# So did I screw up Redwood while Stabilizing it?



## Chris S. (Feb 7, 2016)

Got chamber all built, dried wood in over for a day, and was ready to get going. I put in some Curly Koa blanks I had and some scraps of redwood burl I had into the chamber, pulled vacuum, kept vacuum until bubble stopped, let soak for about 2 hours, then baked. While baking was reading @TurnTex website and see he suggest letting redwood soak for up to a week, the longer the better. Wood all baked and cured now, can I throw back into chamber and get more Cactus Juice into those pieces or am I stuck with what I got? Have a second batch of redwood soaking now and plan on leaving that for the week.


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## norman vandyke (Feb 7, 2016)

From my experience it can go either way as far as being able to get more resin into a blank. With a maple block I was trying to double dye, I accidentally sealed the inside with resin preventing the addition of another color. I ended up slicing it in half to get the rest stabilized. I have also had good results without having to cut it open. Less dense Woods like redwood burl might be less likely to seal up. I've been soaking my blanks for up to two days for some.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Chris S. (Feb 7, 2016)

thanks for feedback, planing on leaving current redwood blanks in for the week then guess will throw this stuff in for a few days and see what happens


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## JR Custom Calls (Feb 7, 2016)

If your chamber will allow it, you can use Tupperware type containers and be able to soak stuff outside the chamber once you've pulled vacuum so you can move on to other stuff. 

I would see no reason why you couldn't try at least to get more resin. Dry em real good again after you sand off any resin on the outside. I regularly soak stuff for a week or more.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## norman vandyke (Feb 7, 2016)

JR Custom Calls said:


> If your chamber will allow it, you can use Tupperware type containers and be able to soak stuff outside the chamber once you've pulled vacuum so you can move on to other stuff.
> 
> I would see no reason why you couldn't try at least to get more resin. Dry em real good again after you sand off any resin on the outside. I regularly soak stuff for a week or more.


That's what I use!


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## Fsyxxx (Feb 7, 2016)

You can re soak for sure. Sand the outside just to get any excess off then soak em. No big mistake, just added a step!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Chris S. (Feb 7, 2016)

Thanks all. Sand and re soak it will be.


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## justallan (Feb 8, 2016)

You said the redwood are scraps, are they big enough to still get 2 small blanks out of if you were to cut them in half to see what you have going on inside? I'd certainly listen to what Turn-Tex has to say and go with his general guidelines, but cutting one in half every now and then will show you what you are doing.


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## Chris S. (Feb 8, 2016)

None big enough to cut in half sadly but I can tell they don't seem like soaked up much so sure a longer soak will do them good. The ones I have in now been soaking for about 36 hours and fluid level has dropped about an inch so far so they are really pulling some Juice in. Going to let a week pass and see what I get.


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## TurnTex (Feb 10, 2016)

First, even on your other blanks, you did not soak nearly long enough. You need to soak a minimum of 2x as long as you pulled vacuum. As for the redwood, if you did not get saturation in the blank, then you absolutely can get more resin into the wood. Remember, vacuum does NOT get resin into the wood. It get the air out, creating a lower pressure inside the wood. When you release the vacuum, that is when the majority of the resin begins to go back into the wood to equalize the lower pressures. If it took hours to get the air out, air is a heck of a lot thinner than resin so it will take a lot longer to get the resin back in.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Chris S. (Feb 10, 2016)

Thanks for info. Baking the first set now to prepare for going back into chamber. Plan on leaving them in there for a few days this time. I am going to do the redwood separate being it seems to need the longest soak of everything. There is lots of air in redwood burl. Will see how things come out when I do it again properly.


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