 Report Share Posted May 26, 2009 I make game calls as well as wooden lures. For a final polish after sanding, I use a piece of denim to buff the blank while it still on the lathe. It does a fantastic job. Dale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
