Stabilizing delicate wood

[JohnnyEgo]

Making a box for a friend who is retiring. I want to use a burned piece of wood into the box. Not real sure what type of wood it is, but under the heat, the smooth exterior bark developed a deep ochre red color. The bark layer is fairly thick, but the burn has made it somewhat prone to crumbling. Plan B is to simply crumble it all up and mix it with some glue or epoxy and inlay it that way. But Plan A is to stabilize it somehow and incorporate it as a handle for the lid. I've got about three feet of the stuff (was fun explaining to the TSA why I was bringing a smoky-smelling branch as a piece of carry-on), and I really only need about four inches of it for the box lid, so I have some material to experiment with. However, I am somewhat lacking a clue on what material or techniques I can use on it. I could probably paint something like a poly coat on the exterior, but that doesn't really address the interior, which is also somewhat crumbly. So I'd love any advice about how I could get this thing infused with something to stabilize it. I have no materials or tools yet, and about two weeks of time to get it done, but I am willing to spend a little bit on whatever might make it happen. Thanks!

[jstraw]

If you want an excuse for a new tool, check out wood stabilization with epoxy under vacuum.

https://youtu.be/vQxtHxfqbeQ

This is how Blue Spruce tools make their indistructable wooden mallets. Some turners use it to stabilize heavily spalted wood for turning.

Grizzly sells the parts but there are other sources on the internet. I already have a veneer vacuum press and hope to find a project later to get and use a vacuum reservoir. I don’t turn so it limits possible uses for me. Actually thought about using it to make super hard pistol grips.

[oakey]

Johnny
min wax has an epoxy type wood hardener i use it now and again works quite well on punky wood
i am not sure how it would work on a burned piece
i just used it on a live edge walnut slab [ table top] that had a very rotten part
it worked very well .One caution the can directions state that it don't interfere with stains and finish's that is not quite true
i only stabilized the rotten part and the stabilized part is shiny and showed through the final Finnish
i ran it through my drum sander after and the stabilized part did not show up till the final finish was applied
ended up re sanding and pored the wood hardener over the whole top then it looked good
the part that is/ was rotten now is very solid
got it at Menard's

[Alan S]

System Three makes an epoxy they call Rotfix that is water-thin so it soaks in well, and hardens to stabilize wood. It is also pretty much colorless, so should work in your case.

[RonL]

Not sure if this helps but light wood on the walnut was very soft and punky. I used most of a bottle of cryogenic thin glue.
RonL

[JohnnyEgo]

The vacuum resin thing looks awesome, and I am not balking at the expense so much as the single use-case I have for it. I might try a quality soak in the RotFix or the Minwax product for a day or two. Thanks fellas!

[DogwoodTales]

I used cactus juice on a large piece of tree bark and it absolutely plasticized it. Worked very well. I doubt a soaking technique will do what you are hoping for.

Don’t know how big your workpiece is but if you can get access to a vacuum pump or retrofit the intake on your air compressor you can easily and inexpensively make a vacuum chamber with schedule 40 pvc pipe ... and you might find other uses for the left over resin and an added passion to your ww.

Here’s such a pvc chamber that I made

https://youtu.be/3HuZPo4Cv0I

[Timberwolf]

Making a box for a friend who is retiring.  I want to use a burned piece of wood into the box.  Not real sure what type of wood it is, but under the heat, the smooth exterior bark developed a deep ochre red color.  The bark layer is fairly thick, but the burn has made it somewhat prone to crumbling.  Plan B is to simply crumble it all up and mix it with some glue or epoxy and inlay it that way.  But Plan A is to stabilize it somehow and incorporate it as a handle for the lid.  I've got about three feet of the stuff (was fun explaining to the TSA why I was bringing a smoky-smelling branch as a piece of carry-on), and I really only need about four inches of it for the box lid, so I have some material to experiment with.  However, I am somewhat lacking a clue on what material or techniques I can use on it.  I could probably paint something like a poly coat on the exterior, but that doesn't really address the interior, which is also somewhat crumbly.  So I'd love any advice about how I could get this thing infused with something to stabilize it.  I have no materials or tools yet, and about two weeks of time to get it done, but I am willing to spend a little bit on whatever might make it happen.  Thanks!

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Johnny, you can make yourself a small vacuum chamber from a glass jar with a good  tight lid and a vac pump from Harbor Freight pretty cheaply and it is a handy and inexpensive way to really stabilize wood..good for pistol grips, knife handles etc.. Buy wood stabilizer from the borgs and you're good to go..After stabilizing it, you can prepare the wood and buff up a nice and lasting finish...I have saved some pretty punky wood with a rig like I described...You don't really need to maintain max vacuum until the wood stops bubbling..you will be surprised at how much of the liquid it will absorb.

https://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsea...q=vac+pump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGVcm1w6Plk

[JohnnyEgo]

The piece is going to be the handle for a box, and is about 4" long, maybe about 3/4" in diameter. I cut up a couple of test pieces and tried the Minwax wood hardener at various soak times. Overnight followed by two hours in the oven got me yelled at a lot, but it hardened the exterior up nicely. The bark is much tougher now, but doesn't adhere to the core as well as I'd like, and won't hold a screw, so I may have to rethink my mounting method. I do have a brake bleeder kit, and I had truly not thought about applying it to a pickle jar. I might give that a try as well and see if I get better results under vacuum. Thanks everyone!

[DogwoodTales]

For the vacuum process you need an impregnating resin.