questions on wood casting (casting vs stabilizing)

[edstreet]

I am curious about a few things on casting wood.

1) after the wood is cast how much does it warp or shrink?
2) does it matter if the wood is stabilized or not?
3) anyone know how much fluid is consumed by the wood on average? WSSI tells me half the weight is average for stabilizing but can range from 20 to 150%.
4) green vs dry wood, does it matter? Alumilite FAQ states that moisture content in the fluid yields nasty results, am I correct in assuming that this will be a disaster with green wood?
5) any warping factor during the casting?
6) any color changes in the wood when casting?

Ed

 

[MesquiteMan]

Ed,

Have you read my tutorial on the "Worthless Wood" process? Personally I use Alumilite and I dry all the blanks I am going to cast in a toaster oven. Since they are going to be cast I really do not care if they crack while drying. I have not had any wood warp "during casting" since it is all oven dry and has already warped as much as it will.

Stabilizing and casting are 2 TOTALLY different applications and results. Stab. will penetrate the wood and add resin into the wood itself. Casting is used to fill cracks, voids, and other defects that make the blank otherwise "Worthless". With casting you really do not get much if any resin penetration into the wood itself. Alumilite and PR are both too thick to penetrate to any significant degree unless you are using really punky wood.

You can find my "Worthless Wood" tutorial on the front page here it IAP if you have not seen it yet.

 

[gketell]

1) none that I have seen
2) if it stabilized then it is plastic so even less chance of warp.
3) ??
4) absolutely would be a disaster.
5) no
6) not that I have seen yet.

GK

 

[Russianwolf]

Can't imaging stabilizing green wood would work anyway. You need the cellular moisture to be gone so that the plastic can fill those spaces.

 

[neon007]

Also PR and moisture dont mix.