Vacuum infusing for wood stabilizing

[Quinn McCarthy]

I am in the process of making a vacuum infuser like the one at Joewoodworker web site.

My plan is to use minwax wood hardener. How thick of wood can be stabiized? Say 1 1/2" - 2" wood. How do you know when the stabilizer has penetrated into the center of the wood? Would a dye mixed in at first indicate the penetration of the dye? I would get the more rotten the piece the quicker the penetration would be.

I have done some gravity assistd stabililizing on pen blank size stuff and let them sit a week in that. I am looking to speed that up a bit and graduated to bigger material with the vacuum chamber.

Thanks

Quinn

[Ralph Lindberg]

Quiin, there is at least one good article over at the International Pen Turners forum, you might want to cruise over there and read

[Quinn McCarthy]

I don't have a membership over there.

Quinn

[David E Keller]

You don't have to be a member to read the articles on IAP... I'd check out the library section. BTW, membership is free.

I haven't done any vacuum stabilizing, but I've read a bunch of stuff about it. Obviously some woods don't cooperate with stabilizing, but they're usually the ones you wouldn't want to stabilize anyway(rosewoods, snakewood, ebony, etc.). The more porous the material, the faster the material will penetrate. I think your idea to add a colorant is a good one. The only way I know of to assess penetration would be to cut the piece and check. Looking forward to hearing how you make out with this.

[Quinn McCarthy]

Dave,

You are right about the articles. Gleaned a bit from them. The infuser is almost done. Was a busy weekend here.

I will keep you posted.

Thanks

Quinn

[Chip Sutherland]

I have used Miniwax hardener several times. It penetrates with zero effort for me. I am very interested to see what penetration results you get. I just keep using it whenever I come across soft wood. It's nasty stuff but works well enough for the price. Pentacryl is over my budget.

[neil mackay]

you can improve the penetration by alternating between negative pressure and positive pressure. This gives you the best of two worlds, although it does make the pressure vessel more complicated

[Dan Hintz]

Is this for pen blanks? If so and you're having problem with complete penetration, I suggest giving it a run first, drilling out the middle, then throw it back in the pot for a second run.

[Mark Hazelden]

Quinn,

Please do keep us updated. I'm interested in your results.

[Jim Burr]

IAP will have all you need to know...wrong place for pens. Some stabilization can be done with some thin CA just dribbled on the blank. Serious stabilization can be done in a paint pot or pressure pot with either an acrylic and hardener mix or acetone and polycarbonate mix. A simple pressure pot for 24 hrs is all you need...IAP will verify that.

[Paul Douglass]

Have you checked this stuff out. Might be cheaper that the minwax and is specific for stabilizing wood blanks.

http://www.turntex.com/index.php?pag...art&Itemid=121

[curtis rosche]

you could fill one of those preassure sooker pots and use pressure too

[John Hart]

I've never done it with wood stabilization, but back when I was an engineer, in the aerospace industry, we regularly needed to impregnate porous materials with various types of epoxies and stuff. Always used a vacuum chamber, and our method of knowing was by air bubbles. When the air bubbles stop...yer done. We'd leave stuff in a little extra time just to be sure....but that was just over-cautious.
I'll be very interested to hear how this turns out.

[Quinn McCarthy]

Interesting site thanks for the link.

I got the chamber done last night and gave it a test run. There doesn't seem to be any leaks. Stabilizing test tonight.

Thanks

Quinn

[Quinn McCarthy]

I finally got the infusion chamber done. It is simple design with 4" pvc and caps at each end. The test run went great with nothing in it. I have made 2 test runs that created quite a mess in the bottom of the tube with minwax hardener. I have a nalgene bottle that I am using to put the wood and hardener in. THe first run I had full length pen blanks and topped the bottle off with hardened and placed it in the chamber. After 2 hours I took it out and most of the hardeener was in the bottom of the chamber. On the second run I used half blanks that filled the bottle half way and topped then off with hardener. After an hour I opened the chamber and found another mess in the bottom of the chamber again but not as bad because there was less to start with. On the blanks from the first run it doesn't look like there was any penetration of hardener into the wood. The second run actually I had blanks on the bottom of the nalgene bottle in what was left of the hardener. The tube is held vertical by the base. What could be happeneing here.

Help!!!

Quinn