How do you clean off stabilized blanks?

[Tim'sTurnings]

I looked in the library and cannot find an answer.
I have some spalted blanks I stabilized and baked. Does anyone have a fairly easy way to get all of the hardened cactus juice from the blanks? I tried a couple of ways, bandsaw and tablesaw. But both waste a lot of wood and they didn't come out square. I also tried my belt sander and it makes a horrible mess and my blanks don't come out square on that either. Do I just cut my blanks to size and try to drill a straight hole with the hardened juice on the outside? I would think the blanks wouldn't be square in my blank drilling jaws on the lathe.
Any help would be appreciated.
Tim.

 

[Jim Burr]

For your next batch...don't roll them in foil. Sander works well for the current problem.

 

[ed4copies]

Mount on your lathe, between centers and turn to round.

OR, the sander does do the job, but it is messy.

 

[JohnU]

I think Ed has the cleanest idea. I sand two sides on the belt sander and then use the table saw and fence and skin the edges.

 

[its_virgil]

If you are using them just start turning. If you are selling them then make them oversize then use the table saw to size them after stabilizing. No need to remove the excess if you are using them to make a pen. Or, maybe I don't understand your question.
Do a good turn daily!
Don

 

[ed4copies]

Don,
I think his problem is trying to get the blanks "square" so he can drill down the center.

 

[KenV]

Don,
I think his problem is trying to get the blanks "square" so he can drill down the center.

The answer is still valid ---- find the center points you want to use and turn between centers. The rounded sections drill very nicely in chuck jaws or in a pen drilling vise.

The approach works well with antler that is a bit on the weathered side after a bath in cactus juice.

 

[ironman123]

I use a belt sander to clean up some.

A note to minimize the amount of juice on the blanks is to make sure they are dry wood as possible and heat them before stabilizing. Works good for me.

Ray

 

[MesquiteMan]

As Ray mentioned...to reduce the amount of bleed out...double check your cure temp and make sure it is 200° F based on an oven thermometer, not the dial. Also dry your blanks in the oven at 215° F for 24 hrs prior to stabilizing to make sure there is no moisture in them. If you do this, make sure and place them in a ziplock bag or sealed plastic container to cool down. A hot, super dry piece of wood will suck moisture right back in from the air as it cools down.

If you do both of these, you should end up with just a nice even film on the outside of the blank without any significant thickness.

 

[Tim'sTurnings]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I will be trying the belt sander with good vacuum hooked up to my shop vac and maybe turning to round before drilling.

Curtis, I did not dry the blanks before stabilizing. I can't see how that would cut down on the buildup of the hard resin on the stabilized blank.

 

[sbell111]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I will be trying the belt sander with good vacuum hooked up to my shop vac and maybe turning to round before drilling.

Curtis, I did not dry the blanks before stabilizing. I can't see how that would cut down on the buildup of the hard resin on the stabilized blank.

My thinking is that if there is still moisture in the blank, it is going to expand when it goes from vacuum to being heated in the oven.that expansion will shove some of the stabilizing goo out.

 

[NittanyLion]

Curtis is right. If your blank is bone dry, and kept that way either in the oven or a ziplock bag, you only end up with a paper thick clear film. You also end up with a perfectly stabilized blank....one I would put up against any "professional" stabilized blank.

 

[MesquiteMan]

The boiling point of water at sea level is 212° F. The cure temp of Cactus Juice is 200° F. The chance that you can keep your oven at exactly 200° is slim. Any moisture left in the wood will begin to boil as you heat the wood up. As water boils it turns to steam and expands exponentially. It has to go somewhere so it pushes Juice out of the wood, leaving a thicker crust.

Wood is never dry unless you artificially dry it and keep it in something that is a moisture barrier. Even wood that has been in your shop for 40 years has moisture in it. Most parts of the US, this moisture content is 10-14% due to humidity. Dry the wood in the oven just above the boiling point of water for 24 hours and then keep them in a sealed container to cool and your results will be much better.

 

[MesquiteMan]

either in the oven or a ziplock bag

Are you keeping the blanks in the oven at temp then immediately stabilizing them? If so, you run the risk of the hot blanks causing the Juice to cure in the chamber. If you are leaving the blanks in the oven to cool down, you are not getting the best results. Your oven is not sealed and it will not be much different than allowing the blanks to cool on your work bench.

Remember, a hot, super dry piece of wood will start picking up moisture as soon as it starts to cool down. I have done testing where I had blanks at 0% moisture verified by weight studies. I took them out and placed half in a ziplock bag and left the other half on my work bench in my air conditioned shop. The ones in the bag never changed weight, the ones on the work bench had picked up 3 grams of weight each in just a couple of hours. By 24 hours, they were right back up to their original weight before drying.

 

[NittanyLion]

either in the oven or a ziplock bag

Are you keeping the blanks in the oven at temp then immediately stabilizing them? If so, you run the risk of the hot blanks causing the Juice to cure in the chamber. If you are leaving the blanks in the oven to cool down, you are not getting the best results. Your oven is not sealed and it will not be.

Curtis,
Both my chamber and oven comfortably hold 25 blanks, and I usually do batches of 100, so I form somewhat of an assembly line. I dry my blanks ahead of time, weeks or monthe earlier. Just before stabilizing, I cook them again at 175 either in the oven or dehydrator for several hours(3-4?). All of this pre-heating is to remove additional MC because of humidity in the air. I have a drying station where the blanks go after the oven. I place them on a rack with a fan blowing over it. They stay there for 5-10 mins...probably around 120 - 130 degrees inside. I then place it in a ziplock, keeping the fan on it. Once the previous batch is done, they go in the oven...within an hour.

I developed this through trial and error, primarily after getting gunk on my blanks, which is because of excess moisture. Doing all of this has produced a better product and it works well for me.

 

[sbell111]

either in the oven or a ziplock bag

Are you keeping the blanks in the oven at temp then immediately stabilizing them? If so, you run the risk of the hot blanks causing the Juice to cure in the chamber. If you are leaving the blanks in the oven to cool down, you are not getting the best results. Your oven is not sealed and it will not be.

Curtis,
Both my chamber and oven comfortably hold 25 blanks, and I usually do batches of 100, so I form somewhat of an assembly line. I dry my blanks ahead of time, weeks or monthe earlier. Just before stabilizing, I cook them again at 175 either in the oven or dehydrator for several hours(3-4?). All of this pre-heating is to remove additional MC because of humidity in the air. I have a drying station where the blanks go after the oven. I place them on a rack with a fan blowing over it. They stay there for 5-10 mins...probably around 120 - 130 degrees inside. I then place it in a ziplock, keeping the fan on it. Once the previous batch is done, they go in the oven...within an hour.

I developed this through trial and error, primarily after getting gunk on my blanks, which is because of excess moisture. Doing all of this has produced a better product and it works well for me.

Will cooking the blanks at 175 degrees remove the water in the blanks, or just make it hot?

 

[MesquiteMan]

Will cooking the blanks at 175 degrees remove the water in the blanks, or just make it hot?

It will remove some but not all. You would need to exceed the boiling point of water to remove all of it.

 

[NittanyLion]

[/QUOTE]
Will cooking the blanks at 175 degrees remove the water in the blanks, or just make it hot?[/QUOTE]

It will in my dehydrator. The oven is close, but the dehydrator performs better. It also depends on how dense the wood is.