Wood Parts Tumbling vs Hand Sanding

Hand sanding wood parts can be a tedious and labor intensive process. The ability to smooth the surface, remove cutting marks and round edges on a large quantity of parts can same time and money.

The part pictured above needed to be sanded down prior to the application of a stain and coating. The part on the right shows the sharp edges and some flashing after the initial cutting of the part. A two step barrel tumbling  process was used to achieve the end result on the left.

Step 1 involved using a Hardwood Peg Media and relatively coarse White Aluminum Oxide Grit. This produced the edge rounding and major 'sanding' of the part.

Step 2 used a similar Peg Media along with a much finer grade of White Aluminum Oxide Grit to result in a smoother, sanded finish. If necessary, subsequent steps with even finer grades of Grit or a quick hand sanding to the final required surface finish can be used. Barrel tumbling the parts in this dry process can eliminate most if not all of the hand sanding often done.

Wood Parts Tumbling to Remove Flashing

Common practice to remove flashing and sand wooden parts is by hand. Sandpaper or sanding wheels can be used to effectively clean up parts one at a time. A more efficient process (especially for large quantities of parts) is to use barrel tumbling.

This picture shows a before (left) and after (right) of a walnut wood part with heavy flashing, excess material on the edges and a rough cut surface finish. This is probably an extreme example; however, a simple barrel tumbling process created the surface finish on the right.

This part was tumbled with Hardwood Media and a small amount of 120 Mesh White Aluminum Oxide overnight. The result is a smooth surface finish with rounded edges and no excess material.