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Stabilized wood finish - suggestions?
Hi all,
I finally got around to ordering some Cactus Juice and setting up a vacuum chamber à la gssixgun (thanks for the inspiration Glen!). I was a little worried as I couldn't get my highly professional setup above about 25-26" hg. It could have been my improvised sugru seal, my cheap brake bleeder vacuum pump, or perhaps I had the wrong brand of pickle jar...
Anyway, I gave a couple of spalted maple brush handle blanks a good soak and bake last night, turned one today and the stabilizing turned out brilliantly. The resin penetrated right to the middle of the blank and cured properly right through. I don't know if it was necessary, but I cooked them for about twice the recommended time since that time appears to have been determined for pen blanks, not brush handles.
So now as I wait for a couple of knots to arrive, I am pondering finishes. On my other brush handles I have used a CA finish. I like CA for the tough finish it gives as well as its ability to add a bit of strength when using it on softer woods for scales. But I also find CA to be a pain in the butt to work with sometimes. Since I don't really need it in terms of strength/toughness with these handles and wouldn't mind an excuse to avoid it, I'm wondering what you guys like to use for a finish on stabilized woods? Does anyone specifically with Cactus Juice experience know if it reacts differently to various finishes than other types of stabilizers?
A few pics in case anyone's curious.
The blanks fresh from having the foil removed, another untreated blank form the same batch for comparison.
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End grain after a trim
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The new handle so far
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