# solution for hardening wood



## pekkerwood (Nov 2, 2010)

Hi all....
Rookie here. I was wondering if there's a solution which will harden wood. Had a goofy idea to create figures in balsa wood...ease of working...and then soaking same in a solution to harden the balsa wood. Any stuff like that out there...? Like a real dilute solution of shellac or varnish...or...?
Anyway, thought I'd throw it out there....see what gets suggested.
Thanx in advance for any ideas.


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## H. A. S. (Sep 23, 2010)

Have you tried CA? Super glue?


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## pekkerwood (Nov 2, 2010)

I imagine that super glue would put a hard layer on the wood , but not soak in to harden the entire piece of wood.....unless I could thin it greatly. Is it acetone that'll dilute super glue...?
What's CA...?


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## joesdad (Nov 1, 2007)

Minwax wood hardner comes to mind. I use it on exterior jobs where I have to repair water damaged wood. After scraping out the damp loose rot, I'm usually left with dry rotted fibers that are light and not very stable. The wood hardner is applied with a brush and it does penetrate the fibers to stiffen up the wood. I don't know how much you're looking to penetrate, but it might be worth a try. Or just start with a different wood more condusive to carving like basswood.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

*WELCOME TO THE FORUM*

Funny how one of the softest woods is really a hardwood. I ran across this stuff. It claims to harden the wood, but explains that structural changes entail an epoxy type product. Even with that, I doubt it's one you could just dip the wood in, gets totally saturated, and voila, it's done. Most of those will probably be a surface fix.












 











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## USAwood (Oct 29, 2010)

Maybe bring some sort of epoxy or something like that to a boil, then just submerge it for a little bit. Make sure you have a mask on though.


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## Richard (Oct 3, 2007)

Pen turner uses the Minwax wood hardener to stablize punky wood all the time. The only catch is you'll need to create a vacuume chamber to suck out the air and force the hardener into the wood.


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## 240sxguy (Sep 13, 2010)

Smiths CPES maybe? Boat builders use it, similar to the stuff shown by cabinetman. www.rotdoctor.com


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## pekkerwood (Nov 2, 2010)

Thanx to all for the input. Will try these suggestions.


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## Roger Newby (May 26, 2009)

USAwood said:


> Maybe bring some sort of epoxy or something like that to a boil, then just submerge it for a little bit. Make sure you have a mask on though.



Epoxy is a thermoset, the speed at which hardens increases with added heat. I would think that trying to boil epoxy would be like trying to fry ice cubes. The smell is gonna be pretty bad as well.


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