Stabilising oak burr? Help please! Im in the UK!

[philb]

Hi,

Just purchased a 1 inch plank of Brown Oak burr. Its around 1 inch thick, but does have a fair amount of cell collapse. The collapse does go all the way through the plank, but not uniformly like a crack.

I don't have a pressure pot or a vacuum pot, and have never done any pen casting before. Does any one have any advice?

I was thinking either try and cut,drill and CA up the holes when turned down?

OR

Try a pouring in some sort of resin?

Cheers PHIL

 

[GaryMGg]

Phil,
I haven't done any casting yet, but I've used very punky spalted oak and had good success with thin CA. I soak the blank before drilling. After drilling, I pour thin CA into the hole and shake vigorously to get at it internally. Then I hand ream the hole with the original drill bit. Then I soak the ends with CA before and after end-milling. And, I soak it on while turning.
That's worked for me. YMMV.
Cheers.

 

[Dario]

Phil,

Try what I did and use rubberized/black CA. If you don't have it, try filling the voids with your choice of dust (graphite, wood shavings, ground coffee, etc) and use thin CA.

Depending on how big the voids are, I prefer to do it at the latest time possible. After the barrel is turned if it will work to minimize waste.

 

[philb]

Thanks guys

Ive got enogh to give a few options a go! Gonna see how far i can get before i add anything! if it lasts the sawing up!

 

[redfishsc]

I have also had great luck with spalted oak with thin CA. Should do the trick.

 

[alamocdc]

Phil, my suggestion will be quite a bit different from the rest. This tip comes from Russ Fairfield (as many of mine seem to). He uses no vacuum and a very simple mixture. Put one part water and one part white craft glue like Elmers (or white wood glue) in a container. Soak the wood for a few days (at least I think it's a few days), then take the wood out and let it set for a few weeks. This should do the trick. It won't fill voids, but he swears by it and I've seen some of the results. I'm pulling from memory here so if I got any of this wrong, hopefully he'll chime in and correct me.

 

[Dario]

Guys,

Though the title says stabilizing, I really think he need info about filling voids. That is what I got after reading the content anyway.

 

[philb]

Yeh stabilizing is probably the wrong word, as there is definite cell collapse!

Ill try an get a picture tonight, might be easy to explain.

AS there are voids, and im worry about the piece just exploding on drilling!