Cactus Juice treatment question-

P

Paul Sherman

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Jul 12, 2016
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I just put together a vacuum rig and got my Cactus Juice ready to go on some wood handles. My question is this: whenever I see people prepping wood for handles, scales or even pens, they always seem to do it prior to any shaping, just sawn blocks. Why is this? It seems to me that stabilizing even a rough shaped handle would consume less juice and ensure penetration, especially if you had a hole drilled in a full tang handle.
 
Things will often warp when you stabilize especially when wood is thin as in scales. But if your just playing around you can try it. But for me it's not worth messing around. A customer deserves the best product we can make and for me that's professedly stabilized wood. That way I don't have to question if it's done right. But I can see having fun playing around with doing it your self for your own personal knives.
 
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there's no reason not to. you wouldn't want to go to finished dimension, as you'll have some bleed out you need to clean up. Many people are selling blocks to others, so they aren't going to be pre shaped. I have some blocks for myself currently, but since it may be a while before I use them, they remain blocks. Also, if i decide too later, I can cut the stabilized blocks down into scales, or keep as blocks for hidden tangs.
 
I don't think your cactus juice will do a great job on block size but will probably work out on scales and I'm talking with the best of equipment .
Frank
 
Non oily woods up to the density of Walnut will stabilize in full size blocks with cactus juice with a proper tank and pump. I've used quite a bit of the stuff with curly and spalting poplar, big leaf maple, aspen, etc. Proper vacuum, and letting the blocks soak long enough after returning to atmospheric pressure (sometime days to a week, when the wood no longer floats) is necessary. The resin penetrates after vacuum is released, not while under vacuum.
 
It requires the right setup, techniques and patience, but CJ will absolutely penetrate and stabilize large blocks. I'm pulling the max amount of vacuum possible at this altitude. So unless other systems can break the laws of physics ( they can't) or the stabilizing liquid is thinner ( very doubtful as CJ is pretty thin) there is no reason it can't do a great job at stabilizing. The real difference, much like making knives, is the skill and knowledge of the operator.
 
If course would it be easier, faster and most likely cheaper ( at low volume) to send it out? Of course. And I may send out the Burl I just cut up, since there's so much of it. I could just buy a knife too.
 
I spent $500.00 getting set up for home stabilization. It only makes sense to me because cross border shipping is a pain, and I can process small batches as needed.
 
I have some burl blocks that we're under vacuum overnight and have been soaking all day. I'll let them soak until tomorrow, as I'm in no rush. The level of stabilizer in my 3" diameter vessel is down 3" for two 2"x1.5"x 6" blocks.
 
This is always a touchy subject. Some people get very very mad when you tell them their product isnt as good as _________

Here's what I will say after several hundred pounds through K&G and extensive testing on both professionally and home stabilized woods.

Professionally Stabilized wood is better. Now im not saying that a piece that does very well in CJ wont be better than the worst piece at K&G, but all in all K&G will always get a denser, finer finishing product than a home set up for a huge number of factors, ranging from the grade of polymer used "CJ is a relatively low grade monomer," to the vacuum to pressure cycle. K&G uses a pressure cycle after the vacuum cycle for better penetration.

BUT. FOR MOST PEOPLE CJ WILL WORK FINE.

Have a lot of wood you want stabilized? DO it at home! Want to mess around? Do it at home! Cross border shipping a massive pain? DO IT AT HOME!

But always note that. Say home stabilized. And as a side note i strongly recommend against buying stabilized wood off ebay. I cant count the number of clients who start an email with "I bought a block of stabilized ________ off ebay and when it cut ip open it was punky inside!"
 
golfer1 said:
Nice job Kevin. I using CJ on some walnut hopefully it will turn out as nice
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I hear walnut is tough. You should definitely vac and soak a lot longer than you think. I'd let it soak a week after the bubbles stop and you turn off the pump.
 
On Walnut I get 30-50% increase in mass when soaking for 3-4 days. On Koa I got 60% increase. Poplar 100-200% increase. Mahogany gets 50-70%. I tried gidgee, but after a week, only 10% increase. I have a pressure pot now, so I’ll see if I can do some denser woods too.
 
Keep us undated on the pressure pot - I'd like to know how much it increases the absorption. Good numbers you show on amount of CJ absorbed.
 
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