Thickness of wood that Cactus Juice will penetrate?

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Mr Fixit

Mr Fixit

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Not sure if this has been discussed or if there is an answer yet. I am wondering how thick of a piece of wood will the CJ penetrate and stabilize under vacuum?

Disregarding the chamber size and amount of juice needed to cover things....
would a 4"x4"x4" block get CJ all the way through? What about 6x6x6? How large and thick can I effectively stabilize?
 
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Mr Fixit said:
Not sure if this has been discussed or if there is an answer yet. I am wondering how thick of a piece of wood will the CJ penetrate and stabilize under vacuum?

Disregarding the chamber size and amount of juice needed to cover things....
would a 4"x4"x4" block get CJ all the way through? What about 6x6x6? How large and thick can I effectively stabilize?
Click to expand...

I have successfully done 6" but a lot to do with penetration is how soft or puncky the wood is. Mine at the time was very heavily spalled maple. So I got full penetration. You will not get this with more harder or denser types of woods

Lin
 
Penetration has to do with wood density and porosity. Some woods will not take solution even in thin cross sections.

Holdfast sells bags for stabilizing odd shapes. -- but density and the pores are the big factors.
 
I had not even thought about the wood hardness, thanks for that.

Let me ask then about wood such as Mesquite. I would like to make some knife scales, animal calls, and revolver grips from Mesquite. I have a lot of it on my place and some of it is really nice. With a wood such as Mesquite, how much penetration might I get? Does anyone stabilize Mesquite?

I know it is dense and may not need to be stabilized (need being debated by many).
 
Mr Fixit said:
I had not even thought about the wood hardness, thanks for that.

Let me ask then about wood such as Mesquite. I would like to make some knife scales, animal calls, and revolver grips from Mesquite. I have a lot of it on my place and some of it is really nice. With a wood such as Mesquite, how much penetration might I get? Does anyone stabilize Mesquite?

I know it is dense and may not need to be stabilized (need being debated by many).
Click to expand...

Well, there are other factors that will affect/determine how much CJ will penetrate, and they are natural wood oil, resin, silica and how dry/free of moisture the wood is.

Yes, one could agree or disagree about the need to stabilize Desert Ironwood and Mesquite type woods however you make that decision and I can tell you that you can stabilize pen blanks, knife scales or blocks not of excessive thickness, you get a better result but cutting your blanks to the sizes you need and not a big chunk for later to slice out.

The are 2 of the stabilization steps that I will bring to your attention to achieve satisfactory results with that dense wood, make sure you oven dry it for a couple of days at 60° Celsius, make sure the wood is well covered with CJ, let the CJ stop forming any bubbles when under vacuum and most important step, after opening the chamber's lid, make sure the CJ still cover the wood well and let it stay there for 24 to 48 hours before curing it in the oven.

Good luck.

Cheers
George
 
Mesquite

I snowbird in Tucson, and have some mesquite. Like turning it. For most uses, epoxy to fill cracks is all I have needed, and have not run any through cactus juice.

But I do have pen blanks acquired from Bill Bomback when he had Arizona Silhouette that were commercially infused. It can be done.

Cactus Juice will not treat the frequent cracks, checks, and bug holes.
 
Mr Fixit said:
KenV said:
...
But I do have pen blanks acquired from Bill Bomback when he had Arizona Silhouette that were commercially infused. It can be done....
Click to expand...

How does the treated blanks finish?
Click to expand...


The blanks from Bill B turn well, but are not universally loaded with resin. I turn and finish those the same as I do blanks cut from epoxy filled mesquite. I use walnut oil (Mahoney or Drs Workshop brands) and CA to finish. Both make good finishes.

Mesquite takes an epoxy finish very nicely, and that is very durable to everything but lots of ultraviolet. Kurt Hertzog has a good article on epoxy finishing.

PS. Bill's blanks had no cracks, holes, etc.
 
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Back about 40 years ago I worked in the power line industry and as penance for some prior offence I was given the job of assisting the pole inspector. One of the "perks" of the job was going to the pole dipping works to inspect poles prior to purchase. Being inquisitive I got a tour of the plant and shown how the poles were "dipped". The poles went on a trolley and into a long cylinder that was sealed, filled with Creosote and a variety of insecticides and fungicides and the air pumped out with a large vacuum pump. The log was then allowed to "rest" under vacuum for a while and then the air was allowed back into the chamber. The chamber was then pressurised for a while to drive the liquid deeper into the log. After a while the air was released and the liquid drained off and the treated pole placed on racks for the liquid to drain away.
My question is: Would the same system work with Cactus Juice to improve it's penetration of dense timbers? Would this remove the "waiting time" after the vacuum is released?
 
Old Hilly said:
Back about 40 years ago I worked in the power line industry and as penance for some prior offence I was given the job of assisting the pole inspector. One of the "perks" of the job was going to the pole dipping works to inspect poles prior to purchase. Being inquisitive I got a tour of the plant and shown how the poles were "dipped". The poles went on a trolley and into a long cylinder that was sealed, filled with Creosote and a variety of insecticides and fungicides and the air pumped out with a large vacuum pump. The log was then allowed to "rest" under vacuum for a while and then the air was allowed back into the chamber. The chamber was then pressurised for a while to drive the liquid deeper into the log. After a while the air was released and the liquid drained off and the treated pole placed on racks for the liquid to drain away.
My question is: Would the same system work with Cactus Juice to improve it's penetration of dense timbers? Would this remove the "waiting time" after the vacuum is released?
Click to expand...
This is how i do it. Run vac, put it under pressure, run vac again, then bake. I have switched to SOS and really like it. There is a video on the Shed Life site that describes the process and how it improves penetration.
to the OP - work with sizes that you need, (not large blocks) to get the best results.
 
PatrickR said:
This is how i do it. Run vac, put it under pressure, run vac again, then bake. I have switched to SOS and really like it. There is a video on the Shed Life site that describes the process and how it improves penetration.
to the OP - work with sizes that you need, (not large blocks) to get the best results.
Click to expand...
Forgive my ignorance but what the heck is "SOS"? And "Shed Life"? A company that builds sheds down here in Oz?
But I am glad that someone else thinks my idea might just work. How much pressure do you use between the 2 vacuum cycles?
 
Old Hilly said:
Forgive my ignorance but what the heck is "SOS"? And "Shed Life"? A company that builds sheds down here in Oz?
But I am glad that someone else thinks my idea might just work. How much pressure do you use between the 2 vacuum cycles?
Click to expand...
SOS is a stabilizing resin, comparable to cactus juice. http://shed.life/sos-stabilizing-resin/ - (no affiliation)
i put it in about 40 lbs for a few hours.
 
Bats said:
What

What differences have you (as opposed to their respective advertisers) seen between Cactus Juice and SOS? Just curious, since this is the first time I've heard of the latter (although I may just have been living under a rock).
Click to expand...
SOS is a little thinner and foams less. It smells the same, leading me to believe it has the same base. basiclly no bleed out when curing also.
 
Bats said:
What

What differences have you (as opposed to their respective advertisers) seen between Cactus Juice and SOS? Just curious, since this is the first time I've heard of the latter (although I may just have been living under a rock).
Click to expand...
Or hanging upside down in a cave???:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
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