Cactus Juice age

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wolf creek knives

wolf creek knives

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Quick question for turners who stabilize with Cactus Juice. I found a bottle in my shop, never opened, kept in a cool place and not exposed to light. The problem is it's 4-5 years old and I'm wondering if it's any good. I sent an email to Curtis at Turntex and he hasn't responded...not unusual for Curtis though. I did look at the FAQ section on Turntex and all I could find was to either use a shot glass and heat some up to see if it turns hard, or, order some of the activator and see if it works. Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated.
 
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wolf creek knives said:
Quick question for turners who stabilize with Cactus Juice. I found a bottle in my shop, never opened, kept in a cool place and not exposed to light. The problem is it's 4-5 years old and I'm wondering if it's any good. I sent an email to Curtis at Turntex and he hasn't responded...not unusual for Curtis though. I did look at the FAQ section on Turntex and all I could find was to either use a shot glass and heat some up to see if it turns hard, or, order some of the activator and see if it works. Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

Well, my first question would be, was the Juice activate...?

I never left the CJ unused for that long but, I have had different reactions to age on the activate Juice, once a whole gallon that I had dyed with blue went off after a few months unused, the Summer heat was the culprit, however, I have had CJ activated in clear and dyed through the Summer, in the exact same location for a whole Summer without any issues.

I have had un-activated CJ for well over 1 year, I normally only add the activator a few days before I know I will need it but after that, I can never tell how long the mixed Juice is going to be on the shelve before it is used again. Some dyed colours are used more often than others but recently, I have been using a lot less JC and a lot less frequently, some colours have been mixed for well over 1 year and still look OK.

Good luck,

Cheers
George
 
robutacion said:
Well, my first question would be, was the Juice activate...?

I never left the CJ unused for that long but, I have had different reactions to age on the activate Juice, once a whole gallon that I had dyed with blue went off after a few months unused, the Summer heat was the culprit, however, I have had CJ activated in clear and dyed through the Summer, in the exact same location for a whole Summer without any issues.

I have had un-activated CJ for well over 1 year, I normally only add the activator a few days before I know I will need it but after that, I can never tell how long the mixed Juice is going to be on the shelve before it is used again. Some dyed colours are used more often than others but recently, I have been using a lot less JC and a lot less frequently, some colours have been mixed for well over 1 year and still look OK.

Good luck,

Cheers
George
Click to expand...
The Juice was activated when I packed it away. It's only a quart and it's in the original container with the plastic bag still wrapped around it, looks like it just came from Turntex. I just hate the thought of wasting it if I can still use it.
 
My understanding is that the risk is that it won't cure. The acrylates slowly react over time to form larger molecules, the larger molecules are less reactive, so they might remain liquid even after heating. I would shake it up good, pour a couple tablespoons onto a tray, heat it and see if it cures. If it does, then youre good to go and you only wasted a little bit of time and energy, if it doesn't cure then it probably isn't worth messing with. Just my 2 cents...
 
Also, I couldn't find any details on the activator, but I think that it is essentially inert until heated, it then breaks down to other components that initiate the curing reaction. The activator can break down over time at room temp. This means that even if the acrylates are "fine" there might not be enough activator left to get the party started. You might be able to spike it with fresh activator, but I'm not sure how you would know how much to use or even if this is an issue. Back to "test it and throw it out if it doesn't cure". Note that my comments are loosely based on science, but I figured I would share my "best guess", take it for what it is...
 
wolf creek knives said:
Quick question for turners who stabilize with Cactus Juice. I found a bottle in my shop, never opened, kept in a cool place and not exposed to light. The problem is it's 4-5 years old and I'm wondering if it's any good. I sent an email to Curtis at Turntex and he hasn't responded...not unusual for Curtis though. I did look at the FAQ section on Turntex and all I could find was to either use a shot glass and heat some up to see if it turns hard, or, order some of the activator and see if it works. Any help or ideas are greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I don't know the answer but why not follow the advice given in the FAQ section and heat up a small sample of it? Seems easy enough to try.
 
I had a conversation with Curtis about this the other day. He told me to put an ounce in a short glass a place in a 200 degree F oven for an hour and a half. If it gets mostly hard it should be ok. If it's all rubbery it's not good but it can probably be rejuvenated by adding fresh activator.
 
Thanks for everyone's advice. Sticking with the FAQ at Turn Tex and also agreeing with Eric and Mark, I'll try heating some up tomorrow and see what happens and then post my results. If it works Curtis won't hear from me, if it doesn't then I'll get a hold of him and see if he can get me some activator.
 
Here's the results of my experiment that was completed today. I took a shot glass and filled it to the ounce line with the CJ. Like I said earlier, this was a brand new bottle, never opened with the metal seal still in place. I took the shot glass and put it in my small propane stove and cooked it for 1.5 hours. The finished product came out the same shape as the shot glass although it had retracted a bit. It was rubbery and had the appearance of shattered tempered glass. It maintained the shot glass shape after cooling and handling. Thanks again for everyone's help with this.
 
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