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Stabilization of wood, acrylic, or whatever.

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I have been out of circulation for about two and half years, due to a tragedy in the family.
I have a project I want to get started, it will require, to stabilize my wood.
The pieces of wood I will need to stabilize, approximate, 11 inch diameter, 24 inches long.
I cannot go to a professional because it is too expensive, and inconvenient.
My question is, what is the simplest way to stabilize wood?, large pieces.
I would appreciate all the information I can receive.

LampMan
 

Steve Worcester

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Depending on what depth of penetration you require, you could use superglue, thinned epoxy, etc.

If you want all the way through, because of the sheer size of the piece, home made vacuum and pressure chambers are out, so you have to go to a "pro" to get it done.
 
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Wood Stabilizing

You might consider boiling. It will take a long time, but I have had SOOPER luck with this. Remember...ONE HOUR at a ROLLING boil per 1 inch of wood thickness (in your case, diameter). Then wrap in old newsprint (NO color!!!) for 3 months, and turn. This is very cheap and works well.:cool2:
 
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As Don said, boiling can help. Jim King, a wood distributor in south america has posted on this method and it appears to work. Small pieces can be stabilized using a vaccum press and acrylic but, for the size you need it would take about 300 years... Why do you need stablized wood and what are you trying to make?
 
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Pressure Chamber?

Steve,
How does one stabilize wood using a "pressure chamber", and what pressure is required? Seem to recall that an ordinary 2-1/2 gallon paint tank is "rated" at only about 50 psig max.
 
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Steve,
How does one stabilize wood using a "pressure chamber", and what pressure is required? Seem to recall that an ordinary 2-1/2 gallon paint tank is "rated" at only about 50 psig max.

You've got push with pressure, pull with vacuum, seep passively, soak forceably with boiling, all kinds of options. Some won't work with the stuff you're using to stabilize because of the time involved or the method destroying it as you go. You can get surface stabilization at home by many of the methods listed so far. Thin and soak, soak alone, or warm and soak are the ones I've used. The last is a sort of triple threat method, as it involves warming the wood, which creates a mild vacuum as it cools to pull the stabilizing liquid in, dryer fibers more eager to accept bonds with other water-miscible stabilizers, and higher energy to do things faster. Still it doesn't go very far in before the acrylic starts to polymerize.

Wet wood, as I have posted more than once, is a different matter. http://nautarch.tamu.edu/class/anth605/File6.htm Stabilization involves a bulking agent.
 

Steve Worcester

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Before we get too far off track, there are two things here (in my feeble mind), preservation and stabilization.
Both would prevent cracking, but stabilization would be what we here would consider the infusion of some agent (glue, polymers, epoxy,resins, etc) either by vacuum or pressure, to make the wood an even density across the piece. The punky areas get hardened from the agent.

Vacuum doesn't work as well because as you increase vacuum it lowers the boiling point of the liquid and foaming increases. Pressure will work with a paint pot type of application providing you have a thin enough agent so that it will penetrate before setting up. This brings up what type of wood you can use, and it will depend greatly upon what agent you use and how much pressure you can apply. In a paint pot, I can only get about 65 PSI. My experiments thus far have been only with die to gage penetration on small pieces of wood. To go much further (in size) I would need a larger pressure pot, but worse, more material and space to put the pot.
 
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Just thinking

I have been out of circulation for about two and half years, due to a tragedy in the family.
I have a project I want to get started, it will require, to stabilize my wood.
The pieces of wood I will need to stabilize, approximate, 11 inch diameter, 24 inches long.
I cannot go to a professional because it is too expensive, and inconvenient.
My question is, what is the simplest way to stabilize wood?, large pieces.
I would appreciate all the information I can receive.

LampMan

I have been asked what am I using this for.
My spiral lamp, I want to put it in production.
I will be using Greenwood,(Goodwood) different varieties I hope.
(Acrylic) is what I believe and need, Therefore the Product Will Need No Finishing.
I have read all of the suggestions, chat about all of the solutions, none of these seems to be quite adequate.
I will need (in shop stabilizing).





If you would look at the pictures, you will see that the product is about 3 inches in diameter, a whole board through the middle of each spiral, approximate 1 1/2", leaving the wall thickness 3/4 of an inch thick.
Any further help would be appreciated.

LampMan


Thanks for Your Suggestions,
Maybe There Is a Solution that I could pump into the inner whole, replace the water with the solution, (Working from the Inside Out) with some heat and some pressure.
My object is not only to cure the wood, but to use the solution as the finish,(acrylic) would be ideal. Maybe something else, would do as well, Dummy Me, I Don't Know.
The wood is just green trees, some species may be better than others, trees cut at a certain time of the year may be involved also. Don't want to be a pain in the,RSSSSSS, but any suggestions will help. As for a near finished bowl, place a seal on the top and pump a solution in it, Maybe It Will Work.

Lampman
 
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I have been asked what am I using this for.
My spiral lamp, I want to put it in production.
I will be using Greenwood,(Goodwood) different varieties I hope.
(Acrylic) is what I believe and need, Therefore the Product Will Need No Finishing.

Given the amount of hand work involved, what's the advantage of stabilization? You'll not notice a bit of irregularity caused by shrinkage in such a complicated design. Slow drying should preserve the thing well enough as it gets dry enough for sanding.

You could use a water-borne acrylic easily enough to toughen and slow loss from the surfaces. I believe the commercial product claims effectiveness with topical application. If you're looking to stop wood movement while drying, as the link says, only bulking agents have proven effective, and they're no prize, as some of them are so expensive, some so slimy even after the first dry that they're suitable only for things under glass.
 

Steve Worcester

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I will be using Greenwood,(Goodwood) different varieties I hope.
(Acrylic) is what I believe and need, Therefore the Product Will Need No Finishing.
LampMan

The problem with stabilization is the wood has to be bone dry.
 
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Content removed - violation of commercial advert policy.

And dude - this thread was 4 years old... thread necromancy at its finest...
 
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