Stabilising wood.
- Thread starter crosslandkelly
- Start date
I did begin to explore this some years ago, but I didn't take it any further as it seemed to be the general consensus at the time that it was a non-starter without the means to provide a decent vacuum chamber of some sort
in which to soak the wood completely enough. I don't know if things have changed at all now, though.
It used to be one of those things, like specialised heat treatment for steels, that people sent their work away to be done by specialists.
in which to soak the wood completely enough. I don't know if things have changed at all now, though.
It used to be one of those things, like specialised heat treatment for steels, that people sent their work away to be done by specialists.
Thanks Mac. I was just wondering what the process was. Vacuum pumps and chambers may be a bit beyond me.
The concept is to submerge the wood in the stabilizing substance of choice.
In the vacuum chamber lowers the pressure to the point that much of the wood air
comes out and bubbles to the surface.
Next, with the pump off and a slow release of air into the chamber, that pressure pushes the
stabilizing material into the wood.
In our dendrology labs, we called it "perfusion". For blocks no more than 1/2" cubes, it usually took
4-6 cycles to be reasonably certain of penetrating the whole block.
Very slow setting Araldite epoxy or liquid synthetic wax @ 60C/150F were about the same.
In the vacuum chamber lowers the pressure to the point that much of the wood air
comes out and bubbles to the surface.
Next, with the pump off and a slow release of air into the chamber, that pressure pushes the
stabilizing material into the wood.
In our dendrology labs, we called it "perfusion". For blocks no more than 1/2" cubes, it usually took
4-6 cycles to be reasonably certain of penetrating the whole block.
Very slow setting Araldite epoxy or liquid synthetic wax @ 60C/150F were about the same.
Just out of curiosity, as I am full of ideas ( both equally good and useless, I have a feeling this might be one of the latter ) but would one of those hoover operated vac pack bags work for this purpose? The type you store the " I might fit back in them" clothes that you end up taking to the charity shop 10 years later
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There are a few guys around who can stabilise wood properly for you.
Packrat from BB does it...
http://packratwoods.uk
A full set up to do it yourself will cost you at least a couple of hundred quid, then the resin costs about £100 a gallon.
If its just a piece or two, best send it away for it doing..... if you want to do lots... might be worth the investment for the full set up.
I'll be getting a set up soon too as i have a box full of nice burl and spalted wood that needs it.
Packrat from BB does it...
http://packratwoods.uk
A full set up to do it yourself will cost you at least a couple of hundred quid, then the resin costs about £100 a gallon.
If its just a piece or two, best send it away for it doing..... if you want to do lots... might be worth the investment for the full set up.
I'll be getting a set up soon too as i have a box full of nice burl and spalted wood that needs it.
Just a thought after I posted I started thinking about vacuum pressure etc like I said I get good ideas, and some awful ones lol. Was watching How It's Made at the time and they were putting a fibreglass surfboard in one of those vac bags to squeeze th resin even, so that's where I had the idea from
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