I was watching a couple of youtube videos on box call maintenance the other day. One person said to sand across the grain of the paddle and another said to sand with the grain. I don't intend to do either as mine all sound good but which way do you recommend sanding - with the grain or across the grain? :cowboy:
I tune my box calls by sanding across the striking surface. A good box call should have an X shape where the lid scratches the surface. I sand across the X. If that makes sense.
TRKYHTR
It depends a lot on what the lid is made of, and how much drag or bite you want ?
I have always sanded with the run of the grain, since the paddle runs accross the soundboards opposite the grain then if you sand with the grain you increase the drag and friction. If you were to sand accross the grain, looks like you would be defeating the purpose of the paddle's job, to grab. I know from using straight grained wood such as purpleheart or paduak, sanding with the grain increase the likely hood of running the caller softer...just my opinion..pappy
Using a scotch brite pad along the length of the paddle with the grain gives the best results for me.
I have a walnut/mahogany box from albert paul that was a little slick this year, I talked to him and he told me to sand the length of the paddle not across with 220 grit , it worked well
i think it depends on which way the grain is goin on both the body and paddle. But I like joes "X" technic,kinda like sanding primer on a car to get the paint to stick.