Wiil this work???

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joek30296

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I have a few pieces of black cherry that I need to stabilize and would like to try my hand at it. I have a vacuum pump, automotive a/c kind. that my mechanic gave me.
Since I'm cheap and don't want to buy a pressure pot, I was wondering if an old pressure cooker would work. I've seen them at Goodwill and places like that for pretty cheap. Would it be safe? Glass jars scare me.

What do you think?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts, comments, and suggestions.

joe
 
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mhbeauford

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joek30296 said:
I have a few pieces of black cherry that I need to stabilize and would like to try my hand at it. I have a vacuum pump, automotive a/c kind. that my mechanic gave me.
Since I'm cheap and don't want to buy a pressure pot, I was wondering if an old pressure cooker would work. I've seen them at Goodwill and places like that for pretty cheap. Would it be safe? Glass jars scare me.

What do you think?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts, comments, and suggestions.

joe
Click to expand...

Yes it should work, unfortunately you can't see what's happening as you pull the vacuum, how much foaming and when the bubbles stop. My solution for my first attempt was to make a vacuum chamber using a pyrex bread baking dish, about right size to start and very strong. I made a lid using the white amine coated shelf material. to make a seal i put a 1/4 - 3/8 in or so bead of silicone sealer around the top edge of the dish, covered it with a piece of plastic wrap, placed the lid on and pushed it down gently until the silicone squished out evenly, placed a small weight on it and let it cure overnight. Next day remove the lid and remove the plastic wrap. Let cure for another day or so and it will make a very nice sealing gasket. If it should leak a just a little, my did very slightly, get some silicone grease that is used to lubricate faucet washers, Lowes of Home Deopot, and put a light coating on the silicone seal. I drilled and inserted my vacuum connection into the lid, sealed around it with thin CA and sealed the edges of the lid also with thin CA. works great foe small batches of pen blanks usually 4-8. I can pull 28-1/2" + with my Robinaire. I have also made a larger one using 3/8 acrylic that is solvent welded.
 
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joek30296

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Newnan, GA
Thanks Martin. I didn't think about not being able to see what was happening. Pyrex sounds safer than a glass jug to me and I'll try that. Your setup sounds pretty simple which is what I'm after.
Thanks again.

Joe
 
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Jim Burr

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Glass Jars work real well Joe. To add more "safe" to it, put the jar inside a 5 gallon bucket if an Oops does happen. Lots of folks use them. Since it's vacuum and not pressure, they are well suited for the use. Remember that part of canning is creating a vacuum in the jar to seal the lid!
 
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