The Embellished Tiki - Tiki Carving

T Tamapoutini Member Aotearoa (New Zealand) Joined: Aug 30, 2006 Posts: 1530	T Tamapoutini Posted posted on Wed, Feb 25, 2009 8:33 PM On 2009-02-25 08:08, timidtiki wrote: TAMA: ..an 80 grit oval diamond point for the thumb depressions (Lopaki), and lots of sanding with 3M diamond paper down to 600 grit. Interesting. I believe you when you say "lots of sanding with.." Any new diamond tool will leave some serious scratching (apart from those grits in the 1000's) and Ive always found new 'spheres' leave particularly aggressive grooves. Are you using the diamond cloth and sandpaper by hand? A good shortcut is to wrap them around rubber sanding 'drums' of matching size (ideally; or slightly smaller if unavailable) to the circumference of your sphere, and spinning them in a horizontally mounted chuck/point-carver. The lower section of the barrel-shaped drum will closely hug the curvature of your carving and makes scratch removal much quicker. Ditto sanding.. Leave a slight overhang of paper/cloth (a couple of mm); using this flexible edge is quite suprising in its 'reach' and uses. For all that youve achieved an amazing surface and shine however you did it - so carry on! :lol: Ive never tried 3M diamond cloth but am more than convinced by their other products so assume it is as good as it gets. Will look into trying some myself.. Rock on! :wink:

On 2009-02-25 08:08, timidtiki wrote:

TAMA: ..an 80 grit oval diamond point for the thumb depressions (Lopaki), and lots of sanding with 3M diamond paper down to 600 grit.

Interesting. I believe you when you say "lots of sanding with.." Any new diamond tool will leave some serious scratching (apart from those grits in the 1000's) and Ive always found new 'spheres' leave particularly aggressive grooves. Are you using the diamond cloth and sandpaper by hand? A good shortcut is to wrap them around rubber sanding 'drums' of matching size (ideally; or slightly smaller if unavailable) to the circumference of your sphere, and spinning them in a horizontally mounted chuck/point-carver. The lower section of the barrel-shaped drum will closely hug the curvature of your carving and makes scratch removal much quicker. Ditto sanding.. Leave a slight overhang of paper/cloth (a couple of mm); using this flexible edge is quite suprising in its 'reach' and uses. For all that youve achieved an amazing surface and shine however you did it - so carry on! :lol:

Ive never tried 3M diamond cloth but am more than convinced by their other products so assume it is as good as it gets. Will look into trying some myself..

Rock on! :wink:

Post #436479 by Tamapoutini on Wed, Feb 25, 2009 8:33 PM