Thread: preserving bark on project

might need a picture of the item?

but other then peeling it off, coating it poly or epoxy and then glueing it back on the bark will eventually flake off.

It is typical coastal paperbark type tree. I think it would be nearly impossible to peel off and re-glue. Wondering if a lacquer sprayed on would work.

Bark and wood are different materials so they move and degrade at different rates. I wouldn't risk making a trophy that needs to last for some time with the bark attached.

Someone that uses cactus juice may be able to comment on how successful that might be in stabilising the bark?

Thanks for the suggestion .. that was my biggest worry. I am also not sure just how long ago the timber was harvested so my still have too much moisture.

This may seem like a silly idea but many years ago I used to get to watch power poles getting treated with a Creosote based liquid. The poles got loaded into a steel pressure vessel and the vessel was evacuated to draw air and moisture from the wood. The pressure vessel was then filled with the Creosote solution and the vessel then pressurised for a few hours to force the liquid into the timber.
Would a similar system work in this case? Put the timber into a strong container, remove the air and then inject some sort of liquid stabilising agent and then apply air pressure to the chamber to force the liquid into the wood? In theory the liquid should soak into both the bark and the wood as well as filling the gaps where the two meet and glue the whole lot together.

In Tasmania there is a rather weird tree call Horizontal - Anodopetulum Biglandulosum - which has the rather unique property that it does not (usually) shed its bark.

Horizontal Chair.jpg Horizontal Buttons.jpg

Unfortunately, horizontal is rarely available commercially. Occasionally it is stocked in very small quantities by Island Specialty Timbers, Geeveston, Tasmania.

Originally Posted by Old Hilly

This may seem like a silly idea but many years ago I used to get to watch power poles getting treated with a Creosote based liquid. The poles got loaded into a steel pressure vessel and the vessel was evacuated to draw air and moisture from the wood. The pressure vessel was then filled with the Creosote solution and the vessel then pressurised for a few hours to force the liquid into the timber.
Would a similar system work in this case? Put the timber into a strong container, remove the air and then inject some sort of liquid stabilising agent and then apply air pressure to the chamber to force the liquid into the wood? In theory the liquid should soak into both the bark and the wood as well as filling the gaps where the two meet and glue the whole lot together.

what you are describing is the normal vacuum pressure process for most treated timber. Whether it would work in this situation I would have no idea. But I doubt joe average could replicate it. You need to create absolute vacuum then fill the cylinder whilst maintaining that vacuum, followed by over 200psi of pressure. Not impossible but very difficult for a once of home based solution.

Cheers Andrew

Well AJ, judging by the treatment plant at Wauchope, now long gone, I would venture to say that almost any decent vacuum pump would do the job. Theirs were rotary vane pumps similar to the machines used on almost every dairy milking bails in the valley and as for air pressure, would it need to be 200PSI to force some liquid into the bark and sap-wood of the timber the OP was talking about? Anyway, it was just a thought.

Probably not much help, but I seem to remember that about 30 years ago there was a liquid plastic/resin that soaked int soft/rotten timber to stabilise it. Like many other things, I can't remember its name, but you may be able to find something like it by trawling through the interweb.

How about making the log trophy, then casting it in a clear resin block? That would preserve everything with no issues of degradation over time.