Thread: Hardener

Greg the tree fern is quite stable ,the black part is hard as ebony ,but the creamy bits are a little softer stabize with thin CA to harden. The reason I cast under pressure is to fill any internal waterways that you can't always see in blank form. Just be sure to paint your tubes sometimes I forget and as it gets thin while turning you can often see the brass peeping through . I have never stabilised burls as such ,just again using thin CA on the ends before turning ,and when getting close to size thin CA to help keep it together ,sharp tools and patience will get you through the more difficult materials every time Cheers ~ John

Looks like the white timber will be hard as a rock too John I actually want to try it on some of the spalted timber - soft and fragile blanks I have. I was trying to avoid casting it but it might be necessary after all. I might get a chance to use the pressure pot yet.

Should work fine on the softer more open grained timbers if its like the stuff I tried from Mitre ten some time ago designed supposed to be for rotted wood like in window sills and the like soaks in and hardens to save replacing the whole thing I did find that it keeps ok and can be reused so not that much waste ,good luck with it cheers ~ John

Thanks John.

It's very true that its hard to find a new experiment because its all been tried before. Still if it works and saves me a vacuum set up that I don't really want then it will be a good thing. My casting will be limited to the painted tubes in clear resin as I don't mind them and they come out pretty well. Aside from that I much prefer the traditional timber.

Greg . I don't know if this has been mentioned but drilling say a 1/4 " hole through the blank centre allows the mixture to penetrate from the inside as well

Thanks John. I did that with a 6mm drill before I soaked the timber. I wasn't sure what kit i am going to use so drilled under the 7mm for the streamline. I might get a chance to try it out on the weekend.