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Pentacryl

Marc Vickery

Marc Vickery

Joined
Jan 29, 2020
Messages
17
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3
Location
Keizer, OR
I have a new woodturner in our club asking about Pentacry. Since I’m a mentor of sorts, it appears I am in a blind spot as I have no clue on usage, cost, effectiveness and so forth. Anyone have an opinion about Pentacryl?
Thanks,
Marc
Willamette Vally Woodturners
 
Like all other beginners looking for the magic key, I tried Pentacryl about 20 years ago and was disgusted with the results. I thought it was on par with soaking wood in used motor oil. I also bought two blocks of polyethylene glycol 1000, a fad back then, but decided not to use it and couldn't give it away. After about 15 years in storage, it decomposed into a syrupy liquid. I discovered that a similar thing was happening to turnings by some professional woodturners after about 15 to 20 years.

I still have a partial bottle of Pentacryl that I would like to get rid of, but I consider it hazardous waste which in good conscience, I can't bring myself to send to the landfill.
 
I have been using Pentacryl for 15-20 years with good results. I have also tried peg 1000, dish soap, denatured alcohol and greenwood sealer. The great thing about pentacryl is that it cuts the drying time in half. Everyone has to develop their own drying method but in my extreme climate, pentacryl has worked best.
 
Bill Boehme said:
Like all other beginners looking for the magic key, I tried Pentacryl about 20 years ago and was disgusted with the results. I thought it was on par with soaking wood in used motor oil. I also bought two blocks of polyethylene glycol 1000, a fad back then, but decided not to use it and couldn't give it away. After about 15 years in storage, it decomposed into a syrupy liquid. I discovered that a similar thing was happening to turnings by some professional woodturners after about 15 to 20 years.

I still have a partial bottle of Pentacryl that I would like to get rid of, but I consider it hazardous waste which in good conscience, I can't bring myself to send to the landfill.
Click to expand...
Well stated!
My experience with PEG was about 30 years ago when my brother tried it on a large birch burl wall hanging that he then mounted on a wall in his house but after a bout a year the crap started leaching out onto the wall and made a mess that could only be covered with paneling.
 
Ed Moulthrop worked with that stuff, he got his turnings in the museum of fine arts in Houston,got problems with them and who is going to correct and pay for it ??

and yes I have a partial Pentacryl container left sitting in my shop, just one use and I knew that was not something I wanted to use on my turnings.

PEG and Pentacryl did cause blisters to form under the finishes that was used.

Peg use problem.jpg
 
Leo Van Der Loo said:
Ed Moulthrop worked with that stuff, he got his turnings in the museum of fine arts in Houston,got problems with them and who is going to correct and pay for it ??

and yes I have a partial Pentacryl container left sitting in my shop, just one use and I knew that was not something I wanted to use on my turnings.

PEG and Pentacryl did cause blisters to form under the finishes that was used.

View attachment 55915
Click to expand...
I have seen this with PEG but I have never had any trouble with finishes over Pentacryl. I have not used everything but shellac, lacquer, PTO and CA glue have not had any blistering.
 
Jim McLain said:
I have seen this with PEG but I have never had any trouble with finishes over Pentacryl. I have not used everything but shellac, lacquer, PTO and CA glue have not had any blistering.
Click to expand...

The piece I used it on stayed greasy, I kept it for several years but eventually I got rid of it, (probably in the fire), anyway I will not use the pentacryl again.
 
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Leo Van Der Loo said:
Ed Moulthrop worked with that stuff, he got his turnings in the museum of fine arts in Houston,got problems with them and who is going to correct and pay for it ??

and yes I have a partial Pentacryl container left sitting in my shop, just one use and I knew that was not something I wanted to use on my turnings.

PEG and Pentacryl did cause blisters to form under the finishes that was used.

View attachment 55915
Click to expand...
I was going to like it but I don't like those results
 
Thanks everyone so much for taking the time and especially posting the Ed Moulton picture. Pretty much glitches the results.
Thanks so much Leo, I think my new turner might be saving himself some problems!
 
Leo Van Der Loo said:
Ed Moulthrop worked with that stuff, he got his turnings in the museum of fine arts in Houston,got problems with them and who is going to correct and pay for it ??
Click to expand...

Ed Moulthrop was one of the names I was thinking of but wasn't sure if my memory was correct. Another name I was thinking about was Ron Kent, but maybe he was using dish detergent.

Leo Van Der Loo said:
The piece I used it on stayed greasy, I kept it for several years but eventually I got rid of it, (probably in the fire), anyway I will not use the pentacryl again.
Click to expand...

That is the same thing I remember about Pentacryl.
 
Never got around to using it. Initially it wasnt readily available, then it was not cheap, so I lost interest in it. So I went back to the traditional method of rabidly collecting wood at an alarming rate based on the theory that eventually I will have only fully seasoned wood in abundance as the green dried . so far its working for me :)
 
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