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How to Cope with Torn Grains
There are several ways of getting over torn grains on your Woodturning.

1.  Speed of the Wood Surface
The Speed of the wood traveling past the end of the bowl is very relative to the finish it leaves behind. Depending on bowl size, I suggest you try around 1800rpm for the small to medium bowls.

2.  Tools Forward Motion
The slower the forward speed, the more revolutions of the wood to the surface of the tool.  This combined with a steady hand will definitely helped the tooled surface. This is one of the key secrets to achieving that ultra-fine cut.....before sanding!

3.   Tool Grinding
Grind a little more 'rake' or angle on your tool.  I would also suggest that you ease the corners off your gouge and create softer sides to it, by rolling it over when you grind it.

4.  Tool Position
With the above grinding shape on your tool, you will be able to 'roll the tool over on its side' for clean, shear peeling. To help achieve this, lower your tool 'handle' down.  This will mean you are now approaching the wood surface at a much flatter angle.

5.  Toolrest Height
To get the above tool postion, lower your toolrest to 20mm below centre. This is to allow for flatter tool angle, and in turn being able to still cut on centre of just above. Remember:  VERY SLOW FORWARD MOTION ON THE FINAL PASS!

6.  Sanding Speed
Sanding is a cutting action - so slow the speed down!  This will give you a much more even cut of the paper, but the main reason is to help stop the heat building up to a level where it can put fine cracks in the surface.  You should now have a clean surface to work with off the tool, therefore you don't need to use coarse sandpaper. Using coarse sandpaper can put deep scratches into the surface and that can take a long time to sand away through the grades of paper.

Good Luck!
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