"stabilizing" pine

JimBuis · July 20, 2008, 03:08:31 PM

I need to treat some pine to harden it enough to make it suitable for making pen blanks. I have read somewhere about guys taking plexiglas, melting it with acetone, and submerging pen blanks into that bath under pressure. As the story goes, after a period of time in this mixture, you remove the blanks from the bath, the acetone evaporates rapidly leaving the plastic behind within the cells of the wood. This is supposed to result in a plasticized wood that is almost as hard as the plexiglas.

Does anyone have experience doing this? I want to try it, but do not have time to reinvent the wheel. Any insights into this technique would be appreciated.

Someone will no doubt ask why go to all the trouble when I could use a nice hardwood to begin with? At the Baptist Children's Home where I am now employed, we have some pieces of an historic stairway that were salvaged from one of our buildings. Our Executive Director, translate that to mean "my boss", wants me to make pens out of this wood to use as a fund raiser or as a keepsake for our existing donors. I need to find a good way of doing this since the pine would be too soft without being hardened in some manner.

Thanks,
Jim

Fla._Deadheader · July 20, 2008, 03:17:32 PM

You can make Pine as hard as steel, by burning it, that is, heat treating it with fire. Don't know if you could then turn off the charred part and get a satisfactory piece ???

getoverit · July 20, 2008, 06:36:01 PM

I havent heard of the plexiglass version of this, but I have heard of steaming wood using superglue. The wood is placed into an air tight vessel and then superglue is heated in a small pan in the bottom of the vessel, the vapors invade the pores of the wood, leaving a hard superglue behind.

I have never tried it, so I have no clue if it is just another wives tale or not.

Tom · July 20, 2008, 07:28:10 PM

Historical Trees had some wood impregnated with a hard plastic for knife handles. It was an expensive process and they finally determined it to be unworkable since the material was so hard.

Your pine will probably be OK with a coat or two of Polyurethane (thinned) on it. The modern floor coatings are tough stuff and have allowed softer woods to be used for floors. If it works for a floor, I would think it would work for a pen.

beenthere · July 20, 2008, 07:44:20 PM

Might try this "quick and easy" method, drawing a vacuum on the items placed in a can of polyurethane.

content.penturners.org/articles/2004/polyurethane1.pdf

low_48 · July 20, 2008, 10:48:45 PM

I've used these guys (husband and wife business)

http://www.rrpwhite.com/stabilizing%20page.htm

They offer a sample test to see if you like what they do.
"Send us up to 4 pen blanks, or 8 ounces of wood any size, and a personal check for $9.00 (US customers), and we will clear
stabilize and return ship. If you know, please tell us the species. Dyed colors not available with trial offer. (The $9.00 is for stabilizing and USPS Priority mail return postage)."

I didn't think I could mess with any systems or chemicals for this price. I sent two USPS flat rate boxes of buckeye and spalted maple to them. Loved the results. I've sold almost all of the buckeye and have quite a few spalted maple. The buckeye didn't require any finish, but I did put some CA glue on the maple to get a higher gloss finish. The blanks drill and turn just a little easier than acrylic. The wood really needs to be dry. They use a heat process to set the polymer and if the wood is a little wet, it may crack in the heat.

JimBuis · July 20, 2008, 11:02:15 PM

low_48,
Thanks for that information. The wood I'm needing to treat was in the form a stairway that was almost 100 years old when it was torn out, so I figure that is probably dry enough. ;)

Jim

Don P · July 21, 2008, 12:44:19 AM

I've never used it but would pentacryl work?
For restoration I've used WoodEpox a 2 part epoxy thinned with their thinner and had good success. (Abatron Inc)