Anybody stabilize their own wood?

[birdsfan]

I have done 5 batches of wood so far using Cactus Juice. I pull vacuum using a JB Industries vacuum pump, and use a modified Harbor freight pain pressure pot. Modified by making a lid out of 1 inch plexiglass and routing a gasket seal into it. The tank does hold vacuum, there are no leaks.

My question is this...In all the videos I have watched on YouTube, they indicate that a few hours or so of vacuum should remove the air from the structure of the wood ie. it will stop bubbling. In the batches I have done, I have had to run the vacuum for days before the bubbles really slowed down. I should probably mention that I dry the wood to under 5% moisture before they go into the juice.

Am I being too thorough with this vacuum step? Are some bubbles still OK?

 

[milkbaby]

The bubbling might be the reaction of the cj with moisture still in the wood. I believe most people bake their wood completely dry before trying to stabilize it because of this reaction to water.

 

[birdsfan]

Ahh....thinking that this might be the case, I dried this last batch until nothing registered on the moisture meter. I did not do progressive weighings of the wood however.

 

[Tim Rowland]

You need to get all moisture out. 5% is still to much. Use a scale and measure weight. When you are no longer loosing any weight then you have no moisture left.....now when you get to that point make sure you throw it in a sealed container with a moisture absorption pack so it can cool down without pulling back moisture from the air defeating all your initial work. You have to take that step because you cannot place warm wood into cj or any other resin for that matter.
Btw my preferred resin is SOS 3.0

 

[birdsfan]

Well heck....2 for 2. I will defer to the experience of the forum. I guess there is no way to avoid the progressive weighings. I suppose it is worth it to save my vacuum pump.

What is it that you like more about SOS? I had actually not ever heard of it, but just looked it up after your post. I am certainly not married to CJ, but have been happy with my results with it. Always willing to try something better.

 

[Tim Rowland]

A few reasons.
Much less foaming, less bleed out during baking, better for unwrapped baking in my opinion. More "natural" feel to the wood than plastic feel. Customer service is awesome.

 

[birdsfan]

I checked them out a little bit last night. Seems competitively priced too. I will likely check it out next time I buy resin.

 

[ForeverLearning]

One thing I would say is don't run your vacuum pump continuously, you can close the valve and maintain vacuum. I run the pump for 1/2 hours and hold overnight then restart.

I have stabilized ~100 blanks now and it can take some time. The tips above are good advice too

 

[branwell]

Btw my preferred resin is SOS 3.0

I'm just getting back into making after being out for 4 years. Saw Tim's post above mentioning SOS3.0 and thought I'd give it a try ( Used to use CJ ).

SOS is definitely nice. Can go straight to full vacuum with no bubble overflow and no run out while baking which I'm now doing unwrapped.
So far I've done some Buckeye, Mesquite, Maple and a few others. No problems with full penetration and on the woods that have it, the chatoyance is super holographic.

My generic finish is to sand to 800 and buff with K&G White Diamond.
On some woods I might add a coat of Trueoil and or buff with K&G Scratchles Pink and or add a coat of Wax, mostly because I like how wax feels.

Good stuff.

 

[rocketman]

I have done many, many blanks, and agree with most of what Tim says. The wood must be absolutely dry, and that can only be achieved by baking, then protecting while it cools down enough to put in the resin. Otherwise, lots of moisture boils out of the wood in the form of bubbles, and that can also cause problems with the vacuum pump. I still use cactus juice, which I think is superior, but everyone to their own opinion of material.. Things to watch for.
1-Dry, Dry, DRY
2. good vacuum level-=The cactus juice site has a lot of great recommendations for this.

 

[rocketman]

3. Vacuum full time till no bubbles
4. Do not cure above the recommended temp, as that is a cause of bleed out
5. Foil below the blanks to catch what bleed out there is.
6. I have started doing the whole impregnating procedure at least twice.. You might be amazed at the bubbles coming out of a blank you thought was done.