jklett
06-14-2008, 10:18 PM
I have been out of the loop for a while(new kid born in Feb.) and I haven't been building for some time now but I finally might have some time to. Here and there I've been messing around with making bamboo fly rods and there's something that I found that might cross over to plug building nicely.
I know that some folks are using propionate(sp?) and acetone to seal and others are using plastic cutlery dissolved in lacquer thinner. There might be another method.
When the rod makers make wooden reel seats, some of them "impregnate" them using different methods. One of them is soaking the turned wood in cyanoacrylic(crazy glue) and buffing it out. Too expensive for plugs(heck, it's too expensive for reel seats too if you ask me). Another method consists of concoctions of oils and varnishes that the wood soaks in under pressure. I think it would work but it would take way too long to dry and there might be primer adhesion issues.
The one that peaked my interest is they cut or break up pieces of plexiglass(acrylic) and dissolve it in acetone just like the propionate. Apparently they do this before turning the reel seats to stabilize burls preventing tearout. They say it kinda turns the whole chunk of wood into a solid block of plastic. I don't see why this shouldn't work as a sealer for plugs also. It would give a good base to paint and if you use acrylics and heat set them, it could probably be used for a top coat too.When I get a chance to fire up the lathe and spin a body or two I'll try it and report back but that may be a little while. In the meantime if anyone here want's to try it out and tell how it works out, that'd be great too. This might be the answer to splitting hardwoods(especially maple).
I know that some folks are using propionate(sp?) and acetone to seal and others are using plastic cutlery dissolved in lacquer thinner. There might be another method.
When the rod makers make wooden reel seats, some of them "impregnate" them using different methods. One of them is soaking the turned wood in cyanoacrylic(crazy glue) and buffing it out. Too expensive for plugs(heck, it's too expensive for reel seats too if you ask me). Another method consists of concoctions of oils and varnishes that the wood soaks in under pressure. I think it would work but it would take way too long to dry and there might be primer adhesion issues.
The one that peaked my interest is they cut or break up pieces of plexiglass(acrylic) and dissolve it in acetone just like the propionate. Apparently they do this before turning the reel seats to stabilize burls preventing tearout. They say it kinda turns the whole chunk of wood into a solid block of plastic. I don't see why this shouldn't work as a sealer for plugs also. It would give a good base to paint and if you use acrylics and heat set them, it could probably be used for a top coat too.When I get a chance to fire up the lathe and spin a body or two I'll try it and report back but that may be a little while. In the meantime if anyone here want's to try it out and tell how it works out, that'd be great too. This might be the answer to splitting hardwoods(especially maple).