Need stabilizing help

[Brewmeister35]

I finally have a HF pot set up for both vacuum and pressure. With my compressor I can only get it to around 20 in Hg. I mixed up a batch of acrylic/acetone to a consistency somewhere between med and thin CA. I put a couple pieces of buckeye in the solution and let it sit for 3 days under 20 in Hg. It did not penetrate at all. Am I mixing it too thick? Should I try a different solution? I'm thinking about trying Minwax wood hardener but not sure if I should do it in a closed basement.

 

[loglugger]

I don't know what you mean by acrylic, have mostly used fast dring poly and 40 to 50% acetone. 20 in Hg should be enough but you need to let the vacumn off slow and then bring it up to vacomn at least 3 or more times before letting it set, I usually let it set overnight. You want to be careful if you have any pilot lights in gas appliances or anything that might spark if you are in a closed basement also a good respirator.
Bob

 

[alamocdc]

Regradless of the medium being used (I've used several), simply applying a vacuum and letting it set is not what gets penetration. You need to pull a vacuum and release it every 30 min or so for a day or two. This has worked far better for me.

 

[rkj155]

I have stabilized a number of times with great success. I have used Min wax wood hardner, polyvinyl Acetate (Almers wood glue)and white packing material melted with methel ethel keytones. The method I use takes only a few hours (not including drying) and the penetration is completely throughout the wood.
The last time I stabilized any thing was a piece of very lightly spalted maple that was very punky and probably would have been hard to turn. I actually weighed the pieces (2) before stabilizing and they both weighted 22 grams, after stabilizing but still soaked they weighted 45 grams, after drying for a couple of weeks they weighted in at 29 grams.
The method used: I use a mason jar with 2 bulk head fittings and some clear plastic tubing. One fitting is hooked up to my vacuum guage then to my vacuum machine. The other is put into the stabilizing mixture I am going to use. I put my wood into the mason jar and weight it down with metal washers(so it won't float when the stabilizing mixture is introduced). Put lid on the mason jar and clamp the line closed that goes to the stabilizing liquid. On the other line that is hooked up to your guage & then vacuum machine, draw a vacuum (I use 10 to 29 inches of vacuum both worked fine) for a short period of time 5 to 15 minutes. Using another clamp isolate the vacuum machine leaving the vacuum gauge to tell you how much vacuum is present. Slowly unclamp the stabilizing liquid line (the stabilizing liquid will be sucked into the mason jar very quickly so be ready to reclamp once the proper level is achived) once the stabilizing liquid moves from your storage jar into the mason jar
IMPORTANT-THE VACUUM MUST BE MAINTAINED FOR APPROX. 15 MINUTES AFTER THE STABILIZING LIQUID IS INTRODUCED INTO THE MASON JAR-the stabilizing liquid should cover the wood by a few inches so that when it is sucked into the wood the wood will still be covered with the stabilizing liquid. Also there should still be stabilizing liquid in the storage container and the vacuum you originally pulled should be less than the original amount of vacuum but still a vacuum. Once again make sure that the required amount of stabilizing liquid is in the mason jar reclamp the line from the storage jar. Redraw your vacuum to at least 10 inches of vacuum. Let the wood in the stabilizing liquid sit for about 15 minutes then release the vacuum. Let sit under the stabilizing liquid for a couple of hours. Let dry.
This works on all soft woods but if you are stabilizing a medium or hard wood please add this next step. Harder woods--With the wood still in the mason jar and still covered with the stabilizing liquid place into your pressure pot and apply pressure. I have not required this step yet but to be safe I would apply no less than 40 lbs pressure for at least 2 hours, remove and let dry.
My next stabilizing experiment will be impregnating some wood with some red crushed velvet (waste cuttings from 5 pens) melted in acetone. Just waiting for it to warm up as it is still only 45 degrees up here. Anyway thats how I do it. Wish I could take a photo but don't have the proper equipment yet.
Ron

 

[leehljp]

The above advice of all 3 are great. I want to try the MEK and styrofoam but I cannot find MEK here. One key is vac for 20 to 30 minutes, release, vac again and then pressure for a couple of hours - to over night.

Several things may affect the process.
IF the wood has been air dried and still has moisture inside, that can prevent penetration. If a blank is placed in the microwave for 10 seconds on high and it gets hot, then it probably has moisture in it. "Dry" blanks don't get as hot as fast because they don't have the moisture. It is the moisture in the wood that starts the heat interaction process, IMO. And, this moisture is hard to replace with stabilizer as long as the moisture is still there.

The watery thin does better IMO at penetrating. I do not have a professional set up and can tell that my blanks have been stabilized but not nearly like professionally done blanks. They do well enough for me and what I need to do. My main reason to start the stabilizing was to stop bleed over from bloodwood to holly. It has been effective for me.

In colder weather and in temps below 60 - 70 degrees inside a "shop" or garage, the ability to penetrate will be less because the viscosity is greatly affected by the temperature.

I did some casting a couple of weeks ago for the first time and even under 80 lb pressure, I had bubbles with two different types of casting material. I microwaved the next batch until the mix was about 90 degrees (10 - 12 seconds), mixed it and it was watery thin. No bubbles even when not putting into the pressure pot. The difference was the viscosity because of the temperature.
- Because of this, I mentioned the temperature of the stabilizing mix as well as the other things.

One other thing I am learning is that this is not a "list the steps one by one" issue because of different situations, environments and mixes. And I do like experimenting to see what works and does not - when I have time.