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numbskull · 01-12-2009, 09:21 PM

".....and a sadder but wiser man he rose the morrow morn"
Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner

Well I figured something out.....the hard way again. Probably worth its own thread. Been trying to build Musso darters. First turned a few out of soft maple, seemed too light. Built a bunch out of hard maple, then soaked them for 24 hours in ValOil/Mineral spirits, to seal them "well". I'd done this with needles in the past and it had worked well. They came out weighing 2.7-2.9 oz unrigged/unpainted which is about .3-.5 oz more than they should. So I went back and built a bunch out of soft maple, soaked them the same, and was stunned to find they ended up at 2.7-2.8 oz as well. Weighed some unsealed ones and they weighed 1.9oz! The plugs picked up almost an ounce of sealer. That is a lot of weight for a 6" plug. Put one in the oven and cooked it for 30" at 200 degrees. Weight dropped from 2.73 to 2.42 oz. One horrendous stench. So on top of everything else, if you are trying to copy a plug exactly, you not only have to get the wood right, but you need to adjust your sealing time as well. Ugh.

01-12-2009, 09:21 PM	#1
numbskull Oblivious // Grunt, Grunt Master iTrader: (0) Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: over the hill Posts: 6,682	Over Sealed ".....and a sadder but wiser man he rose the morrow morn" Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner Well I figured something out.....the hard way again. Probably worth its own thread. Been trying to build Musso darters. First turned a few out of soft maple, seemed too light. Built a bunch out of hard maple, then soaked them for 24 hours in ValOil/Mineral spirits, to seal them "well". I'd done this with needles in the past and it had worked well. They came out weighing 2.7-2.9 oz unrigged/unpainted which is about .3-.5 oz more than they should. So I went back and built a bunch out of soft maple, soaked them the same, and was stunned to find they ended up at 2.7-2.8 oz as well. Weighed some unsealed ones and they weighed 1.9oz! The plugs picked up almost an ounce of sealer. That is a lot of weight for a 6" plug. Put one in the oven and cooked it for 30" at 200 degrees. Weight dropped from 2.73 to 2.42 oz. One horrendous stench. So on top of everything else, if you are trying to copy a plug exactly, you not only have to get the wood right, but you need to adjust your sealing time as well. Ugh.