stabilizer

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My understanding...and thats all it is...is that the fluid will remain liquid to a point without the 200* curing process. This is only my thought...DO NOT take it as gospel!! $5 for a toaster over seems real cheap if you vaccum stuff.
 
I've done many knife scales and a number of pen blanks with Minwax Wood Hardener and it has always worked to my satisfaction.

I usually let it dry a few days after vacuuming then cook it around 150 - 200 for an hour or so.

May not be the best but it is readily available, fairly cheap, and seems to work pretty much as well as the stabilized blanks I have bought.
 
I believe, aside from actually setting the resin to cure from the heat, just letting it harden on its own after you vacuum it is going to negate some of the vacuum effects. Atmospheric pressure alone will not keep all of the fluid inside as deep as the vacuum chamber achieved.....if that made sense :)
 
If you're talking about Cactus Juice then you need to heat it to trigger the curing process. If you just leave it will probably take months to cure. Catalyzed CJ has a 6 month shelf life at room temperature. Without the catalyst I don't think the CJ will cure, heat or not.

The other types are plastic+solvent stabilizers. Minwax is a solvent based stabilizer so once it has been soaked up by the wood the solvent evaporates. This can take a few days to a week to fully dry. You can also use acrylic/pexiglass dissolved in acetone.

Either way the liquid will need to cure or dry quickly as some of it will start to leak out of the wood once out of the tank. The more cured stabilizer in the wood the better. This is what I have learned by watching videos and reading other threads in the forum.

I haven't done any stabilization (except soaking with CA) yet as I can't afford the setup costs, so don't quote me as an expert :)
 
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switch62 is pretty much right on the money. If you are using Cactus Juice, it must be heated to polymerize. Any of the other options that are solvent based, you have to allow the solvent to flash off. Of course, this then brings in another issue with solvent based products. If you get the material completely full, once the solvent flashes off, all you are left with is the non-volatile part of the stabilizer which, in the case of something like Minwax Wood Hardner, is 22% filled!
 
Don't know about un-catalyzed PR but the catalyzed version doesn't have a good affinity for wood. Yes a lot of us cast wood in PR but based on what I have read on these forums we certainly wouldn't do it to build a boat. PR tends to de-laminate from wood because it doesn't link to the wood's cell structure where as something like Alumilte does. I am sure that if I am misstating something here someone will jump end with corrections but that is the way I understand the PR and wood relationship.
 
JD Combs Sr said:
Don't know about un-catalyzed PR but the catalyzed version doesn't have a good affinity for wood. Yes a lot of us cast wood in PR but based on what I have read on these forums we certainly wouldn't do it to build a boat. PR tends to de-laminate from wood because it doesn't link to the wood's cell structure where as something like Alumilte does. I am sure that if I am misstating something here someone will jump end with corrections but that is the way I understand the PR and wood relationship.
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That is very interesting and good information. I would like to eventually start casting my own wood/resin combo blanks and I had never heard that before!
 
turnaround 360 said:
what about just clear pr without catalyst can you accelerate it with cooking.
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Without the catalyst the pr will not cure. The catalyst triggers the polymerisation process, where the pr molecules cross link to become a solid. The process can produce a lot of heat, especially if a lot of catalyst is used. Heating the pr will speed up the process but too much total heat will cause the pr to crack.

Heating uncatalysed pr may cause curing in some but most likely it will just dry out. This is differnt to curing and won't have the same strength.

Tony
 
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