# Pulling multiple vacuums



## Brain M (Jun 18, 2016)

I've done three batches of stabilizing in cactus juice now and all three I have had to pull vacuum on for over 12 hours. Is this normal? I'm afraid I'm gonna smoke my pump. Is it okay to pull multiple vacuums on one batch of wood allowing the pump to cool for a couple hours in between? Is this even necessary? Woods have been mainly maple and few pieces of mahogany.


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## ironman123 (Jun 18, 2016)

Have you got the moisture to zero before stabilizing? Some stuff I have done 12 to 14 hours before the bubbles stopped but I think I had around 5% moisture.
I cook them overnight at about 215 degrees now before stabilizing and that helps for me.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Schroedc (Jun 18, 2016)

Wood that is slightly damp can cause bubbles for long periods of time, also, really dense woods like maple and mahogany can take forever to get done even if dry since the pores you're trying to vac down are so tiny and the air doesn't move out of them easily. About the only time I'll run hard maple or other dense woods is if I'm trying to dye them as it doesn't add a lot to them except for water resistance....


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## Brain M (Jun 18, 2016)

I'm dying them. They have beenunder 3 vac's now and are still bubbling. A total of almost 20 hours of vacuum time. I'm just gonna let them soak now and see how they turn out. Not worth needing to buy a new pump

Thanks guys!


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## Brain M (Jun 18, 2016)

With these super dense woods, is it better to just leave them anf finish them with a good stain and oil or sealer? These are for knife handles.


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## DSmith (Jun 18, 2016)

Brain M said:


> I've done three batches of stabilizing in cactus juice now and all three I have had to pull vacuum on for over 12 hours. Is this normal? I'm afraid I'm gonna smoke my pump. Is it okay to pull multiple vacuums on one batch of wood allowing the pump to cool for a couple hours in between? Is this even necessary? Woods have been mainly maple and few pieces of mahogany.


It is normal and your pump should be fine. I run after a <4 moisture content and usually run maple burl scales and blocks. Even after 14hrs it bubbles sometimes. Just let it saod for 24-48 hrs (lomger the better) and all should be well


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## Brain M (Jun 28, 2016)

So, my latest batch I did some maple in violet. I had 10 pieces in the chamber and stabilized until there were no more bubbles. I let the whole batch soak for 48 hours then removed half the stock, baked it and let the other half set in the cactus juice for an entire week. I then pulled those out and baked them. In the end, there is no difference between the color saturation of the two batches but, there is a deffinate weight difference between the two. What the differences between the two batches exactly are, good or bad im not sure. Just wanted to post what I found and ask if there is reason to soak for a week or if 48 hours wold be enough. Thank guys, Brian.


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## gregsayers2000 (Jul 21, 2016)

I use a vac setup to dye veneer and corn cob pen blanks. I pull the vacuum and the vac holds and the pump never runs again. Is the application I am using that much different than what you are doing to cause your system to run that much? I have continuos bubbling for hours also. I do use a much larger vessel than actually needed, could that help?


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## kweinert (Jul 21, 2016)

You might take a look at this as well: http://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/welcome.htm - it might add a little cost but in my experience it works well. I ended up building a 4 chamber one only because I couldn't get shorter lengths of PVC and the extra would go to waste. So I added a couple of chambers to it for the cost of a little more hardware.

Establishing the vacuum reservoir works well and the pump will cycle as needed. In my experience (which is not the most extensive) the pump rarely comes on. I do know that once the new shop is set up I'll be doing more experimenting with dyeing as I've picked up a couple of things in the forums here and realize that I need to leave it longer. That could have some impact on how much the pump runs. I can say though that this setup works very well for me. And I know that this site is all about veneering (which is how I ran across it in the first place) but I've never actually gotten around to doing any veneering :)


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