TomAiello wrote: ↑Sun May 23, 2021 8:13 am
...The difference between the vacuum pump I use for stabilizing (it's intended for HVAC service) and the food saver is pretty substantial.
No doubt. I was going to explain the same thing here, and how very important it is to get as close to full atmospheric vacuum as possible in order to get good resin penetration among other key details. But then I figured..I haven't actually done the food saver thing and can't definitively say it won't help so Kel might as well give it a try if he wants to. After all, he won't fail no matter what. He will either succeed or he'll learn something new and maybe even teach us what he learned. :)
TomAiello wrote: ↑Sun May 23, 2021 8:13 am
Xplorer, have you ever tried using pressure after vacuuming? I was reading about that the other day (putting the pieces into a pressure pot immediately after vacuum to 'push' more resin into the wood), but I have no idea if it's actually effective in increasing resin uptake. I don't own a pressure pot, but I was thinking of picking one up to try making some hybrid scales (and, if I'm being honest, because my kids want to make custom dice for dungeons and dragons).
No I have not. If you mean taking them out of the resin and placing them (wet) in the pressure pot, I have serious doubts that pressure afterward will make any noticeable difference without the blank remaining submerged in the resin.
If you mean placing them in the pressure pot and pouring the resin in with them so that they are fully submerged, I have a strong feeling it would help. The one thing I'm unsure of is the pressure required to make more progress than the vacuum already made. High vacuum is incredibly powerful and doesn't convert to a simple analogous opposite measurement when comparing it to pressure so I'm unsure (as I write this) how high the pressure would have to be.
I do know this however...nearly everyone who sells stabilized wood blanks uses vacuum for stabilizing. The one exception that I am aware of (there may be others I'm unaware of) is the guys at K&G Finishing Supplies (Knife and Gun) kandgstabilizing.com. They use high pressure
instead of vacuum from what I understand. The significant thing about this is that I've bought a bunch of stabilized woods from multiple sources, I've spent hundreds of dollars experimenting and learning to get the best possible results out of doing it myself, my dad (life-long woodworker) who makes very high-end custom wood furniture has worked to perfect the process on his end, and still the hardest, heaviest, most dense piece of stabilized wood I've ever held was the stuff K&G stabilized. It's feels like it's got 50% more resin in it than anything else I've ever seen. This leads me to believe there's something to the pressure they use that is superior. However, I do not know how much pressure or for how long etc.. they don't share the recipe
.
Now that you've brought this up, I think I might just get a pressure pot and try putting half the blanks and all of the resin in it after the soak (post vacuum) and then compare the results of the pressurized blanks and non-pressurized blanks when the process is complete. :D I'll either succeed or learn :D .
:spyder: Spyderco fan and collector since 1991. :spyder:
Father of 2, nature explorer, custom knife maker.
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