# Douglas Fir blanks



## Rich P. (Apr 8, 2018)

For those that bought the Douglas Fir blanks and are planning to stabilize them. I baked a few of them in the oven for about 6 hours at 215-220 to get what moisture out of them I could and a few started to fray. I have a couple that did not which I have in stabilizer now with a couple I did not bake to see how they turn out. I am excited to see the results but backing them like normal blanks to get the moisture out was not successful.
I will keep you posted.

Reactions: Informative 8


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## Karl_99 (Apr 8, 2018)

Interested to see how they turn out. These are very unusual blanks and will make some cool looking pens. Will you make hybrids out of those that opened?


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## Rich P. (Apr 8, 2018)

Karl- I am very interested to see some finished pens also. I bought 20 blanks thinking I may have to lose a few figuring it out.
I have never done any casting and in 20 years of pen turning I have never turned a piece of Acrylic or a hybrid blank so the 2 you see will be mailed to another WB member along with a box of other casting pieces.

RichP

Reactions: Like 1


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## Tony (Apr 8, 2018)

Maybe they need to be stabilized first? Just a guess, I don't do either.


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## woodman6415 (Apr 8, 2018)

Tony said:


> Maybe they need to be stabilized first? Just a guess, I don't do either.


Can't be stabilized till all moisture is baked out ..

Reactions: Agree 3 | Informative 2


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## rhossack (Apr 8, 2018)

Interested in following this thread.

What stabilizing fluid did you use? I finally tracked down what I used and it was some Ultraseal I was beta testing at that time.

It was an utter disaster when baked all I had was a soupy mess. I'm assuming the resin and the pitch didn't like each other.

I have some really dry pieces I'll throw in some Cactus Juice and see what happens.


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## Karl_99 (Apr 8, 2018)

I sent a pic of the blanks above to Curtis Seeback to see what he recommends. He is the maker of Cactus Juice. I wonder if they can be dried longer at a lower temperature.


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## rocky1 (Apr 8, 2018)

@ripjack13 Is Curtis a member here?


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## Rich P. (Apr 8, 2018)

The pictures above are only blanks that were baked in the oven as the first stage of trying to get the moisture out. I have a couple that survived that process and I took a couple that I did not bake and they are all in cactus juice now. They have gone through the vacuum stage and are now just soaking for the additional time. I will bake them at 190ish tomorrow, a couple wrapped and a couple unwrapped to see if there is a difference.

I hope that with the resin and the lower temp they will not open up.

RichP

Reactions: Great Post 1


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## ripjack13 (Apr 8, 2018)

rocky1 said:


> @ripjack13 Is Curtis a member here?



@TurnTex

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Rich P. (Apr 8, 2018)

On another note, they did not absorb anywhere near the amount of Cactus Juice I had expected them to. They were under full vacuum for about 3 hours and there were no bubbles left when the vacuum was turned off.

I had kinda expected them to be like maple Burl or Spalted maple and just suck the juice up.

RichP.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## ripjack13 (Apr 8, 2018)

Hasn't been seen since 2016...


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## ripjack13 (Apr 8, 2018)

I have some of those blanks also. I was just going to soak em with ca....

Reactions: Like 2


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## Rich P. (Apr 8, 2018)

That maybe the better way. I will know tomorrow. If you decide to just soak them I would suggest you blow them off lightly with a compressor to get the "bark dust" off. The cactus juice color changed noticeably when I soaked them.

Rich

Reactions: Informative 2


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## woodman6415 (Apr 8, 2018)

rocky1 said:


> @ripjack13 Is Curtis a member here?


Yes .. but doesn't get on very often ... he's usually really busy

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## rocky1 (Apr 8, 2018)

ripjack13 said:


> @TurnTex





ripjack13 said:


> Hasn't been seen since 2016...




Thought he was, but couldn't remember what his name was here, thanks Marc.




woodman6415 said:


> Yes .. but doesn't get on very often ... he's usually really busy



Yeah, I've visited with him a time or two other places, he definitely gets around answering stabilizing questions. Thought I had run into him here as well. Thanks Wendell.

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1


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## Tony (Apr 8, 2018)

ripjack13 said:


> Hasn't been seen since 2016...



I talked to him at SWAT last year, said he's just been too busy to get on.

Reactions: Like 1


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## ripjack13 (Apr 8, 2018)

rocky1 said:


> Thought he was, but couldn't remember what his name was here, thanks Marc.
> 
> Yeah, I've visited with him a time or two other places, he definitely gets around answering stabilizing questions. Thought I had run into him here as well. Thanks Wendell.



https://woodbarter.com/threads/choose-my-vacuum-pump.28593/page-2#post-372093

Reactions: Funny 1


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## DKMD (Apr 8, 2018)

They still look cool! Plus, you figured out a way to turn pen blanks into castable knife scales...

Reactions: Funny 2


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## Karl_99 (Apr 8, 2018)

I PM'ed Curtis on FB and he suggested drying them for a day at a very low oven setting before drying them at the usual 215-220.

Reactions: Like 1 | Informative 3


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## Glenn Lefley (Apr 8, 2018)

I’ve did them before. Clamp them up so they stay compressed between dry plywood. Put clamps (steel) etc right into oven dry for the day or two then stabilize and then reclamp and bake. Zero waste.

Reactions: Informative 3 | Creative 1


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## Mike Bijon (Apr 14, 2018)

Glenn Lefley said:


> I’ve did them before. Clamp them up so they stay compressed between dry plywood. Put clamps (steel) etc right into oven dry for the day or two then stabilize and then reclamp and bake. Zero waste.



I was going to say the same. Small all-metal C-clamps are a few bucks at the big box stores. I've added vice grips to the mix too.

But plywood glue isn't something you want off gassing in the oven. Maybe use more clamps or real wood for the cauls.


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## Glenn Lefley (Apr 14, 2018)

Mike Bijon said:


> I was going to say the same. Small all-metal C-clamps are a few bucks at the big box stores. I've added vice grips to the mix too.
> 
> But plywood glue isn't something you want off gassing in the oven. Maybe use more clamps or real wood for the cauls.


And cactus juice doesn’t off gas. My oven is outside. I think one wood get shot if they tried to use the kitchen oven haha.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Mike Bijon (Apr 14, 2018)

You're lucky @Glenn Lefley. Seems like a lot of guys wait until the wife is gone for a day to run from the shop to the oven.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## VotTak (May 2, 2018)

any results on this? Any pictures?

Reactions: Agree 1


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## ripjack13 (May 2, 2018)




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## ripjack13 (May 2, 2018)




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## VotTak (May 2, 2018)

I was expecting a picture of stabilized blank....

Reactions: Like 1


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## ripjack13 (May 2, 2018)

Rats....foiled again....

Reactions: Funny 1 | Useful 1


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## Lou Currier (Jun 20, 2018)




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