# Phoenix, Rising From The Burn Pile



## LittleBear (Mar 24, 2012)

I drag home moldy moss eaten pieces of red alder to stabilize for pens, tooth fairy boxes, etc.








too boring for pens or boxes this piece would have been destined for the burn pile, except...

Hm, looks like a slingshot...









too weak, too soft, too, old too pithy...Not a problem, figured that the same "Cactus Juice" would work just as well for a slingshot as it does for knife scales, pen blanks, duck calls, boxes, etc.

Cut two scales, plopped them in the vacuum chamber, added black dyed, heat activated, acrylic stabilizing resin, and sucked all the air out. Once at approx. -29 inches of mercury, and no more bubbles can be seen comming out of the stabilizing resin when the vacuum is released the stabilizing resin is sucked into the softer porous portions of the wood that previously contained air.

Cure at 200 degrees, for approx. 1 hour and presto, the had dense wood retains it's original color while the softer areas are infused with rock hard black acrylic.

At this point the ~3/8" thick scales are pretty strong, each one would easily take double TBG bands without a problem. But just to be safe I added a 3/16 G10 core.








Note; there is no set rule on how much resin will be absorbed or how strong the stabilized wood wood will be, generally if its already dense (not porous) then very little acrylic is absorbed and not much changes, on the other end if its very porous with strong fiber integrity then the resulting composite can be amazingly strong.









The pen in the following photos was made from the same tree branch using the same process.


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## Beanflip (Sep 11, 2010)

Marvelous!


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## AARON V. (Jan 10, 2012)

That catty is just simply perfect in every aspect!!! Good job, don't stop!


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## trobbie66 (May 13, 2012)

That is an amazing result from a really cool process!! That catty and pen are beauty !! Does your method make for a stronger end result over a PEG treatment?


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## wombat (Jun 10, 2011)

that's a ripper, love the colour and grain!!!


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## LittleBear (Mar 24, 2012)

trobbie66 said:


> ...Does your method make for a stronger end result over a PEG treatment?


As in Polyethylene glycol (PEG)? much stronger, but not water soluble and can not be used on wet wood. Requires less than 10% moisture content, and is intended for vacuum infusion at -29 in/hg sea leval, less at altitude.

MasquiteMan's Cactus Juice is a methacrylate ester resin blend, 90-95% of the material is the actual methacrylate ester and remains in the blank once cured. Cures at 200°F while having a flash point of greater than 200°F so very little flashes off in the process. Once cured it cross links to form a hard acrylic resin with a shore D hardness of 75-85.


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## trobbie66 (May 13, 2012)

lbspd said:


> ...Does your method make for a stronger end result over a PEG treatment?


As in Polyethylene glycol (PEG)? much stronger, but not water soluble and can not be used on wet wood. Requires less than 10% moisture content, and is intended for vacuum infusion at -29 in/hg sea leval, less at altitude.

MasquiteMan's Cactus Juice is a methacrylate ester resin blend, 90-95% of the material is the actual methacrylate ester and remains in the blank once cured. Cures at 200°F while having a flash point of greater than 200°F so very little flashes off in the process. Once cured it cross links to form a hard acrylic resin with a shore D hardness of 75-85.
[/quote]Cool thanks for the info!


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## Jakerock (Mar 8, 2012)

I take my hat off to that!


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## Matt. H/C (Jun 7, 2012)

Faultless and beautiful.....wow


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## BCLuxor (Aug 24, 2010)

Now that is process to product great work! And that pen is fantastic do you sell them?


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## WILD BILL (Jan 26, 2012)

That is a beautiful piece indeed!

Great write-up.

Bill


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## Tex-Shooter (Dec 17, 2009)

The slingshot it beautiful and you opened the door for me to plug one of my favorite support groups. I have known a couple of burn survivors. One was one of the nicest ladies that I have met. Have you ever noticed that some of the nicest people are ones that has really been through a lot? -- Tex
http://www.phoenix-society.org/


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## jskeen (Feb 7, 2011)

Greetings and salutations, fellow IAP refugee!

Curtis is a super nice guy and would be very happy to know that his cactus juice had found another niche in the slingshot world too. Last time I was out at his shop he made a couple of blanks just to show me the process, and then gave them to me when I left just for giggles. I made this set out of them and they are still in my regular use rotation on my desk.


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## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

Nicely done.
It's also nice to see the process behind it as well... thanks for the pictures!


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## quarterinmynose (Jan 21, 2012)

looks great.


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## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

spectacular!!!!!!!


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## LittleBear (Mar 24, 2012)

luxor5 said:


> Greetings and salutations, fellow IAP refugee!
> 
> Curtis is a super nice guy and would be very happy to know that his cactus juice had found another niche in the slingshot world too...


More like and IAP lurking tadpole calming refugee status might be a bit pretentious, another forum I just recently discovered/joined.
Nice pens, like your stands too.
Curtis (aka MasquiteMan) is indeed a super nice guy, he pretty much unconditionally guaranties the stabilizing resin he sells and if you need help he will walk you through your project step by step until it comes out the way you want it to.


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## Mr.Teh (Feb 28, 2012)

I`m lost for words.....looks awesome.







Thanks for these wonderful photos !!!
Greetings to you ! Mr.Teh


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## e~shot (Jun 3, 2010)

Awsome!


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## Btoon84 (Nov 22, 2011)

How in the F did I miss this one!?! Amazing dude. Awesome freakin job. Thanks for posting your process. I have never heard I this and I can't wait to read more about it.


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## islanders888 (Jul 21, 2012)

The coloring is awesome! Cool to learn about this hardening process.

-Kenny


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## slingshooterman (Mar 21, 2011)

Amazing! I can't imagine a better looking grain


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## capnjoe (Jun 3, 2012)

That's the good stuff! Phenomenal looking shooter, and wow, those pens make me want to write bad checks.
My skiff is made in a similar fashion... Vacuum bagged core-cell, resin infused... Forever materials.
Some archaeologist will dig that up in a thousand years, put a set of bands on it and pop a moontonium can with it. Like it was brand new.


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## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Man, ain't nothing wrong with that work of art! That is earned Bud! Flatband


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## LittleBear (Mar 24, 2012)

Worked up enough courage to shoot it this weekend, not bad at all, relief...
Tried the bands on both sides and was surprised to find that I liked the handle curving up instead of down, seems to give it just a hair more stability.









Additionally the green bead knots on the lanyard allow it to be synched tight when shooting for a added stability.


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## Freeky (Apr 17, 2014)

What a wonderful slingshot ! Do you know the name of the wood ?


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## LittleBear (Mar 24, 2012)

Red Alder


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## f00by (May 18, 2010)

The is spectacular! Always wanted to build myself a vacuum chamber. This might rush that a little


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