turning punky wood

[Jim Burr]

It's not a flame thing David...dozens of hours of research have gone into this...it's not your fault that you didn't see it. At the same time...don't bash the one's that helped with the work on it. We do this so people get the right advise, not what "you think". Get a vacuum system, get some Minwax solution and try both before you dispense advice.

[Scott Hackler]

I used some of the Minwax stuff once for some extremely spalted and punky sycamore pen blanks. I probably didn't read the instructions and layed the blanks in the bottom of an old aluminum bread pan and covered the blanks with enough of the Minwax stuff to submerge them. Then I went about goofing around in the shop and over the next few hours I sloshed the pan back and forth and flipped the wood blanks at least once. Eventually most of the hardner had been absorbed and I took them out, sat them on some wire racks and let them dry. I worked up a few of them as pens later on and they were pretty hard. No punky areas. So I guess it worked OK for my trial. Keep in mind that those blanks were 3/4" square stock and about 6" long. The one thing I noticed was that the hardener did darken the wood, similar to applying as oil finish.

Seems like it was $10 or so for the metal jug and I found out later that the 1/2 that I didn't use solidified in the can.....

I looked at a vac chamber while at SWAT and almost bought one, but they didn't have the size I wanted and I don't own a pump. I did see the Cactus Juice stuff and it seemed a little more reasonable product and from the wood samples they had, I didn't think the wood darkened as much, if at all. I did notice a superb penetration using the vac chamber systems and the stabilized wood blanks were 5x heavier than the non stablized samples.

I still might order one but I have to round up a Gast pump first.....

[Dan Hintz]

I looked at a vac chamber while at SWAT and almost bought one, but they didn't have the size I wanted and I don't own a pump. I did see the Cactus Juice stuff and it seemed a little more reasonable product and from the wood samples they had, I didn't think the wood darkened as much, if at all. I did notice a superb penetration using the vac chamber systems and the stabilized wood blanks were 5x heavier than the non stablized samples.

I still might order one but I have to round up a Gast pump first.....

Scott,

The Cactus Juice (or Resinol I mentioned earlier) will not darken the wood, a big advantage over the Minwax stuff if you care about the color of the piece. The vacuum chamber, as you found out, makes a huge difference in the saturation level. A well-soaked blank will feel quite dense, almost like a piece of ironwood.

[Scott Hackler]

Yeah, those stabilized pieces were super hard and dense feeling.

[robert baccus]

It must be nice to know everything. Try all 4 procedure before you advise and one must be a 14" x8" red palm vase. Maybe we can all learn. Also add in material and equipment costs.

[Peter Blair]

Hey Robert.
Thanks for the tips.
I frequently use wood hardener but would like to try your method.
I am not sure what a vinyl bag is or where I could get some. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

[Michael Kellough]

Thanks for the notes Robert. I noticed in an earlier post (that I'd skipped over before) that you said this was an old boat building trick. Recently I read Robb Whites book of stories Flotsam and Jetsam and he told of tenting a boat so he could heat it up to 130 degrees and then cut the heat, turn on the air conditioner, and apply as much thin epoxy by brush as the assembly would take, as quickly as possible. Kind of a bootstrap vacuum bag substitute. The heat dove some of the air out of the wood and when the wood cooled it sucked epoxy in.

I don't have enough turning experience to predict if Robb White's method would help turners.

I also wonder about the vinyl bag. Wouldn't polyethylene work as well?

[robert baccus]

That's a new boat trick for sure. The acetone is a solvent for many plastics and will go right through most bags. I use the black yard bags labeled vinyl. I'm sure there are others also. I have a 2 acre yard and a good supply of these and they are usually very tough to tear.

[Scott Lux]

I'll second the min wax hardener. I've used it a couple times on punky wood. Yeah, it's sticky and it does darken the wood. But it does work. And forgive me if I find $10 to be more cost effective than buying a vacuum system and pump.