Stabilizing vs. Casting

[GregHaugen]

I've been reading through the forum for a few days. I'm also "new" to pen turning. I see one post on the stabilizing blanks with Minwax's hardener over a month's time. I see all of the information on casting. I don't mean for this to be mean in any way, but how is "professional" stabilizing done? Is a pressure pot used?? Could the same equipment be used to cast or stabilize? What would be needed to do it?

thanks for the info.

 

[Russianwolf]

the pressure pots commonly used for home casting rarely go over 80 psi. I think that you;ll find that the professional stabilizers use much more pressure to get the plastic resin to penetrate the wood as deeply as they do.

If you have some very punky wood, then yes, you can stabilize with the pressure pot. but don't expect to be able to stabilize good Amboyna Burl for example.

 

[Skye]

If stabilizing is your main goal, you should probably be working on getting a vacuum system.

 

[rick_lindsey]

I'm thinking of cobbling together a cheap vacuum system for stabilizing with minwax wood hardener. There are a variety of cheap commercial vacuum pumps (the little reynolds food saver, the pump-n-seal) and I recently saw this post over on the rc forums about a cheap diy vacuum system made from an aquarium air pump...

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=966524




It only pulls about 5-7 inches of mercury, but that might be enough for stabilizing with a substance that penetrates well. I've read about people stabilizing by just tossing the blanks in a can of wood hardener and leaving it there (no vacuum)... surely 7" of mercury beats no vacuum at all . I'm not sure it will be any cheaper than a reynolds machine at walmart though, I need to go price them and see.

-Rick