Loved the rack for the pot, have gotten some molds and resin, need to build my pressure pot next, the rack is great way as most of my molds are smaller, pendant style items, maybe some burl pieces too. will be building a rack similar to yours, thanks for the upload !
No, unfortunately I don't. I just kind of threw it together one day. Lol. I was just putting things in one at a time and was like "wait a minute..... I can be working much smarter!" Lol
Cool video. I'm new to this. Did you use a vacuum pump to take air out or did you put air into the pressure pot? I've only seen vacuum but I guess there's a method of pumping air also. Thanks
Hi Phillip, I pressurize the pressure pot. It forces all the bubbles to disappear. I've tried vacuuming but it didn't work well for me. Most of the times I use fast setting resin anyway, so there's not really time for vacuuming.
Thanks for the video. Did you have to clean the bark off the wood before stabilizing? (assuming you did it yourself.) Do you just dremel it off or something like that?
Ordinarily I would clean the bark off. These pieces of wood were scrap pieces from bigger projects and didn't have bark on them. Although it might look pretty cool in some cases to leave the bark on.... that might be worth trying. Lol
@@ReeseCustoms I'd be curious to see how that works! I don't know a lot about stabilizing but if it keeps the bark in tact, that would definitely look cool.
Is it possible to mix 10% wood fiber into the resin itself to pour into a mold to make a hybrid or composite wood? If so, how much resin would I need to make an approx. 14” block? Thanks!
It is possible to mix wood fibers in the resin. I'm not sure how it would look though. As far as the 14" block, it would depend on the overall sizes. Such as length, width, and depth. A good way to figure it would be make your mold, and fill it with dry rice. Then pour the rice into a measuring cup and that should be how much resin you would need.
I usually wait 24 hours before I fo anything with them. I know I could probably use them sooner, but I usually set it all up and leave it until the next day. As far as the pressure pot, I'm not sure what size it is, it's the one they sell at harbor freight as a paint pressure pot
Thank you! For pens and things I turn on the lathe, I was sanding up to 1500 grit, then using McGuire's polishing compound, however, I found a three step polishing wax on craftsuppliesusa that works really well. When I do knife handles, I just hand sand them, I don't really polish them.
Hello there, love how these turned out. I am a beginer woodturner and want to use something like this for a project. When woodturning these epoxy resin blanks on a lathe would i need to wear a respirator? I noticed when you were sanding them down on the belt sander you werent wearing one. (Couldn't tell from the view in the video lol)
Hello. First, you should always wear a respirator when dealing with resins, whether when mixing and pouring, turning, sanding, etc. I don't always do though, but I recommend that others do. If you have a well ventilated space, dust collection, etc, it shouldnt be a problem, but better safe than sorry.
@ReeseCustoms thanks for the advice, after the cactus juice can I just use any epoxy resin for the wood? Like a uv resin? Or does it have to be a specific type of resin? What kind do you use?
It depends on your set up. If you have a pressure pot, I'd suggest alumilite clear, which is a fast setting resin. The pressure pot will eliminate bubbles. If you don't have a pressure pot, I'd use a deep pour, slow setting resin, so it has time for the bubbles to come to the surface and pop.
Esse modo de fazer , você tira as bolhas com vácuo ou somente deixa secar? Eu estou estudando esse processo e não tenho uma extratora de vácuo. Será possivel fazer sem isso?
I use a pressure pot. Some people use a vacuum, but I like to work quickly. There are things you can do to mitigate bubbles, like mixing gently and pouring a thin stream from high above that would definitely help, since you do not currently have a vacuum or pressure pot. It is definitely possible!
I sand them to 500 grit, and then hand buff them with a gray and then white scotchbrite pad. If you want them shinier, you can buff them with a buffer and compound after the above steps
Yes, as long as it is properly stabilized (if you're not familiar with that process, check out my video on it). Stabilized wood will shine up just like the epoxy.
Can you use a vacuum pot? What's the difference between the two and whis is good to stabilize the wood. On a budget and if I ca. Use either a vaccine pot or pressure to stabilize and do this process I'd prefer to just buy one for both purposes. Btw beautiful work
I have found that with alumilite resins, they set up far too fast to effectively remove bubbles with a vacuum (I have both, a vacuum chamber and pressure pot) if you use a slow setting resin, a vacuum pot would probably work fine. I hope that helps
Also, I just reread as saw the part about stabilizing. Yes, you do need a vacuum pot to stabilize. I didn't show that in this video, but plan to make a video on stabilizing soon.
There are things you can do to keep bubbles down, such as using a slower setting epoxy, stirring it up slower, pouring a thin stream from high up, even using a torch to pop bubbles. The pressure pot isn't mandatory, it just makes things much easier.
Hey there love the video and the blanks are beautiful! Question for you if possible? The caddy you made for the pressure pot, what dimensions did you use to cut the circles and the side pieces because I have the same pot from harbor freight that I converted but it’s very uneven on bottom and everything I cut to fit still isn’t staying level so any help I can get would be great thank you! Keep up the great work!! Also, where do you get your stabilized wood pieces at? I just got into knife making and resin casting and need to find some good woods
Hi Vincent, thanks for the question. For one, I don't exactly remeber the size of the caddy. I want to say it's like 9" or something. It definitely doesn't fit tight, but it's large enough that it spans across the big divot in the bottom of the pot. I usually just adjust it around until it's level. Not a perfect system, but it works well for me. As far as stabilized woods, I used to buy them from various knife shows and guild meetings, but for the past few years I've been stabilizing them myself. I have a video on that as well (even though it didn't turn out well due to my stabilizing resin being expired...) but it covers the process. Some people swear you must use commercially stabilized blanks, but I've gad great luck using my process with cactus juice resin. Sorry I couldn't give a better answer on the caddy. But if you have any other questions. I'd be glad to help however I can!
@@ReeseCustoms thank you for responding! Yea I made a caddy last night and it’s right around 9” a hair smaller and yes I have the same exact problem it’s not level all the way round so I have to find that sweet spot! Anyways thanks for the info I didn’t even think about some knife shows so thanks again and can’t wait to see more videos
You certainly can make duplicates with resin. In fact, I've done a video that covers doing just that. Check it out here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6rpVPBkyOcc.html
@@ReeseCustoms I saw your video, it seams like the resin is slightly rubber like. What would you suggest to get a resin that is hard like fiberglass with a slightly pattered red color, I'd be putting beech woodchips in it to duplicate the vz58 furniture.
The resin is hard as a rock and works just like wood when fully cured. If you wanted, you could use a polyester resin, which is what they use on most fiberglass jobs. But to me, epoxy resin is stronger, but take a little whole longer to fully cure
@@ReeseCustoms i meant like, when it comes to powering it up do you put a certain amount of suction power? Or just let the pressure pot be fully open/powered? Sorry im new to the pressure pot thing
Yes, I never cast wood with resin like that unless it is stabilized. I did it once a long time ago and it was a disaster. The wood moved and actually cracked the resin.
I use primarily alumilite resins. I've tried others, but Alumilite always seems to turn out the best. Plus I can pick it up locally from Michael's or Hobby Lobby
I think adding something like "Today *I* made..." would really help, since the title us so generic I don't know if it's about your personality or just a step by step tutorial
Thank you for that, that is a great idea! I'm debating which direction to take my videos in the future. I'm really I unsure what would be more popular and pleasing to watch, some that are just straight demos with no talking on my part, or videos with me in them more talking and explaining things.
I do enjoy talking and I think being more personable will encourage more people to relate and follow. I'd love to build my channel and honestly what I do isn't that phenomenal on the aspect that people will follow just to see the stuff, so I think it would be more successful to have people following for me. Thanks for these comments, it has been eye opening for me. Lol
@@ReeseCustoms I watch NakeyJakey just because he is so lovable. He might not be the brightest or has the best opinions, but he's just so very very genuine
I have a set of four knives that are similar in shape but all different sizes. That I carry. I have been accumulating these hybrid wood acrylic scales.. and once I have all the ones I want I'm planning on putting them on my set of four survival maps. Does anyone know how strong or reliable this type of scale material is? As opposed to say linen Micarta.. or are they just for looks? Would they hold up just fine in survival situations in the woods? Excessive chopping things like that. Regular use. Or should I get some stronger scales?
The epoxy is pretty strong, amd holds up like wood. Of course it isn't going to be as strong as micarta, because micarta gets its strength from the many layer of fabric, linen, paper, etc.