Laurenr
Member
Does anyone here use a wood hardener? If so, what kind, and with what success?
Wood hardener
- Thread starter Laurenr
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jimmyers
Member
I used the Minwax stuff a couple of times when the wood was ready to fall apart by looking at it and it worked really well.
I cut the blanks and drilled a smaller than needed hole through and soaked them for about a week then let them dry before drilling the final hole and turning them.
Pen turned out looking great with only minor color change and that just made it look better in my opinion.
I cut the blanks and drilled a smaller than needed hole through and soaked them for about a week then let them dry before drilling the final hole and turning them.
Pen turned out looking great with only minor color change and that just made it look better in my opinion.
robutacion
Member
Hi Laurenr,
I've spend enough time attempting to achieve an "economical" but efficient way to do it successfully and I can tell you the best, easiest and most effective way to do it, there is, give and acceptable level of hardness on a soft piece of wood, spalted or not, without using Industrial equipment, is to soak the wood into a mix of normal PR resin and acetone, about 70% resin, 30% acetone.
Stir the mix thoroughly (don't use any catalyst in the mix) use a 2kg ice cream container (right size for pen blanks), pour the mix on to the blanks, covering them completely quite generously, as the wood will soak quite a lot. At this stage, a pressure pot will be crucial to force the resin into the wood, by the pressure exerted inside the pot of between 50 and 80 PSI, normally.
An overnight stay is all it takes, then drain the resin off the blanks and stack then flat (on top of news paper or small timber strips to void sticking) with a gap in between, if a number of blanks are done at one time ( the ice cream container does 16 to 20 blanks in one go) stack them vertically in a 4 blanks raw, in cross orientation.
If you have plenty of sunshine, put them outside in the sun for a week or so, if sunshine isn't about and the temperatures are low, put some of the resin catalyst (hardener) in one of those women small perfume bottles, and give the blanks a good spray, as this will will harden the resin a lot faster. You can also use and old fridge or even a heavy duty cardboard box to created a small drying kiln, just by putting a hot lamp inside (careful with too much heat and possible overheating, causing possibly a fire. Use less hot lamps, they are a lot safer...!
Not going to extreme steps to get the blanks totally dry (hard), I would say 2 weeks following these steps, they should dry sufficiently for safe and working conditions...!
Good luck...!
Cheers
George
I've spend enough time attempting to achieve an "economical" but efficient way to do it successfully and I can tell you the best, easiest and most effective way to do it, there is, give and acceptable level of hardness on a soft piece of wood, spalted or not, without using Industrial equipment, is to soak the wood into a mix of normal PR resin and acetone, about 70% resin, 30% acetone.
Stir the mix thoroughly (don't use any catalyst in the mix) use a 2kg ice cream container (right size for pen blanks), pour the mix on to the blanks, covering them completely quite generously, as the wood will soak quite a lot. At this stage, a pressure pot will be crucial to force the resin into the wood, by the pressure exerted inside the pot of between 50 and 80 PSI, normally.
An overnight stay is all it takes, then drain the resin off the blanks and stack then flat (on top of news paper or small timber strips to void sticking) with a gap in between, if a number of blanks are done at one time ( the ice cream container does 16 to 20 blanks in one go) stack them vertically in a 4 blanks raw, in cross orientation.
If you have plenty of sunshine, put them outside in the sun for a week or so, if sunshine isn't about and the temperatures are low, put some of the resin catalyst (hardener) in one of those women small perfume bottles, and give the blanks a good spray, as this will will harden the resin a lot faster. You can also use and old fridge or even a heavy duty cardboard box to created a small drying kiln, just by putting a hot lamp inside (careful with too much heat and possible overheating, causing possibly a fire. Use less hot lamps, they are a lot safer...!
Not going to extreme steps to get the blanks totally dry (hard), I would say 2 weeks following these steps, they should dry sufficiently for safe and working conditions...!
Good luck...!
Cheers
George
Attachments
Laurenr
Member
Clarification
PR resin?
PR resin?
Glass Scratcher
Member
PR = Polyester Resin
robutacion
Member
Thanks Glass Scratcher...!
PR (polyester Resin) is one of the products (starting point for many people) used but those casting wood and resin to make pen blanks (worthless wood, resifills, mutts, etc., type), even tough these latest are made with Alumilite, as per many others which as been claimed to be a better product ( and I have no doubt...!) for this casting method. I have not used Alumilite, as it is not available in Australia (unfortunately), so if Alumilite is also a good possibility to harden (stabilize) wood, others here may be in a better position to expend a little more on the issue.
The PR resin, is the one that I use for casting and hardening wood and so far I have had good results on both applications. I started by mixing 50/50 of resin and acetone, while this could be a good mix if you don't have a pressure pot (easier to soak through with time) but a higher % of resin did prove a better option for the pressure pot.
The idea of not using any Catalyst in the mix is so that you can re-use all the excess mix again on the next lot or simply put ii in a glass jar and tight/seal the lid, this will make it usable for a long time. Spraying the blanks after being soaked with the PR, will accelerate the drying (hardening) process dramatically but it will use/waste a lot more than the amount you would put in the resin if you were doing casting so, if you are not in much of a hurry and you can help the drying process either by sun exposer or artificial heating kiln, the wood will harden eventually...!
Hope this extra info does help...!
Cheers
George
Last edited:
nava1uni
Member
I also use Minwax hardener and it works well. I also let it dry for about a week. If the wood is only a little soft or punky I just use thin CA as I turn and let it set for a few minutes while I do something else. It works well and allows me to turn wood that might only have a few soft spots.
ersRFP
Member
Wouldn't just CA work in most cases? I just turned some very punky wood(you could dig into it with your fingernail) and just used thin CA. It worked great.
Laurenr
Member
Thanks
Thank you all so much for the input. I am all over it. Probably going to go with the PR/acetone mix and the pressure pot.
Thank you all so much for the input. I am all over it. Probably going to go with the PR/acetone mix and the pressure pot.
Laurenr
Member
How is PR different from PolyUrethane? And wouldn't PU work as well?
I will be putting together a pressure pot this week, but I am having a hard time finding PR.
Help?
I will be putting together a pressure pot this week, but I am having a hard time finding PR.
Help?