# Off the wall vacuum question....



## SDB777 (Nov 30, 2013)

Well I hate to sound ignorant, but I'm going to do it anyway!

Can I vacuum a piece of 'green' timber with Pentacryl? Or are you just supposed to soak the chunk?


Thinking the vacuum pulls the air out and then would allow the 'goo' to get in, but I wouldn't think the additional moisture from the chunk itself would move...or does it also?





Scott (learnin' me sumtin' new) B


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## SDB777 (Nov 30, 2013)

BTW, I am wanting to vacuum a semi-turned chunk of SRO...



Scott (turn 'em green/make some stink) B


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## SENC (Nov 30, 2013)

Don't know about pentacryl, but stabilizing requires dry wood.


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## SDB777 (Nov 30, 2013)

SENC said:


> Don't know about pentacryl, but stabilizing requires dry wood.



Pentacryl is made for green wood...supposed to stop checking/cracks and such from timber that are prone to such things....

 >>>>> like to the stuff <<<<< 



Scott (it's only 8:05pm, I'm so tired) B


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## NYWoodturner (Dec 1, 2013)

Scott - Your theory is worth experimenting with, but I wouldn't do it on a piece you are turning. Do it on a junker. 
I think your question should be - will a vacuum chamber enhance the performance of Pentacryl... And that is why I think it has merit. I have used it quite a bit on Duckwood that was wet to successfully keep it from checking, but it never hardens like stabilizing resin. I would try it in a container within your chamber so that you don't get a mix of resin and Pentacryl. Try it on a pen blank or two. You will know you get good penetration and can see it through to the completely dry stage quicker. JMO


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## Schroedc (Dec 2, 2013)

I've read about denatured alcohol being used the same way in a Vacuum chamber to speed drying any experience out there anyone?


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## BangleGuy (Dec 2, 2013)

SDB777 said:


> Well I hate to sound ignorant, but I'm going to do it anyway!
> 
> Can I vacuum a piece of 'green' timber with Pentacryl? Or are you just supposed to soak the chunk?
> 
> ...



I actually have quite a lot of experience trying to stabilize green wood, with some failure and a little success. The answer is Yes, you can vacuum out the air in green wood and allow atmospheric pressure to work the Pentacryl back into the wood. I have done this with pentacryl, but pentacryl doesn't dry very fast (or at all), and it certainly doesn't harden up the wood structure. 

For stabilizing wet wood, I have done the following with some success;


Cut blanks to rough size + 25% to cover shrinkage
Vacuum green wood submerged in stabilizing resin
Release vacuum and let soak submerged for two hours 
Remove blanks from resin, drip dry and set in sunny location for a few days or so (depending on the season).
Repeat steps 2-4 
Repeat steps 2 & 3, followed by 20 minute bake at 200F
Repeat step 6 with the full two hour bake (or until the blanks reach 200F)
The idea here is to 'slowly' replace water with resin through repeated vacuum steps without curing the resin until the very last step.

For wet Holly, FBE, Camphor burl, Tineo this processes yielded about 50% success. For now, I will not buy wet wood unless I know I can get it to dry easily and quickly without all this fuss. But again, lessons learned...

Not great results, but for me it beats boiling, microwaving, DNA soaking, or the usual let it sit with anchorseal and allow some wood cracking to occur over time. Lastly, I should add that any cracks for me are unacceptable (which is not always the case for folks).

Just my experience, hope it helps!

Eric

Reactions: Like 5 | Informative 1


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## robert flynt (Jan 14, 2014)

In a/c work, vacuum pumps are used to remove moisture from refrigerant systems my lowering the boiling point of the water and converting it to vapor so it can be pulled out of the system. If the moisture content is high it will it will contaminate the oil in the pump unless there a cold pot,to recondense the vapor to a liquid, before it gets to the the pump. If the oil is contaminated it will turn cloudy and the pump will not pull as deep a vaccum. How will this effect the stabilizing process?


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## robert flynt (Jan 20, 2014)

Knowing it would prevent the pump from pulling a deep vaccum I suspected it would effect the stabilizing process that is why I brough it up. One thing I recommend is to close the intake valve to the pump and run the pump for a while to remove moisture from the oil each and ever time you use it.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## robert flynt (Jan 26, 2014)

It's good to get that out there for the guys that might not know. We would put a pot with dry ice in it ahead of the pump, in heavy contaminated system, to make the oil last longer.


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