# acrylic stabilized wood



## gav (Oct 12, 2009)

Has anyone used/produced something like this ?
I know there's a lot of places that sell it and offer a service to stabilize wood you give them. It seems popular among turners and knife makers, as well as rod makers.

What I'm wanting to find is if it might be suitable for drumsticks.
In the house where I have my workshop, there is also a music practice room. The other day there were no sticks to play the drums, so I went down stairs and made some.
The drummers were very interested when I showed them because a set of sticks costs them about 10-15 euros and some times they only last a couple of hours when they really rock hard !!

I did some research and couldn't find any commercially made sticks that used acrylic stabilized wood. Most likely because the companies that make sticks want them to not last long so you have to buy more.

So, anyone got something to tell me about this stuff ? Perhaps a DIY method ?


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## peterrum (Jan 22, 2011)

I have never heard of acrylic stabilized wood but that doesnt mean it doesnt exist. 
Let me throw this out for thought on what you were thinking. 
Turn a bunch of drumsticks. Mix some epoxy with a long set time. Put the epoxy into a tube of some sort and dip the drumsticks into it one or two at a time. Hang them to dry. With a long setting clear epoxy you should get a very thin but strong outer coating which should show the wood and grain if you are interested in that.


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## jd99 (Jun 17, 2009)

I have some acrylic stabilized pen blanks, but I haven't cut them yet.

What is done from what I understand, is the wood is soaked in a bath of hardner (acrylic in this case) under a vacuum and it pulls the material through the grain of the wood.


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## allbarknobite (Sep 15, 2011)

*Polyacryl info from the Rockler website*



jd99 said:


> I have some acrylic stabilized pen blanks, but I haven't cut them yet.
> 
> What is done from what I understand, is the wood is soaked in a bath of hardner (acrylic in this case) under a vacuum and it pulls the material through the grain of the wood.


I copied this from the Rockler website. 
I bought the polyacryl, but have not used it yet.

"Polycryl is a large molecular weight acrylic polymer that will fill and strengthen semi-punky or spalted wood. Polycryl is water-soluble and penetrates best when the wood is green. Polycryl may not fortify extremely punky wood. The softer the wood, the better the penetration. Polycryl will not penetrate hard wood. Note: Polycryl should be used before Pentacryl. 

DIRECTIONS: The wood should be rough carved or turned first in order to obtain the best results. Add 1 part POLYCRYL to 4 parts hot water and mix well. Note: It is important to use a weak solution at first to obtain maximum penetration.

Soaking Method: 
Soak wood in the diluted solution overnight or until wood is completely saturated. Once saturated, place wood in a full strength solution of POLYCRYL. Let the wood remain in the solution for at least one week. Large pieces may take longer. Once the wood is saturated with the POLYCRYL, remove from the solution, drain and dry slowly in an unheated, cool area.

Brushing Method: 
When a piece of wood to be treated is too large for soaking, the POLYCRYL can be brushed on. First brush on the 1 part POLYCRYL to 4 parts hot water solution until the wood is saturated. Cover the wood with plastic to prevent drying between applications. Once the wood has been saturated with the diluted solution, apply a full strength solution of POLYCRYL. Brush on as much POLYCRYL as the wood will absorb and cover with plastic. Repeat this process until the wood is completely saturated. This may take a week or more of repeated applications. It is important to keep the wood wrapped in plastic during the treatment process. Remove the plastic to allow the wood to dry slowly in an unheated, cool area."
Rockler.com

Hope this helps.
Mark


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## jojo64155 (Feb 27, 2011)

I did just what allbarknobite showed, I was using buckeye, and it worked great. The wood soaked up quite a bit but it was solid all the way thru and finished very nicely.
just to make sure I used polycryl too.


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## CRACKED BLOCK (May 5, 2012)

*stabilized wood*

I would think the stabilized wood would work great. I have turned quite a bit of it and it is great to work with. There are several places that will do custom stabilizing. There is also a site that sells an at home stabilizing setup. Look up "cactus juice". Curtis is located in Texas. For drum sticks, it might be easier to go with the professional stabilizing due to the length.


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

Other than "Stabilized wood" you might try using very straight grain maple or ash. The best way to get the straight grain is to split it out from a log section using a froe . It will follow the grain, leaving the split out section with very straight grain, which can then be turned on a lathe to make the drum sticks. With the grain running straight for the full length of the stick there will be much less chance for breakage. Chair makers use this method.

Charley


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