Olive Wood Stablizing/Casting

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cdwrrtx

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Jul 30, 2018
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Round Rock, TX
Picked this up today.
20190623_115749_001[1].jpg20190623_115806[1].jpg

If I wanted to fill the void, would it be recommended to stablize it first? Other olive wood I have worked with that had some resin filled voids bled the resin colors into the wood during sanding. I currently do not have the stuff to stabilize or cast myself, so will need some help. Want to learn how to do this and would be thrilled if I could watch/help someone do this. Anyone in Central TX or Houston area interested in helping out?
 
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Monty

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Mar 4, 2005
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Pearland, Texas, USA.
Olive wood does not to be stabilized, and IMHO, will not stabilize because of the oil in it. I tried stabilizing some once and the oil ruined my cactus juice.
The method for filling the void would depend on what you want to fill it with.
 

robutacion

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Aug 6, 2009
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Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
An interesting piece of Olivewood, do you know what is its MC% (moisture content)...?

Regardless if you stabilise it or not, you still need to remove all the moisture out of the wood for casting with/in resin and that would be achieved but putting the wood in the oven, preferably a fan forced oven at a low temp, 50 or 60 Celsius for a day or two depending how green it is.

It is correct that Olive wood is not the best for stabilising, it can be done with some success but the natural oils in the wood will have to be transformed from liquid to dry crystals, if the wood would stay in the oven for a bit higher temp with a piece of foil over and under it, not wrapped...! after a few days 3 to 4 the oils should be neutralised/crystalised and therefore not interfering with the CJ and allow good penetration.

If you are considering fill that gap with resin, do so with Epoxy and not Polyester as Polyester tend to separate often while the Epoxy will offer much stronger adhesion properties...!

I would love to be able to say come over, I show you how it's done but unless you want to travel to the other side of the world to the land of the Kangaroos, you will have better chances to find someone close to you that will help you out.

Best of luck,

Cheers
George
 

JoeCallahan

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May 22, 2018
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Bolingbrook, IL
Before filling the void with resin, coat its perimeter with a thin layer. Mix up an ounce or two, and brush it over all the live edges. This will prevent any bits a pieces from breaking off into your main pour. As far as the color bleed you talked about, using some sanding sealer should solve the problem. I like using this stuff from Woodcraft:

-Joe
 

robutacion

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Joined
Aug 6, 2009
Messages
6,514
Location
Australia - SA Adelaide Hills
Before filling the void with resin, coat its perimeter with a thin layer. Mix up an ounce or two, and brush it over all the live edges. This will prevent any bits a pieces from breaking off into your main pour. As far as the color bleed you talked about, using some sanding sealer should solve the problem. I like using this stuff from Woodcraft:

-Joe
And that is a great product, that I have used for years...!

Cheers
George
 
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