Trying to get more strength out of a delicate wood part

[Luke Pighetti]

Hey guys,

I know there are some processes out there that take a wood part, put them under vacuum, and introduce some sort of solvent / epoxy mix... The point being to impregnate the wood with some kind of product that when cured is much stronger than the original wood. The point being to have the natural look of wood with the properties of a uniform plastic.

Can anyone put me in the right direction for finding a place that does this sort of thing? Or maybe some alternative for home shop use?

Here's a photo of the object in question. The material is about 1/4" x 1/4" cross section and it will be seeing some bending in normal use. I'd like to coat it with polyurethane or lacquer when finished.

223966_432848313427501_2096045527_n.jpg

Thanks all
Luke

[Bruce Page]

I never like answering a question with a question buy why not make it out of a stronger material?

[Luke Pighetti]

Aesthetics and aesthetics alone.

[Tom Hintz]

A friend of mine was at a hobby shop with his son getting model airplane stuff when he noticed that they sell carbon fiber in strips of various widths and lengths, used to re inforce model airplane wings and such. He has used it with great success in his woodworking making very small, thin parts very strong by laminating this carbon fiber to the unseen side. Might this work in your application if you have an unseen side or are able to "resaw it" and put the carbon fiber inside?

[Luke Pighetti]

It's a very good thought, Tom. I wonder if there is some kind of clear material that could be laminated to both sides. In fact, I wonder what would happen if both sides were painted with some kind of flexible epoxy.

[Damon Stathatos]

I use an obscure product originally developed to repair and stabilize dry rot for woods that I want to toughen up. As the name implies, it's a penetrating epoxy and depending upon the porousity of the wood, can penetrate quite deep. Like all epoxies, it tends to yellow a bit over time, but I don't think your piece will be as affected as say, maple. If you call them, they're more than happy to answer your questions.

http://www.smithandcompany.org/CPES/index.html

[Brian Tymchak]

I don't know if this is a real option for you, but there is something relatively new called Compwood. I've seen a few articles on it and it seems just unbelievable how bendable wood can be. Here's a link to the PopularWoodworking article that also has links to Compwood.

It seems that if your part could be made so that the curve is all done with the long grain of the wood, it would be much stronger than being cut cross-grain from a board.

[John Coloccia]

My initial first thought was make a lamination with carbon fiber as the center. You get a nice, black stripe that people will mistake for ebony unless you tell them differently.

What are you building? That part looks like part of some sort of gimbal.

[Jamie Buxton]

Search in the Turning forum with the search term "stabilizing". For instance http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ht=stabilizing

Further poking around in the turning forum led me to this site: http://www.stabilizedwood.com/wssi.shtml

[John Lanciani]

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

It's a little bit of a process to use but it adds a bunch of strength.

[Luke Pighetti]

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

It's a little bit of a process to use but it adds a bunch of strength.

Hey John,

Do you know anyone who could run some test parts for me with Cactus juice?

Luke

[John Lanciani]

PM sent with a reference to the "other forum". Publicly, I'd contact the guy that sells the cactus juice and see if he'd do a sample and/or do them on a fee basis.

[Todd Burch]

How much stronger than a riven wood bent lamination would you need?

[Brent Ring]

SMith and Company's CPES Penetrating 2 Part Epoxy. Good stuff for impregnating wood.