I have noticed that when sanding green wood, it clogs up the paper quick and then just polishes.  I realize this could use up alot of sand paper.  I experimented with some synthetic steel wool yesterday and it worked great.  I put two hook and loop velcro stick strips on the edge of my lathe right near my work and it holds the synthetic steel wool.  You can just put your mandrel up to it on the drill and turn it a time or two and it cleans it great.  I'm sure you all probably already know this or have figured out a better way.  But, this is what I found worked and thought I would share it.

These rubber sandpaper cleaning sticks pay for themselves quickly:

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When I'm using a power sander or drill, I just "sand" on the end or side of the stick for a few seconds and the sanding disk is clean.

Rev. Doug Miller wrote on 04/22/12 at 20:38:14:
I was thinking the same thing, its what I use and helps remove the dust and waste.

I recently had the pleasure of using vinyl sealer on a redwood burl bowl (pic coming in near future).  Never before have I run into the clogging I achieved with this stuff.  I tried courser sand paper, it just removed my 400's grit.  I then got out a tooth brush, it did ok but the brush was a tad small.  I then tried my little steel brush, it worked wonders but was again a tad small.  Then it hit me, my slag brush for welding.  Once again it did wonders in unclogging.  So off to the big box to pick up a slightly cleaner version.  Just as I was walking in the door I noticed the grills and thought why not.  I found a 2 pack of refillable steel grill brush heads for $4.  Needless to say it works great.  I'm planning on mounting it to a wood block with a couple rare earth magnets to hold it on the lathe.  I also have discovered the Jet is of perfect height for my stool and all this sanding of lacquer I've been doing lately.  If one opts this route, it takes very light pressure and a swipe to dislodge the clog.

I hadn't thought of the compressed air.  Sounds simple enough.

Using wire brushes or synthetic steel wool strips the grit off the sandpaper.  The rubber doesn't.

Well, yes, the eraser sticks do work, but you have to stop working to use them. You can wet sand, and actually use water or oil on the wood which lubricates the wood and abrasives, and the discs do not load up, but it is messy. I also found that the slurry that is created can fill in scratch marks that you don't see till you wipe off the slurry. I prefer to let them dry first. Just easier to do. The down side is that sanding a warped piece requires lathe speeds in the 0 to 20 rpm range. Any 3 phase converter can be programmed to do this, though, PM did away with that because 'your motor will over heat and you will burn up your electronics'. 'But I sanded out thousands of bowls at those speeds and never had any problems.' 'No, you can't do that. My Robust has been reprogrammed, and no problems, and the motor runs cooler than when I turn. You can use the spindle lock, or hold the drill in one hand and let it spin the work while the other hand acts as a brake.

robo hippy

I am another one who uses a blast of compressed air and if that doesn't work I use my sanding belt rubber cleaning stick. If that doesn't work I throw it away, I don't want to stop sanding for 2 min. to clean a disc. that won't probably clean anyway after the quick stuff didn't work.