How to question??

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reddwil

reddwil

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Joined
Feb 28, 2008
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Location
Loganville, Georgia, USA.
I'm just getting into casting. I got this oak burl from a tree I cut down last year. I cut it into blanks and found it to mildly punky and full of worm hole/tracks. So I got out a pick and cleaned out the holes and tracks. My question is this. I want to cast them to fill the voids. Do I use pressure or vacuum to get the resin to pull into the tiny voids? I want to end up with something in the way of the mutts.
 
reddwil said:
I'm just getting into casting. I got this oak burl from a tree I cut down last year. I cut it into blanks and found it to mildly punky and full of worm hole/tracks. So I got out a pick and cleaned out the holes and tracks. My question is this. I want to cast them to fill the voids. Do I use pressure or vacuum to get the resin to pull into the tiny voids? I want to end up with something in the way of the mutts.
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I think you will have better success in using the pressure pot. In fact, if there is any time where the pressure pot is most efficient, is precisely to "push/squeeze" the resin into all those crevasses under pressure and while the resin is still soft.

I would be particularly careful with the possibility of the wood/burl have any excess moisture in them, 1 year after being cut, may not be enough to get it dry enough for casting as resins and water do not mix at all...!

You can measure the wood MC (moisture content %) or if you don't have the proper equipment/gauge, put then in the microwave for 2 or 3, 3 minutes bursts max. making sure they cool down in between goes, otherwise they will burn inside. This will dry any excess moisture the wood could have giving the casting a better chance to come up right...!

Good luck

Cheers
George
 
Do something else first!!!

Experiment with regular wood with holes, THEN go to burl.

I would agree use pressure, but we have never done "worthless wood" casting and I would expect my first few attempts to fail.
 
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