Stabilizing wet material

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siric

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Hi,

I have a bamboo like grass that I would like to use for pens. Unlike Bamboo it is not hollow, but it contains a lot of moisture. If I dry it completely, it shrinks down from about 1" in diameter to about 1/2"; too small for pens.

Question is..if I were to stabilize this while it was wet, would I still get the shrinkage problem when I bake it after applying the resin?


Thanks
 
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Stabilizing while wet really doesn't work. For stabilizers like Resinol (Cactus Juice), the heat needed to polymerize the resin will cause issues as you release the moisture. For self-polymerizing resins (Silmar, etc.) you'll run into issues with water attacking the resin itself and making it cloudy.
 
I have used Pentacryl on wet/green wood to get it ready for turning. It kind of replaces the water with this material. I just let it soak for about a week (pen size blanks) and then let it dry for 2 weeks or more. I suppose you could use a vacuum system and it would not take as long.

The wood still shrinks a little but not as much as just letting it dry. I use it a lot for larger size pieces of green wood it really prevents cracking well.

Mike
 
Think your best solution would be to cast Alumilite around the dry material , drill for the tubes as long as they are less than 1/2 inch , then turn to size . When sanded and polished the plastic will act as a magnifying glass on the outside surface of the material , giving you what I think you want . With care , it should be possible to get a cigar out of a 1/2 inch blank with this approach . If the inside of the material is what you want to see , you are probably restricted to a slimline .
 
1080Wayne said:
Think your best solution would be to cast Alumilite around the dry material , drill for the tubes as long as they are less than 1/2 inch , then turn to size . When sanded and polished the plastic will act as a magnifying glass on the outside surface of the material , giving you what I think you want . With care , it should be possible to get a cigar out of a 1/2 inch blank with this approach . If the inside of the material is what you want to see , you are probably restricted to a slimline .
Click to expand...
If there is any moisture in it, it will react with the Alumilite and form bubbles and turn white.
 
Monty said:
1080Wayne said:
Think your best solution would be to cast Alumilite around the dry material , drill for the tubes as long as they are less than 1/2 inch , then turn to size . When sanded and polished the plastic will act as a magnifying glass on the outside surface of the material , giving you what I think you want . With care , it should be possible to get a cigar out of a 1/2 inch blank with this approach . If the inside of the material is what you want to see , you are probably restricted to a slimline .
Click to expand...
If there is any moisture in it, it will react with the Alumilite and form bubbles and turn white.
Click to expand...
Absolutely , it must be dry .
 
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