# DIY pressure treating?



## terrabamboo (Apr 13, 2014)

Has anyone tried pressure treating without a large cylinder like the big guys do it? Any advice? links to guides? ideas?


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

Unless you have access to a large vacuum chamber and the necessary chemicals, buy the wood you need.


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## terrabamboo (Apr 13, 2014)

i am asking theory, not the obvious.

i have large quantities of bamboo. i want to pressure treat the bamboo. you can't just go to home depot and pick up PT bamboo.

i also want to take a stab at pressure treating a "burning agent" into thin 3/4" x 5" (bamboo) wood wicks. there must be a way to do this on a small scale.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Bamboo is a grass. Do you know for sure PT treatment will work or help preserve it? Doubt if you could get it to work its way in like wood does. Maybe when It's first cut.

Al

Nails only hold themselves.


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## Manuka Jock (Jun 27, 2011)

terrabamboo said:


> depot a
> 
> i also want to take a stab at pressure treating a "burning agent" into thin 3/4" x 5" (bamboo) wood wicks. there must be a way to do this on a small scale.


 What is this burning agent ?


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## Manuka Jock (Jun 27, 2011)

terrabamboo said:


> i am asking theory, not the obvious.
> 
> i have large quantities of bamboo. i want to pressure treat the bamboo. you can't just go to home depot and pick up PT bamboo.


 http://www.chalet-bamboo.com/treatment.html


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

There would be a lot of problems with do it yourself pressure treatment. One would be, what would you use for a tank? It would have to be made of stainless steel and rigid enough to withstand a lot of pressure. The chemical used mostly is alkaline copper quaternary. I did a brief google search and couldn't find a place an individual could purchase it.


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## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

Buying chemicals from lab supply houses isn't that hard, so long as they are not controlled things. If the ACQ isn't on the menu, there's probably a recipe out there. Whether you blow up the meth house next door is another question.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Steve Neul said:


> There would be a lot of problems with do it yourself pressure treatment. One would be, what would you use for a tank? It would have to be made of stainless steel and rigid enough to withstand a lot of pressure. The chemical used mostly is alkaline copper quaternary. I did a brief google search and couldn't find a place an individual could purchase it.


Steve
Do you know the pressure needed?

Al

Nails only hold themselves.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Found this on the net.

There are numerous non-pressure processes of treating wood which vary primarily in their procedure. The most common of these treatments involve the application of the preservative by means of brushing or spraying, dipping, soaking, steeping or by means of hot and cold bath. There is also a variety of additional methods involving charring, applying preservatives in bored holes, diffusion processes and sap displacement.

Nails only hold themselves.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Al B Thayer said:


> Steve
> Do you know the pressure needed?
> 
> Al
> ...


No, I have forgotten. All I can remember is it's very high.


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## Improv (Aug 13, 2008)

Manuka Jock said:


> What is this burning agent ?


I can only guess, but since 'wick' was mentioned, I reason something akin to tiki torch oil so that it could be used without an oil reservoir. Issue would be that without the reservoir, it would only burn for a very short time.

The other possibility would be some for of oxidizing agent to accelerate combustion of the bamboo itself, which IMO would be a very, very, very bad idea. I am making the assumption here that the OP does not want to construct a bomb.

Regards,
Steve


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## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

I don't know what actual pressures are used, but I did find these specifications from a company manufacturing pressure treating equipment. http://www.thomasnet.com/profile/10...v=NA&heading=2237907&searchpos=4&cid=10025345

_"Designer & manufacturer of vacuum pressure impregnation or impregnating equipment including autoclaves & chambers for wood treating applications. Specifications include 200 ft. length, 3,000 psi operating pressure, 1,500 degrees F operating temperature, 32 ft. dia. & 8 in. wall thickness. Materials include carbon steel & stainless steel. Features include hydraulically operated counterbalance valves, storage tanks, bolted doors, fluid transfer systems & pressurization circuits. Meets ASME standards. Made in USA."_


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

trc65 said:


> I don't know what actual pressures are used, but I did find these specifications from a company manufacturing pressure treating equipment. http://www.thomasnet.com/profile/10025345/melco-steel-inc.html?what=Wood+Treating+Autoclaves&cov=NA&heading=2237907&searchpos=4&cid=10025345
> 
> "Designer & manufacturer of vacuum pressure impregnation or impregnating equipment including autoclaves & chambers for wood treating applications. Specifications include 200 ft. length, 3,000 psi operating pressure, 1,500 degrees F operating temperature, 32 ft. dia. & 8 in. wall thickness. Materials include carbon steel & stainless steel. Features include hydraulically operated counterbalance valves, storage tanks, bolted doors, fluid transfer systems & pressurization circuits. Meets ASME standards. Made in USA."


Is that all? 

Al

Nails only hold themselves.


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

The simple PT method uses exactly 1 atmosphere air pressure.
You load the wood into the tank. You load the nasty soup into the tank.
Over several days, you use a really expensive vacuum pump to pull the air out of the tank
and the air out of the wood (foams and bubbles like crazy). Experiments set the timing.
Now, very gently, very slowly, you let air into the tank. Since the wood cells have a partial
vacuum inside, there's room for the nasty soup to get pushed in there by simple air pressure.

It's a ho-hum simple dendrology lab procedure, but on a far smaller scale, to prepare wood samples
for sectioning. Compound light microscope, electron microscope = different chemicals but the principle is exacto-tootly the same.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

There seems to be a wide varity of pressures used in the equipment. This one runs on 181 psi and I found another that goes to 522 psi.

http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Hot-sale-in-China-pressure-wood_1768080584.html?s=p


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

Well. Let's spend $40,000 for a tank. $20,000 for the pump. $75,000 for the site and the HazMat licence and another $70,000 for chemicals to try to save an abundant but inadequate fiber source.
Plan B = sell it all off for interior decorative purposes. 

There's some logic in what we find as mainstream, prserved wood in North America.
Sorry if you have truckloads of the stuff. Not worth the popcorn to carry on.


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

What happened to the OP?

Al

Nails only hold themselves.


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

Must have gone out for popcorn.


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## terrabamboo (Apr 13, 2014)

i hope it would go without saying, but i am NOT constructing a bomb. 

i am trying to come up with a process similar to this company: 
http://www.candlewic.com/Store/Category.aspx?q=c164


> Treated with a clean, patented burning agent to give you the ultimate performance in an all-natural wooden wick.


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## Gilgaron (Mar 16, 2012)

I'm going to bet that the EPA would not be pleased with the results of your efforts even if you did manage not to build a bomb by accident...


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

terrabamboo said:


> i hope it would go without saying, but i am NOT constructing a bomb.
> 
> i am trying to come up with a process similar to this company:
> http://www.candlewic.com/Store/Category.aspx?q=c164


The wick is made out of what kind of wood?

Al

Nails only hold themselves.


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## johnnie52 (Feb 16, 2009)

Folks in Asian countries have been building with Bamboo since god wore diapers and most of their shrines and temples are still standing after hundreds of years.

Why are you trying to pressure treat something that is naturally resistant to rot, decay, and insects?


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## Manuka Jock (Jun 27, 2011)

Al B Thayer said:


> The wick is made out of what kind of wood?


 Bamboo .... ?


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Manuka Jock said:


> Bamboo .... ?


Bamboo is not wood. It's a grass.

Al

Nails only hold themselves.


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## Manuka Jock (Jun 27, 2011)

Al B Thayer said:


> Bamboo is not wood. It's a grass.
> 
> Al
> 
> Nails only hold themselves.


Correction .

Bamboo is not a tree it is a grass . Bamboo wood is wood



> *Wood *
> 
> 
> the hard fibrous substance consisting basically of xylem that makes up the greater part of the stems, branches, and roots of trees , shrubs , plants , grasses .
> ...


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## Manuka Jock (Jun 27, 2011)

Al B Thayer said:


> The wick is made out of what kind of wood?


 



terrabamboo said:


> i also want to take a stab at pressure treating a "burning agent" into thin 3/4" x 5" (bamboo) wood wicks. there must be a way to do this on a small scale.


 cheers , 
Jock


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## Al B Thayer (Dec 10, 2011)

Manuka Jock said:


> Correction .
> 
> Bamboo is not a tree it is a grass . Bamboo wood is wood


Oh brother

Al

Nails only hold themselves.


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## paquerto (Jun 14, 2019)

the capilariti makes this posible, using a pump and houses . the other option is to sink veri drye bamboo in the liquid and turn it up side down after a weak (sorry for mi spanglish and speling)


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## paquerto (Jun 14, 2019)

*In the case of bamboo is very simpple*

you can just sumerge one side of the bamboo in treatment, bicause of its capilarity it il absorve a goog amount and after a weak you tourn it up side down.

the other opcion i know about is using presure conecting a house to drive the treatment into the bamboo capilar tubes.


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