Threaded Boxes

[otterbank]

1st post on site
Here are a couple of sycamore boxes I have stabilised so they would take a thread. Hand chased with 18 tpi. Still need to perfect stabilising and probably the turning. Comments welcome. Thanks for looking.
[img_7654.JPG][img_7671.JPG]

[GBF]

They look good to me how did you stabilise the wood

Regards George

[otterbank]

Hi, George
               just used Cactus Juice and vacuum. These were my first go with the set up. I wanted to be able to thread native timber and also save any punky burr. I am up in Orkney so timber is at a premium and I wanted to use as much of my stock as I could. Early days for me with it all but good fun. No link to Cactus Juice just seemed the one to use after much on line research.
Michael

[Les Symonds]

I guess that if you can cut threads that cleanly, then the system is working.
Looks fine to me....Les

[georg]

      Very neat and clean threads you have got there ..... been playing with resins myself lately.
      Regards Tony d

[Bryan Milham]

Hi Otter (no other name to use),

Welcome to the forum, I'm betting you are our northern most member.

great boxes, the grain aligns very well for them being threaded together, a really nice work.

I've heard of Cactus Juice but thought it a stabilising solution not a resin (am I incorrect?), does it harden the wood in any way, as 18 tpi seems quite fine for sycamore.

[otterbank]

Not too sure of all the terminology but I think it is known as a stabilising resin. Once out of the vacuum it is cured by heat and yes it does harden the timber. I am still in the early days of using it and I am sure there must be some guys on here with more experience of it than me. As far as I understand the timber has to be very dry before starting the process to give the best results.Much info on you tube.
Michael

[seventhdevil]

i'd have said that they are beech, not sycamore.


really nicely turned mate.

[otterbank]

Indeed ,looks like beech in the pics but saw it standing before it was taken down and definitely sycamore. To be honest not much else up here grows to any size. Just about count them all on one hand lol
Michael

[edbanger]

One very fine pair of threaded boxes Michael

You could try this stabilizing resin from Turners Retreat http://www.turners-retreat.co.uk/machinery/vacuum-products works the same as Cactus Juice.

Bryan it does harden the wood, you can turn unturnable rotten wood in to something turnable. Once you have baked the impregnated wood you can see solid bits of resin. You can add colour also to the resin but I've found that you have to add a lot of colour to it to make any effect.

I've been playing around with this fluid for a while but I'm not keen on the results that I've had using it so far.

Ed

[George Watkins]

I use cactus juice allot, its a brilliant product. the best results I have had so far was with burr horse chestnut, so soft you could push a screwdriver an inch into it and the compressor could blow parts of it away when I was blowing the dust off after bandsawing it!! after cactus juice it tripled in weight and turned like a dense hardwood.

glad its helping you make the most of your limited wood and enjoy thread chasing

[otterbank]

Thanks for the comments guys. Have seen your work George. If I can achieve anything remotely like that I will be happy. Just drying off some very punky burr elm for stabilising and casting which will be a first.
Cheers Michael

[Steve Jones]

Nice work, Well Done.
Love to see threads on boxes.

[malcy]

Nice boxes with very clean crisp threads. Well done. Malcolm.