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Knife Making Discussions A place to discuss issues related to all aspects of the custom knifemaking community. |
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#16
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You actually touched on a subject I have been working on for the last couple of weeks. The products you can buy in the hardware store are a lot thicker in viscosity than what I would consider good for penetration into wood or in your case for use in making micarta. Most of those products are a mix of polyester and styrene monomer with a little stabilizer and sensitizer thrown in for usability. The monomer is actually a thinning agent and can be added to get whatever viscosity you like. The fiberglass kit manufacturers prefer to have it thicker for some reason, but there are a lot of other options. I found a source for MMA monomer, and add it to the polyester/styrene to thin it out. Works like a charm. MMA monomer is like water, so it doesn't take much to thin the styrene down. The same MEK peroxide catalyst will polymerize MMA, so I just use the thinner stuff the same way. If I hadn't already bought the MMA, I would have just purchased plain styrene monomer to thin it with, because it's ALOT cheaper. The one thing I have found out with the thinner stuff is if you use too much catalyst, it gets really hot and will crack. Other than that, it's working extremely well, and I'm getting great results. I'll post a summary when I have more.
-Dave |
#17
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I'll try that sometime in future when I dig up some more cash.
And yeah, it's definitely an exothermic reaction, as you can feel the stuff get hot. I did a batch today where I thinned it with a touch of acetone(like probalby .5 oz for 6oz of resin, and even that was a bit more than I coulda gotten away with), it seemed to thin it out well, yet still set up hard. Waiting itll tomorrow before I cut it up and try grinding it, but it seemed to ahve thinned well enough, will still hardening up, and also seems to have saturated the fabric better. Thanks for all the information on this thread. |
#18
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I know what you mean about not having the money to experiment. This stuff can get expensive quick. But do we really need food, clothing and other non-essentials?
I'd like to clarify something, but this is definitely NOT a criticism. When monomers are thinned with solvents like acetone, it cannot take part in the polymerization reaction. The reason monomers work so well for stabilizing wood is because the monomers, catalysts, etc. all combine in the polymerization reaction to become one solid piece of polymer. Everything participates in the reaction. When you add something to the mix that cannot polymerize and needs to evaporate, you may get undesirable results. I'm not saying it won't work, just that it's "different". Experimentation is the best part of knifemaking, so if it works go for it. It sounds like you're one of us mad scientists now. Welcome to the club. -Dave |
#19
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Know that can be a problem, but that's part of the fun of experiemntation.
;Also, I cheated a bit, usedd to try to clean out the paint brushes that had resin soaked into them with acetone. About gave up on that, but what I noticed is that can I was trying to do it in, was probably 50/50 resin/acetone by time I was done, and as acetone evaporated off, I ended up with a big chunk of solidified resin(polymer) in the bottom of the can. SO i already had a pretty good idea that it would work, just take longer to cure/harden. These two pieces I tried out yesterday seem to support that idea, though I have yet to cut and grind them. |
#20
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Hello everybody! Your posts sound really interesting to me. I would like to know if any of you has developed a formulation to get a "home made" heat curing mma liquid for wood stabilization. I'm very interested to try it by myself.
Sorry if my english isn't that perfect! I look forward to hearing from you. |
#21
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look up "cactus juice" it is a pruduct that works well.
__________________ Stephen Vanderkolff Please come on over and check out my website. http://www.vanderkolffknives.com/ Thanks |
#22
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Thanks for your kind reply. I'm not sure that product is available in Italy. Who's the manufacturer? I'm actually more interested to find a formulation of these kind of resins, as I can easly have access of the basic monomers/polymers because of my job.
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#23
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You can contact them through TurnTex woodworks at turntex.com. Good folks to talk to hopefully they can help you out.
Steve __________________ Stephen Vanderkolff Please come on over and check out my website. http://www.vanderkolffknives.com/ Thanks |
Tags |
heat, home, home made, knife, knives, made, stabilization, wood |
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