AAARRRGGGHHH!

[DC]

I think that's the right attitude to have. Sometimes better than "good enough" is a waste of time. But I'm starting to run out of wall space so anything that puts more time into each bow is a good thing.

[George Tsoukalas]

No marks allowed on mine.

I dampen a paper towel with water and run it over the bow. Marks show up. I remove them and continue. Those probably need a scraper. I sand with 220 grit. Repeat.

Then I sand with 300, 600 and  700 grit.

I should mention that I put down aggressive tools after I string the bow for the first time. I use a scraper-like tool... actually my Swedish push knife as a scraper.

Jawge

[Eric Krewson]

I do my final tillering with a palm sander to make sure I get rid of any tool marks. It also cuts smoothly through the grain at the fades so you don't have the stair step appearance.

The pal sande leaves tiny swirls in the wood that I take out with just a little hand sanding.

[DC]

What brand, size, model number sander do you use Eric? I've been really tempted but I just go blank when I'm standing in front of them in the store.

[bassman]

What Pearl said.

[Eric Krewson]

The cheapest one Walmart sells, I think I paid $13 for my last one, made in China of course. It takes 4" clamp on pads, I never liked wrestling with the clamps so I use stick on pads and take them off with a heat gun to keep from tearing the foam bottom on the sander when I change one out. Just a little heat and the come off easily.

[BowEd]

My Dewalt palm sander uses velcro type pad attachment and works good,but they are more expensive of course.I don't ever really use a palm sander for finishing a bow though.Good old by hand reducing grit of sand paper as you go is best with the grain.I've used a palm sander before to sand on a chased ring of a stave getting rid of every bit of early wood lingering though before before sheallcking then putting it away to dry.
By the time I am tillering a bow it is sanded overall down to 100 grit usually.

[Dances with squirrels]

It looks like you used that thing to defend against a bear attack. Glad you're ok. 

IMO, daylight washes out the surface too much for this operation. I find a more direct/specific light source is better for revealing any flaws. I hang a single incandescent bulb above the bench(and sometimes shut the shop lights off too) and hold the bow under it... slow turning and moving it in critical positions as needed to inspect every inch using not the light, but the shadows produced by the light. That's the trick... using the shadow of a single light source at an oblique angle. The smallest flaw jumps right out atcha. Only takes a minute or two to check the entire bow.

I have a couple of palm sanders and quit using them a long time ago. I can do it better and faster by hand. Good tool selection/progression minimizes tool marks, backtracking, sanding, and any risks of affecting tiller or weight.

'Good enough' is very subjective. At this point if I saw a tool mark in one of my bows after it was finished, I'd sand it all back down to raw wood and redo it... or just burn it and start over. Arrgh... Tool marks drive me nuts.

[TimBo]

Hey Mr. Squirrels, if you really find yourself in the situation of wanting to burn a bow with a tool mark, please mail it to me and I will be glad to pay shipping (and send some firewood in return if you want)!!  I have resisted joining in on this thread, and a similar recent one, because I am in what seems to be the minority of those not very bothered by a couple of tool marks.  I do appreciate a silky wood surface for sure, but don't quite have the patience to be as thorough as a lot of you guys with sanding.

[High-Desert]

I have found a few tool marks before and stripped a a bow down to redo it. It would have been much faster to make a new bow. If the area is small, I have scraped through the finish with a cabinet scraper and touched up the area by running through the grits again and applying finish over it again. This is usually only the case in none working portions of the limb, but I “never” get tool marks in the working limb area since I only use a cabinet scraper for final filleting so the tool marks are gone. I seem to get them at the tips and fades.

[DC]

Tips and fades, me too. I guess it's because those are the areas that aren't really touched by tillering so they don't get scraped as much. maybe we should make a point of doing them early in the process and they wouldn't get forgotten it the final fury
PS Or maybe slow down and not have a final fury

[Hawkdancer]

I'm with TimBo!  Might even send back a blank!(please specify caliber ).  Maybe some apple or cherry wood for smoking hides/meat!
Hawkdancer

[JW_Halverson]

A cheap chunk of sidewalk chalk goes a long way toward finding those pesky cat scratches. And if you are too cheap to spend a handful of change at the dollar store, you bloody tightwads, just use a bit of charcoal from the firepit.  Rubbing the bow with these will make those marks pop. Cleanup is a breeze, a quick wipe or two with 320 grit sandpaper if you don't find cat scratches. (Cuz it was the blasted cat that did those marks, you would NEVER be so careless, right?)

[Eric Krewson]

The orbital sander does leave swirl marks. I like it for final tillering because it removes any washboard left by scraping, it is also very slow so there aren't any OOPS late in the game, I finish up with hand sanding.

When I think I have a bow completed, I take it outside in the late afternoon light with cabinet scraper and sandpaper in hand. A little rotating in this light shows almost all the leftover tool marks, I hate tool marks. Next I put one coat of finish on the bow and go back out into the same light with the same equipment. We all know how that coat of finish makes every little tool mark stand out.