Thread: Home Spalted Jacaranda

The stuff I used is called "Earls wood hardener" I got mine from Mitre 10 ,not cheap about $50 for a small container,its a milky stuff, but dries clear ,not tried on vacuum ,but should work ok ! I found you can reuse it, it doesn't seem to go off or be unusable over time ,my main usage was for some very punky and soft Buckeye burl that was like balsa worked ok on that cheers ~ John

Originally Posted by gawdelpus

The stuff I used is called "Earls wood hardener" I got mine from Mitre 10 ,not cheap about $50 for a small container,its a milky stuff, but dries clear ,not tried on vacuum ,but should work ok ! I found you can reuse it, it doesn't seem to go off or be unusable over time ,my main usage was for some very punky and soft Buckeye burl that was like balsa worked ok on that cheers ~ John

G'day John,

Went to Bunnies and got a bottle of the Earls wood hardener. I will drill out the center for a Sierra and let the blank soak until it drowns and then let it dry and see how it goes.

Just Another Thought #2

Try BondCrete - used for concrete but is also a great wood glue.
I think it will harden wood and is cheaper than PVA.

regards Ned

Originally Posted by Black Ned

Just Another Thought #2

Try BondCrete - used for concrete but is also a great wood glue.
I think it will harden wood and is cheaper than PVA.

regards Ned

You would have to dilute Boncrete with water as by it's self, will dry rubbery and would fail to soak into the wood. 50 X 50 dilution might be worth trying. I have use it to seal concrete fish ponds and also used in cement rendering jobs etc.

Well I finished cutting the rest of the stump, it yielded 101 full-size blanks and similar amount of shorts suitable for Polaris, Knights and Sierras. Next job is to grade them from light to heavy spalt and then decide what to do with them. They will need stabilizing but the effort will be well worth it I feel.

Yeh I currently use Cactus Juice, but to be honest, using CA is just as good. I do 8-12 blanks at a time in the CJ, vacuum for ~3 hours then bake for 45min, so still a lot of work and it isn't cheap. I get my CA from the US in 0.5 litre bottles at similar price to CJ.

At the end of the day both CA and CJ do a good job, but neither like the pro's do in US, the blanks are hard but not like plastic. I don't think there is a pro job done here in Aus yet.

Wood harder or the epoxy version (from boat building suppliers) both work, but do not use them on pen blank size if punky. This stuff takes weeks to go off properly on the inside and will twist your blanks. I found best results were on 1" slabs by flooding (or vacuum), as per instructions, then leave for 2 months weighted down before cutting into blanks. Again this is not a cheap option.

Cheers