DIY Wood Stabilize System?

[Danny Stotler]

Anyone have a diy wood stabilizing technique they could share?  I'm not sure what I need to purchase/setup to get this done.  Not sure for a small beans onesy twosy bowbuilder is this is something I should invest my money and time on.  I know I really like spaulted maple, but to have one stabilized the riser is roughly $160.

[Mad Max]

PVC pipe and a vacuum pump

[Kirkll]

Crooked stick should chime in here soon .... He's got a bunch of time into playing with the stuff and has it down.

I bought a pump and a large pot to do risers years ago, then built several vacuum chambers from various materials and sizes with mixed results.....Too big a pot, and you need too much juice............. But.... I never was satisfied with the penetration i got, so i quit messing with it.

BTW.... don't try building a vacuum chamber from 1/4" plexi glass.... That was a failure BIG time.

[Crooked Stic]

If you only gonna do one block better off to buy it already done. If you want I can post some pics of my setup. Have not bought any cactus juice in awhile but sure it has went up. I usally get about 3 Riser size blocks out of a gallon. Then you have some left over. was about $85 a gallon last time I bought any juice

[Danny Stotler]

Your probably right.  I've been looking at some larger blocks of wood via ebay on spaulted maple and other less hard woods that would need to be stabilized but the cash outlay may be more than needed.  Some on youtube seem to be doing a good job with it for minimal material, but not with the cost of cactus juice.

[Crooked Stic]

If you buy 4 gallons it $70 a gall. Plus shipping.

[Jon Lipovac]

It definitely gets expensive.

I started out just like you and went the route of building my own vacuum chamber.  It was like a large shoe box thinking I wouldn't have to have a bunch of extra juice to keep it submerged. Bought a sheet of 4'x4' 3/4 plexiglass and built all 4 sides and the base. The lid was rabbited out and I made it so it would be wider and longer than the box by 1/4".

The problem was the only way to seal it good was to silicon the lid down. I tried to make gaskets and such and could never get it tight enough. Who knows how much time I had plus $125 in materials for that dang thing.

I ended up buying a 6"x36" chamber from Turntex and it has worked flawlessly. I get much better results. I have found some woods take the juice much better than others and some that you think would, don't hardly take on any.

I also bought a long glass vase that is 4"x30" for longer narrow wood pieces that I simply put inside the chamber to save on the amount of juice needed to submerge the piece.

[Mad Max]

I think Big Jims Bow Company will do them for you.

[Buggs]

I'm curious how much juice is actually absorbed by the wood? Most wood is around 40% air space, so a 3X3X18" chunk would have about 65cuin of air space, which translates to about a quart of volume. If it really sucked up that much liquid, a riser size chunk would cost around $25. to stabilize. Thats a little over 1 bdft, which means even an inexpensive piece of wood would be over $30. per board ft??

[Jon Lipovac]

Buggs. That sounds about right.
I've found that of the woods I've stabilized, maple, walnut, elm, have absorbed the most juice. My guess has been that I usually spend between $20-$35 on juice per bow.
I've tried some really light woods like red cedar to see if it would make it a viable piece and it would not accept any juice at all. On the other hand, I've had a 2x4x20 maple riser block weigh as much as 5 lbs after stabilization.

Also of interest. If your wood is not really close to zero moisture content. The juice will secrete back out if it when curing. I think the moisture in the fiber expands and pushes the juice out.

[Danny Stotler]

Yes, Big Jim's will do it for me and I gave him the thumbs up on a riser.  I was just curious on doing this myself moving forward.

[Crooked Stic]

I know one guy weighs the wood before and after stabilizing. And charges so much an oz. For the weight gained . Most maples I have done really gain a lot of weight. Walnut must be very dry and needs to soak for about 3 weeks  I always thought it needed to soak until it did not float to be fully penetrated Curtis of TurnTex it has to do with specific gravity of the wood to start with.

[Kirkll]

The whole process was kind of fun to play with.... But... It's not very cost effective.  I'd rather use G-10 to stiffen things up using walnut, myrtle, and curly maple. Its actually cheaper going that route, and much stronger.

A trick i found to use less juice in a larger chamber is putting ceramic tile in the chamber to take up extra space. Takes half the juice stacking tile on top of your riser block and around it. I also milled the block and cut it to rough shape before stabilizing it. I would put my blocks in my hot box for 24 hours at about 100-120 degrees before dunking it in the juice too.......  It was an interesting mad scientist thing for awhile, but i never really felt the love...

[Danny Stotler]

hmmmm......

[Crooked Stic]

Well sure don't put hot wood in juice cause heat is what cures it.  To get it totally dry heat to 200 then cool to room temp in a plastic bag then in the juice

[Mad Max]

Marble's

Just don't loose yours 

[Crooked Stic]

Good idea Max. Guess Roy have to use sumptin else 

[Roy from Pa]

Yup.....

[Kirkll]

Well sure don't put hot wood in juice cause heat is what cures it.  To get it totally dry heat to 200 then cool to room temp in a plastic bag then in the juice

Roger that.... I would imagine that would be a mess-stake.

Marble's

Just don't loose yours 

Too late Max.... i already lost mine... But thats a great idea.

[Mad Max]

I did knife scales in a Mason Jar and a brake line vacuum pump with marbles . 
Roy still has 1 or 2