Stabilising spalted wood

[Fire_frogs]

Hi everyone,
I've not been on for a while because I've been busy processing timber for future projects and also building a vacuum stabilising system.
The system works great but ......
I've tried using lots of different things to stabilise VERY punky spalted almost rotten wood but nothing really works like hoped including shellac which I thought would be a sure fire thing. I'm now looking at cactus juice but the costs are huge if a lot gets soaked in.

Does anyone know how much on average gets absorbed into punky wood whilst going through the project?

If it costs say £8 + per blank it's probably not worth the hassle and cost.

Thanks everyone (hammer)

 

[MikeG.]

You might want to edit your title. I expected to read about wood treated with salt.

 

[LancsRick]

Yea I came into the thread wondering what the hell salting had to do with woodwork!

 

[Fire_frogs]

Thanks guys. That made me laugh.

 

[cornucopia]

The amount if cactus juice which is absorbed varies greatly, some woods will double in weight some with only increase by 50% or so. spalted beech and burr horse chestnut increase the most in my experience.

if you go to the Turntex woodworks website who is the maker of cactus juice you will find a helpful calculator which will give you an average usage

https://www.turntex.com/help-center/cac ... calculator

I hope this helps

 

[--Tom--]

Bruce aka Packrat spent a lot of time and experimenting with stabilising. He’s been pretty ill lately but hopefully on the mend. Message him via his website, and if he’s up to it he’s a wealth of info

https://packratwoods.uk

 

[Lazurus]

I am watching this as I to have a vacuum and pressure system, I made several enquiries regarding cactus juice and whilst it appears very effective the costs are quite prohibitive. I have has some success with resins but it is an alchemy quiz to find what one is best. Perhaps a call the Easy composites may be of help, I found them very helpful.

 

[Fire_frogs]

I have tried so many things to stabilise almost rotten wood and haven't found a cost effective solution as yet. I will try phoning easy composites and see what they recommend. I'm really interested in what everyone else uses to stabilise large blanks ?

 

[--Tom--]

Bruce has been there already, give him a call. He was selling his own version of cactus juice too

 

[Quinlan Silvanos]

Greetings,

Bruce aka Packrat spent a lot of time and experimenting with stabilising. He’s been pretty ill lately but hopefully on the mend. Message him via his website, and if he’s up to it he’s a wealth of info

I was in contact sporadically in 2018 with him, last time in February. Tried today, unsuccessfully. His site and his blog give me the "404 Not Found" message. Have you got any news about him? I hope he is well.

Regards,

Christos