Swirl marks??

[Victorthesecond]

Hi everyone. I'm just getting to the end of making chopping boards from a slab of cherry wood. It's a good job I don't mind sanding!

Anyway, I've followed advice from you kind people plus a few YouTube tips and have just sanded the final time with 240grit paper on a Bosch random orbit sander. I took my time over this - just used enough pressure to stop the machine wandering around, followed the grain, and moved at around 1" a minute. All looked well until I sprayed the board with water to raise fibres for a final sanding.

I can;t figure out if there are swirl marks or if the water is just enhancing in some way the grain of the wood. Hopefully, the attached photo will show what I mean!

If they are swirl marks, I can either cry or ask for your advice on what I should do to try and make things better!

 

[Adam W.]

It's ripple grain and very nice it is too.

 

[Victorthesecond]

Phew, thanks. Big relief!

 

[bushwhaker]

Just tree is lightly knotty's IMHO.

 

[Orraloon]

Like the others say its just the figured grain of that nice bit of wood. I could not see any sander swirls on the picture. That said I am old school and usually like to finish off sanding by hand when I get past 240g.
Regards
John

 

[clogs]

hand block sanding is the way to go......with the grain....

 

[johnnyb]

It's posh name is "chatoyance"

 

[johnnyb]

Cherry is really difficult to stain btw because it goes blotchy because of this chatoyance.

 

[Victorthesecond]

Cherry is really difficult to stain btw because it goes blotchy because of this chatoyance.

Yeah, I'm finding that! It's my first effort at making cutting boards.. . Next time, I'll try and get maple I think. Little secret.... We were visiting our son in Tennessee,USA and he and I visited a lumber mill. I bought a 6' cherry slab for $60 and the mill cut it into suitcase size pieces for me. So, I have enough for 4 boards. That's Christmas sorted!!

 

[paulrbarnard]

It's ripple grain and very nice it is too.

Yes very nice!