Stabilization Stabilization storage?

[Reeveseye]

I've successfully stabilized a few small batches of wood for making pen blanks. However, I recently came into possession of a larger amount of wood - more than I can stabilize in one session. So here's my process, and I'm hoping someone might have ideas on how I can dry and stabilize it with a minimum of hassle.

To make sure the wood is 100% dry before vacuum submerging it in the cactus juice, I put it in my smoker for 24 hours at 250 degrees. Once the wood is completely moisture-free, I was told that it's vital to get it into the cactus juice as soon as it gets back down to room temperature, since it can start re-absorbing moisture right away. Since I was doing small batches of wood before, that was never a problem. But my vacuum pot can only hold so much, and I have more wood than it can do in just one soak. So if I dry all that wood out at once (which I'd prefer to do as opposed to running my smoker for days on end), I need to find a way to keep the rest of the dried wood moisture-free in the meantime.

I have one of those Food Saver vacuum sealers. I'm thinking that if I dry it all out at once, I could then seal the excess up in vacuum bags to keep them moisture free until I'm ready to toss them in the cactus juice. I live in a fairly dry area (Southern California), so if I kept the sealed bags indoors, humidity would be at a minimum. And hopefully it wouldn't matter anyway if the bags are sealed. I have a bag full of small desiccant packs I use for keeping photo gear dry when diving, and I could even seal a few of those packs in with the wood just to make sure any residual moisture gets absorbed. These packets change color from blue to pink when they start absorbing water, so if they were sealed in with the wood, they'd probably be a good visual indicator of whether the vacuum packing is working. Then I could stabilize the batches of wood in the resin one at a time, at my leisure.

I feel like this plan would work. Does anyone disagree or think I missed anything?

 

[1080Wayne]

I've successfully stabilized a few small batches of wood for making pen blanks. However, I recently came into possession of a larger amount of wood - more than I can stabilize in one session. So here's my process, and I'm hoping someone might have ideas on how I can dry and stabilize it with a minimum of hassle.

To make sure the wood is 100% dry before vacuum submerging it in the cactus juice, I put it in my smoker for 24 hours at 250 degrees. Once the wood is completely moisture-free, I was told that it's vital to get it into the cactus juice as soon as it gets back down to room temperature, since it can start re-absorbing moisture right away. Since I was doing small batches of wood before, that was never a problem. But my vacuum pot can only hold so much, and I have more wood than it can do in just one soak. So if I dry all that wood out at once (which I'd prefer to do as opposed to running my smoker for days on end), I need to find a way to keep the rest of the dried wood moisture-free in the meantime.

I have one of those Food Saver vacuum sealers. I'm thinking that if I dry it all out at once, I could then seal the excess up in vacuum bags to keep them moisture free until I'm ready to toss them in the cactus juice. I live in a fairly dry area (Southern California), so if I kept the sealed bags indoors, humidity would be at a minimum. And hopefully it wouldn't matter anyway if the bags are sealed. I have a bag full of small desiccant packs I use for keeping photo gear dry when diving, and I could even seal a few of those packs in with the wood just to make sure any residual moisture gets absorbed. These packets change color from blue to pink when they start absorbing water, so if they were sealed in with the wood, they'd probably be a good visual indicator of whether the vacuum packing is working. Then I could stabilize the batches of wood in the resin one at a time, at my leisure.

I feel like this plan would work. Does anyone disagree or think I missed anything?

Sounds like a good plan to me , as long as the wood doesn`t poke a hole in the bag . I would check the dessicant packs regularly , especially if the humidity gets high .

 

[leehljp]

That sounds like a good plan with the food saver, but there is one area to watch for: Sharp corners on your blanks, particularly the ends, if not covered with paper towel or a piece of painters tape etc, - those sharp points can possibly puncture the food saver bags. I have had numerous "bone in" meats do that. The vacuum from my food saver pulls the bags TIGHT.

Otherwise, it should work well, IMHO.

 

[Reeveseye]

Sharp corners on your blanks, particularly the ends, if not covered with paper towel or a piece of painters tape etc, - those sharp points can possibly puncture the food saver bags.

Ah, good point. I have plenty of bags, and am now thinking that double-bagging and sealing the blanks might be an option, perhaps with some extra corner padding between the inner and outer bags just to be safe. And desiccant packs in each bag, just to be safer. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Mortalis]

Personally, I think you are over thinking this.
Once the wood has been dried, it can be stored in any air tight container. Zip locking heavy duty bag (Freezer Bag), Rubber maid or similar designed hard container should be sufficient. The small amount of moisture containing atmosphere in the container prior to filing it with warm/hot pieces of dried wood is not going to rehydrate the larger amount of wood. I dont know how long you intend to store it unstabilized before stabilizing it but I would assume not much longer than say a week.
Seems to me, if your system is timed properly you should only need storage until the dried pieces have cooled enough to into the Cactus Juice without starting the stabilizing prematurely. I would imagine that not to be very long.
Sorry, the Process/Manufacuring Engineer in me took over.

 

[derekdd]

Personally, I think you are over thinking this.
Once the wood has been dried, it can be stored in any air tight container. Zip locking heavy duty bag (Freezer Bag), Rubber maid or similar designed hard container should be sufficient. The small amount of moisture containing atmosphere in the container prior to filing it with warm/hot pieces of dried wood is not going to rehydrate the larger amount of wood. I dont know how long you intend to store it unstabilized before stabilizing it but I would assume not much longer than say a week.
Seems to me, if your system is timed properly you should only need storage until the dried pieces have cooled enough to into the Cactus Juice without starting the stabilizing prematurely. I would imagine that not to be very long.
Sorry, the Process/Manufacuring Engineer in me took over.

I agree with this and see many guys on YT doing same.

As long as the wood is not laying around for a while to soak up moisture, you should be fine the few seconds it takes to put it into a freezer bag or other sealable container.

Good luck, @Reeveseye