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I have a question about making an impregnation tank for blanks - tried several rod tubes for making a tank, all works with the modified cap and integrated valve, but seems that the cap isn’t really airtight. If I put the pressure in, some air will squeeze out between cap and tube. I put an tight O-ring around the caps thread, but the air flows out anyway. I read somewhere to put some Vaseline to the O-ring, but not sure I this works (do not have it tried again). (Stefan Grau) I used galvanized 2" pipe, threaded on both ends and used a cap on the top end. Inside the cap I made a thick polyurethane washer so that the end of the pipe would seal against it. Also, I used Teflon pipe tape on the threads, and really cranked down on the cap with a pipe wrench, getting it all very tight. It takes some doing, but I got it to where it won't leak off the pressure. (Martin-Darrell) Thanks very much - isn’t there a problem with the Teflon pipe tape and the polyurethane washer cause I think to make also impregnation by an acetone-Plexiglas solution? (Stefan Grau) I use a xylene solvated polyurethane as the impregnating medium, and have no problems. There shouldn't be any problem with either the tape or the big washer in the acetone. You can always drop small pieces of each into acetone, and see if there is any adverse effect. (Martin-Darrell) Be veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery careful with the xylene, major major carcinogen. (Patrick Coffey) Always a good idea to point out the dangers of using organic solvents. Don't wear it, don't breathe it, don't eat it. (Martin-Darrell)
Let me clarify. There is no color change in the exterior of the bamboo a blond rod I made is still just as blond. The color change is when you look at the end of the rod at the power fibers, the interior of the rod should be darker. Perfect II or III is a 3M rubbing compound actually after I looked at the bottle I used 3M Rubbing compound medium cut. It is used in removing scratches in paint in the auto industry. It contains no wax or silicone. It removes scratches to 1200 grit. I think the fine goes to 2000 grit either works very well. It can be found at most Auto Parts stores that also carry car paint. I know of two places to buy Nelsonite. Barrington Cues for $12.95 per quart or from the factory in a 5 gallon can for about $80 (616-456-7098 Nelsonite Chemical Products Grand Rapids MI #15B02 Stabilizer) I hope that some of the more inquiring minds on the list will do a test to see if it is truth or hype. (David Ray)
Conclusions are that it does add some weight but 1 1/2% is minimal. It does stiffen the rod slightly. While I personally prefer the finish that Sutherland Wells Spar gives to a rod, there might be some advantage to impregnate and dip a one coat finish. That might be lighter than three coats of varnish. I have two Heddon 7 1/2 ft. 5 wts ready to sand. I intend to impregnate one with one final coat of spar and finish the other rod with the usual three coats of varnish. Not very scientific but I learned what I wanted to know. (Jerry Young)
I like it so far. It does look a bit "plasticy", but it is okay if buffed down a bit. I am going to use it on a lot of the new blanks I am milling out. Weight gain and action change is almost nil. (Bob Maulucci)
Larry we can buy it out west here off the shelf and it works great (Ron Rees)
I've successfully used resorcinol before impregnating rods. The rods were soaked in the impregnation fluid, a penetrating varnish, for several days after gluing. (Bill Lamberson) With Nelsonite and Mike Brook's impregnant, I have used URAC and Resorcinol with good results. I would not use a PVA (Titebond II) type glue, but that is just based on a hunch. (Bob Maulucci) I have used Nelsonite with rods glued with Titebond II Extend and have had no problems whatever. Keep in mind that with Nelsonite you only soak the rod sections for a few minutes. (Hal Manas)
I've used the product on burled reel seats, and the effects seem very positive. You'll surely need to soak the bamboo for more than "a few minutes" to get any significant penetration. But perhaps you're only looking for an "in the wood" final finish, and I wouldn't know how the product performs in that regard. Why not try a test section that's close to your finished dimensions? Let it soak a day or so, and weigh it before and after. Drying and curing may take a few days, but weighing repeatedly will tell you when it's ready. One drawback with using this product may be its price. You'd need to purchase enough to fill a small PVC tube, and that could set you back a tad. (Bill Harms) I tried it, years ago. Once was enough. Hardened the wood all right. *SNAP*!! Brittle is not better, and this product seems to make the bamboo brittle. it WILL penetrate wood very quickly!! It does what it says. (Terry Kirkpatrick) I have use the Minwax Wood Hardener on one rod last year... Worked pretty good and was simple to use... The rod is still fishing the southern tail waters with my friend Barry and going strong. I took a 1/2" conduit cut to length, blocked one end, put a rubber stopper with a hole in other end. Filled with Wood Hardener, put in butt section and used the hand held vacuum from my food saver and put it under vacuum for 15 minutes. The blank needed to be polished but seemed water tight, the action was comparable to that of a varnished rod of the same taper... Not a top shelf finish but maybe a couple of coats will help on that... (Dave Collyer)
How long do I soak a rod and how long do I dry it and can it be "kick dried" in an oven? (Eamon Lee) There was a discussion about this on another board just recently. Check www.fishcane.com and check in the bamboo forum under the Bamboo Fly Rod Restorer board. I think the 3rd or 4th message is about the exact stuff you are talking about and Mike describes his product. This is from Mike himself, "One thing I do differently than a lot of other guys is alter the structure of the bamboo. I soak some blanks for 3 or 4 days in it. The problem with that is you have to wait 3 or 4 MONTHS for it to "kick" (or a couple of weeks in a hot box will do, also, but I always have several blanks going at once). Once it kicks, the bamboo is quite a bit stiffer, with a bit more spring to it. If you don't let it kick, you end up with a noodle when you heat it to straighten it. Most guys soak it for an hour or so and dry it a couple of days. That gives pretty good penetration, waterproofing, etc. and it will kick and set up in a couple of days." (Mark Babiy)
Listen to Mike - he invented the stuff. (Larry Puckett) Wait the 2 to 3 day recommendation. This will allow maximum penetration. (Bob Maulucci) I'd go with Mike's advice. He's the one that makes the stuff. He hasn't steered me wrong yet. (Mark Wendt)
It's a little difficult to explain without getting technical. I'll try: The Garrison-type stress analysis, which we commonly use to compare rod actions, does not include any factor that accounts for the stiffness of the material. To do so, would have complicated the analysis immensely and limited the usefulness of stress curves by introducing additional variables. The stress curves that you ordinarily encounter are calculated assuming that the rod remains straight no matter what forces are applied (Or, in other words, it is assumed to be very, very stiff). Some of the folks that regularly attend the Catskill Gathering are planning to demonstrate a recently popularized static deflection method called "Common Cents". I think that this technique might be what you are looking for. Unfortunately, you would have to build and test several rods to get the information you need. (Jim Utzerath)
So what is the best way today to impregnate a bamboo rod? And is it possible to reach the same results of impregnation like Orvis or Sharpe's with there Bakelite impregnation? (Olaf Kundrus) I emailed a Cue Company about Nelsonite and this is their answer. “Nelsonite is not like stabilization by impregnation. You just apply the Nelsonite and it settles the wood. Once dry you can sand and then polish as usual but Nelsonite will not polish as it is not an epoxy. You would still have to spray finish or use a Cyano to polish.” (Dave Henney) Hopefully Bob Maulucci with pop in here. I seem to remember that he used Nelsonite for a rod or 2 then abandoned it. He now uses Mike's solution. (Larry Puckett) I have a rod I just finished, that I used Mike's impregnation solution on. If you use a heated drying cabinet it speeds up the cure time considerably and it doesn't add any noticeable weight or make the bamboo brittle. What I noticed about Nelsonite is that is changes the action, where Mike's impregnation solution does not. These are just my observations. (Bill Walters) Yeah, I think the Nelsonite worked okay, but I like the look of the Mike Brooks stuff better, and I also have been using it to set the dye I have been using on blanks. Once I used up my pint of Nelsonite, I saw no use in continuing to use it. Mike's stuff also stiffens the blank very nicely. I think it is a good "set it and forget it" finish. Also, I have had no problems varnishing over top of it. (Bob Maulucci) I have made many rods using Nelsonite and from my experience I have not seen that Nelsonite makes a rod brittle and use it on every rod I make. I, like you, would like to know more about other options on impregnating a rod. (David Ray)
First, I think the basic reason for impregnation is that it makes the rod about as carefree as that plastic stuff. No worry about it getting water damaged or rotting out under the ferrules, grip, or seat. Some also like the byproduct effect of stiffening the action a bit. Second, with respect to why varnish over an impregnated rod. Mainly to achieve that hi-gloss look that many folks seem to like. On a recent poll here or on Clark's board some makers reported that about 80% or more of their customers went with the impregnated finish and the rest went for the hi-gloss varnish. Some folks think that looks "traditional". Me, for rods I fish I like the matte finish of a buffed impregnated rod. (Larry Puckett) I have an impregnated Orvis that I used to fish all the time and I like how it stood up to the average abuse a rod gets when its getting fished exclusively. Also, when it comes time to replace the wraps you are just replacing the wraps not revarnishing the whole rod. My self-built impregnated rod is not a work of art but it is durable and well constructed. Its a rod that will be fished for a long time to come. (Bill Walters) 1. I think that a rod impregnated with something like Mike Brook's sauce will be stuck together forever and a day. 2. I think the stiffness of heat treating is still important, and actually I think that impregnated rods seem to take sets just as easily as a non impregnated one, maybe even more so. I think some light heat treating is imperative. 3. Personally, I like semi gloss or matte finish, but I really think the average buyer equates impregnated with cheap and avoids it like the plague. Therefore, I sometimes dip a rod over the impregnant. As far as excessive build up or weight, because the impregnant seals the blank I can get away with one or two light coats over top. It is a good filled surface to dip once over. (Bob Maulucci) I agree with most of what you say, the exception being the part about impregnated rods taking sets. "2. I think the stiffness of heat treating is still important, and actually I think that impregnated rods seem to take sets just as easily as a non impregnated one, maybe even more so. I think some light heat treating is imperative." I think (if I understood you correctly)you were trying to put emphasis on the need to still heat-treat but, its been my experience that Orvis rods don't take a set any more readily than any other rod. Maybe it depends on what the rod is impregnated with and time will only tell with regards to Mike's impregnation sauce. (Bill Walters) Yes, you understood that correctly, BUT I have seen a bunch of impregnated rods in a friend's shop, and he showed me how he could bend them into a pretzel pretty easily. They were almost impossible to get straight after they were fished hard. I won’t mention names, but they were not done with Mike's impregnation fluid. They were older rods. He was asked to straighten and repair wraps, and he had no idea how he would get them to stay straight. (Bob Maulucci)
This was from Mike Brooks: I make the impregnation sauce and a few other varnishes. I can be reached via email at mibrooks27@msn.com, cell 541-914-7510. I ran out and actually have another batch I have been brewing that is just finishing up. It is $30 a quart us shipping. One quart will do 20 blanks or so. One thing I do differently than a lot of other guys is alter the structure of the bamboo. I soak some blanks for 3 or 4 days in it. The problem with that is you have to wait 3 or 4 MONTHS for it to "kick" (or a couple of weeks in a hot box will do, also, but I always have several blanks going at once). Once it kicks, the bamboo is quite a bit stiffer, with a bit more spring to it. If you don't let it kick, you end up with a noodle when you heat it to straighten it. Most guys soak it for an hour or so and dry it a couple of days. That gives pretty good penetration, waterproofing, etc. and it will kick and set up in a couple of days. More instructions: This is the easiest, safest method I have found for impregnating cane rod blanks. Purchase a piece of PVC pipe, one to 1 to 1 1/4 inch inside diameter and two end caps. Glue the end cap onto one end, making certain that it has a waterproof seal. Place a raw bamboo blank (one sanded, but not finished in any way) into the tube. Fill the tune with impregnation solution until the rod blank is covered. Cap the other end and stand in a corner for 12 to 24 hours or so. Pour the impregnation sauce back into the original can, give it a squirt of Bloxygen, and seal - a one quart can should be more than enough to impregnate ten to 20 or more 2/2 blanks. Next, wipe down the wet blank. Let it sit for an hour or so and rewipe it --- the varnish on the outside will have started to tack. Then, let it set in a WARM place for 24 to 48 hours. The impregnation solution will cure out so long as the ambient temperature is above freezing. It will even cure out in the presence of moisture. It will just take a very-very-very long time to cure out (like several weeks). Once cured, you will find that your blank will be varnished and impregnated all at once. The impregnation solution is actually a three-part solution. The stuff that does the actual impregnation will penetrate right through to the center of your blank. It will interact chemically with the bamboo and will make it harder, stiffer, stronger, and will produce a slightly faster action rod. The action will actually change by 10 to 20 percent. The other two parts are varnishes. One is a reactive varnish that penetrates the enamel layer of the bamboo and combines with it producing a very durable surface. The other varnish is a coating that makes for a nice, easily maintained shine that you can polish out and refinish or add to with Mike's Stuff. One caution, allow your impregnated blank to cure completely. Immediately out of the impregnation solution it will be pretty loose and will take a set in a heartbeat. Allow it to hang for several days to allow the rod to cure. How long depends on your method. I hang mine for a full month, but I don't use a hot box. Guys who do use hot boxes get their to cure in 2 days at 125 to 175 degrees. (Larry Puckett) Here is some more information from Mike regarding the Impregnation Solution and it's application: "As for the impregnation solution, different people use it different ways an depends on how much time you have. I impregnate for a couple of days - soaking the blank in a rube of impregnation mix. This gets very nearly 100% penetration but, then, it takes two to three months for the blanks to completely cure out at room temperature (which is what I do, but I have 10 or so rods going at a time). Other builders do pretty much the same thing but force cure it in a heated box (125 - 150 degrees F.) and cure it in a week. Other's still, impregnate for 12 hours and cure it in a couple of days but the only get 25 percent penetration. And there are a few hobby builders and several professionals that apply it with steel wool and just let it dry overnight and immediately coat it with Mike's Stuff to kick cure it. All of these methods work to water proof the rod. If you want to structurally change the rod, though, making it faster and more consistent (which is what I was shooting for to begin with), I think you want 50% or more penetration and that means 24 hours or more in a tube and a week in a hot box or several weeks minimum at room temperature." (Chris Carlin) My question with soaking a rod for 24 or more hours in Mike's Solution is what does it do to the glue especially Titebond II? I would not have a concern with Nyatex but has anyone used Mike's Solution on rods glued in Titebond II or Weldwood plastic resin? (David Ray) Again from Mike: "The impregnation solution ought to be compatible with all cured glues. I have used it with a variety of epoxies, PU (Gorilla Glue & Bordon's), Titebond II (the water based stuff), various Resorcinols, URAC 585 and URAC 185, Melamine Glue, and Hide Glue (it actually helped the Hide Glue and made it waterproof). For almost all of my gluing I use Resorcinol and Bordon's PU if a customer objects to the tiny glue lines you sometimes get with Resorcinol and have never had a problem." (Chris Carlin) Here is everything I've been able to gather about Mike Brooks' products. (Chris Carlin) Walnut Oil - some users have remarked that if they put on a heavy or moderately heavy coat of the walnut oil that it can take days or weeks to dry. There are two workarounds for this - (1) mix it 50-50 with a standard spar varnish (you will still get the transparent look, no hazing, and the thread will be completely hidden -- more spar than that and you are on your own, though -- I used Daley's SuperSpar for my experiment and it worked fine, chemically MOW ought to be be even better) or add 1 teaspoon of Winsor and Newton JAPAN DRIER to a one ounce bottle (NOT the purple stuff, the stuff that looks like really thin varnish). This will set up a fairly heavy coat in under 24 hours without buckling. If you already have a coat on your thread that is taking forever to dry. Dip a brush in a 50-50 mix of spar and Japan drier and overcoat. It will be dry the next day. Or, if you are not in a hurry, just allow the walnut oil varnish to dry on it's own. Even a fairly thick coating or three will dry eventually..... If you put on a really thick coat, though, it will buckle just like a really thick coat of spar or any other paint. * * Impregnation Solution - I have received lot of raves about this, but everyone wants to know how I dye the stuff! I use TransTint Dyes from Woodcraft stores. It is $16.95 for a large bottle. I fill a 54 inch length of 1-1/4" I.S. PVC pipe and it takes just under a quart of the solution to do this. This is large enough, by the way, for three or four 2/2 blanks. For that elusive Payne Red color, dissolve 18 drops of Golden Brown dye to 30 drops of Reddish-Brown. I dissolve it first in an ounce of turpentine or Mike's Stuff and filter it through the clothe as it doesn't want to completely dissolve in varnish or oil based products and will leave some gummy spots on your blanks when you pull them (BUT! If that happens, just wipe them off as best you can and, then, rub off the rest with 0000 steel wool after it dries). Pour the solution into the tube, add the rods, and gently shake. Let this just sit somewhere out of the way for 24 hours or so, pull out and dry repeatedly while it bleeds (or don't and you will end up sanding the "bled out" vanish lumps --- not a problem, but it takes more time). I get around 50% penetration in 24 hours. The dyed color is *in* the bamboo so you don't have to worry about sanding if off, either. Don't bother straightening the blanks until they are dry. They will take sets like crazy while wet with the solution. I straighten after 24 hours and, then, let the blanks rest for another 48 hours to completely cure and they stay straight. I have reports from some users who actually straighten the wet blanks right out of the impregnation tank who claim that works really well for them, but I have not tried that. If it works, maybe we've come up with a better mousetrap for straightening glued up blanks! If you need to duplicate ammonia treated rods, use the TransTint's Golden-Brown and Reddish-Brown 50-50 for the old WM color and straight reddish Brown for the Waterseal color. Black, and I mean jet black, can be had by adding 2 ounces of filtered black to a quart of the solution and leaving the blank in for 48 hours. TransTint makes about 10 colors. Forget the Golden Oak, it's a really creamy yellow color. They have discontinued their bright colors and primary colors and I am going nuts trying to locate replacements. If anyone out there runs into good oil soluble dyes, I would be extremely interested. I have a customer that wants his blank dyed olive!!!! and TransTint doesn't make that color. You don't have to mix it with MOW or anything else -- the MOW or Japan Drier just helps to dry it a bit better, but the point is that it will dry absolutely transparent, no frosting, white marks/streaks, nothing..... and you can't get that with MOW or any other varnish currently on the market (or, actually, with any of the classic varnishes either). Send me an email address and I will forward you some photo's that will just blow you away. The reason for the MOW is that it will kick slightly faster. The Japan drier will kick it much faster and will thin it a bit at the same time. And, by the way, I make a fast drying rub on varnish that you really ought to try for your cabinet making. It dries - and I mean bone dry - in about an hour. Four coats and your wood is completely waterproof and can be as polished as you could possibly want. We refinished a table with it and polished it out and it blinded the neighbors, friends, and our pet cat. The impregnation solution ought to be compatible with all cured glues. I have used it with a variety of epoxies, PU (Gorilla Glue & Bordon's), Titebond II (the water based stuff), various Resorcinols, URAC 585 and URAC 185, Melamine Glue, and Hide Glue (it actually helped the Hide Glue and made it waterproof). For almost all of my gluing I use Resorcinol and Bordon's PU if a customer objects to the tiny glue lines you sometimes get with Resorcinol and have never had a problem. The 75% penetration you are getting is pretty much to be expected - pretty good considering that Orvis only got around 20% with their's. You've got to try adding a dye, too. You can duplicate all sorts of classic rod colors. (As for free advertising here - a quart can will do at least 10 3/2 or 2/2 blanks of average size which makes it pretty inexpensive, too. I can make a quart do 20 to 30 blanks. Figuring that it costs me about $25 to make a quart, that makes my impregnation cost around $1 per rod. ANd that's cheap!) As for VTBamboo's comments...thank you! We all learn from criticism and suggestions and I honestly appreciate your's. The purpose of my posting, though, was not commercial. The samples I sent out were and are free - I even pay for the postage. They were meant for makers to try and get comments back to me. I admit that I have a commercial interest....eventually. I am also making a color preservative, a touch up varnish for antique rods, a couple of variety of wipe on varnishes, a primer for urethane coats and spar, and a bamboo glue (works down to 40 degree temp, 1 hour plus pot life, slightly expanding, alcohol soluble - cleanup and thinning, natural cane colored, with the rigidity of Resorcinol) and will be putting out samples for beta testing this winter and I have developed a dipping tank-drying cabinet combination that only takes up a 6" X 100" wall space that keeps dust from having any possibility of landing on the blank until it is dry (uses Plexiglas, a static generator, one way vents on top & the sides, and a series of 7 watt bulbs for light and heat - you can see what you are doing while having dust blow all over your shop and not worry about any of it getting on the rod - I sand grips while dipping my rods!!!). There are probably lots of ways of creating flawless, clear wraps, but most of us do not have your expertise or experience. I'm a chemist and so figured out a way that would work for me. When I look at the steps you have to go through to achieve your clear wraps, however, I am more convinced than ever that a one step process like I get with my Walnut Oil varnish is the way to go. In the end, it is a whole lot cheaper and is certainly easier to use. The walnut oil prevents bubbles from developing in the first place and it naturally fills in thread voids. This is not to say that I have come up with "the best" way of doing anything, it is just one way, and it works for me and enough friends that I wish to share it. This is Mike Brooks. I make the impregnation sauce and a few other varnishes. I can be reached via email at mibrooks27@msn.com, cell 541-914-7510. I ran out and actually have another batch I have been brewing that is just finishing up. It is $30 a quart us shipping. One quart will 20 blanks or so. One thing I do differently than a lot of other guys is alter the structure of the bamboo. I soak some blanks for 3 or 4 days in it. The problem with that is you have to wait 3 or 4 MONTHS for it to "kick" (or a couple of weeks in a hot box will do, also, but I always have several blanks going at once). Once it kicks, the bamboo is quite a bit stiffer, with a bit more spring to it. If you don't let it kick, you end up with a noodle when you heat it to straighten it. Most guys soak it for an hour or so and dry it a couple of days. That gives pretty good penetration, waterproofing, etc. and it will kick and set up in a couple of days. As for the Nelsonite. I tried it in response to a post here a while back. It didn't work for beans, but I understand there are a couple of versions out there and I was only able to get one used for hardening cue balls. The Pentacryl, on the other hand, is supposed to be used for stabilizing green wood for turning. That's at room temperature. I use a hot box only when I have to because the things scare me (fire danger). I am saving up money to buy one of those neat ovens I see advertised by a guy on the listserv. It is apparently for use outside so I don't have to worry about burning down my shop. That will allow me to experiment even more. I have found that baking at around 300 really kicks the drying time. I also would like to experiment with double tempering cane like Bob Sherrill does. I used a 1 1/2" PVC tubing with Mike's impregnating solution and it worked fine. Soaked the 3 sections (at the same time) for two days, wiped them off, let them dry / cure for a couple more days and then used them. Everything seems fine ... great stuff. Going to try it in the future on reel seats, but will probably let the wood stay in the solution for several extra days. You know full well that I'm busy writing a review of Mike's products for Power Fibers, but I'll give you a sneak preview. I've used "Mike's Stuff" as a pre-varnish on a half-dozen rods and blanks. So far, nothing but good things to say. I've used Mike's Amber Oil wrap varnish on four rods, and find it very simple to use if one follows Mike's directions. It does what it claims. Hard to beat it, IMHO. I used Mike's Color Preserving wrap lacquer on one wrap, and found it very similar to using the straight lacquer one buys at a hardware store. Mike's product may be a little thinner than straight lacquer. I do very little color preserving, but can see that Mike's product would work as well as any. The wrap was a hunter green Gudebrod thread and went about one to one and a half shades darker. Best of all, I impregnated my first blank this past weekend. Saturday afternoon I dropped a 2/1 7'6" 4 weight sorta similar to a PHY Perfectionist taper with a slightly swelled butt in a pipe full of Mike's Impregnation Sauce, and left it there about 52 hours. The Louisiana summer had my shop at about 95 degrees. Monday evening I pulled the blank out and simply wiped off the excess with a cotton rag. Tuesday night I cut about 1/8" off the butt end of both sections. The tip was penetrated all the way through. The butt had the solution almost all the way through, with about a tenth of an inch of the very center still dry. I suspect the tip end of the butt section is completely penetrated, though I haven't cut it off to mount the ferrules yet. The Impregnation sauce left a flat finish. I have polished out a little of the butt to a semi-gloss finish. I'll donate this blank to the Southern Council FFF as my booth fee for the Conclave in October. I will say that I think the "sauce" added a tiny bit of weight, and stiffened the blank a little, though I haven't done any real testing. I suspect that all the blanks I sell from now on will be impregnated. It's just too easy not to use. I've already praised Mike's Stuff here and in a couple of other places, but I'll repeat it for any who may have missed it. I've used his Amber wrap varnish on several rods and it is outstanding! It's the only product I have ever used that absolutely prevents "shimmers" in the wraps. I've also used the CP and it works better than any other color preservers I've used, 2 coats of it and a coat or two of spar and the rod is ready to dip, no worries about blotches. I've used the pre varnish also on several rods and it also works as advertised. I bought a quart of the impregnating fluid at the Colorado Rodmakers Reunion (thanks to Ricks Rods), but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. There is a blank in the making for it. Mike, thanks again for the samples, I'll be a regular customer, so please don't quit making it! I will be using a finish called Mike's Stuff which is a hand rubbed finish but takes 20 coats it adds time to the building the rod but you are guaranteed a perfect dust free finish Mike's Stuff was made purposefully very hot so as to cure out fast. If you leave a bottle open for more than a few minutes it will start to cure out and you end you with an interesting paper weight. I store mine in an old refrigerator and am able to extend the shelf life for a few months, but it only keeps for 6 months maximum. Take your partially kicked bottle and put it in a refrigerator or freezer and save it for preparing blanks. Get a new bottle and use it for finishing work. Mike One thing that I learned about Mikes stuff is this. As you use out of the bottle, put marbles in the bottle to replace the stuff you have used and limit the air gap in the bottle. It keeps a heck of a lot longer and wont turn to Jell-O. Makes a great looking rod too ...just experienced your problem! I had a flat jar of Mike’s Stuff and it started to jell over; and I mean really jell over - it was the consistency of Jell-O. Being cheap, I was sealing/pretreating some blanks and so really lathered it on. It worked great. It sort of liquified when I was steel wooling it in. Best of all, I had a small open seam (under where the cork would go) but the jelled MS mixed with the bamboo sawdust completely sealed it up. As an experiment, I touched it up with sandpaper and it flat out disappeared leaving a nice sharp corner. A very happy accident. If your hadn't written about your problem, I might never have tried this. It worked like a charm. A further experimented by directly mixing a little sawdust with the jelled MS and tried to fill glue lines. Those that had even a tiny opening filled in nicely and sanded out to where they were invisible. Thank you! Mike's Stuff - It kicks in under an hour and you can completely finish a rod in under a day. Also, makes for a nice final finish. Heat it in a water bath and apply liberally on a raw blank. Keep rubbing until it soaks in and starts to tack. Then, wipe most of it off. Let set for an hour and repeat twice more. Then, wrap and finish your wraps with whatever thread varnish or lacquer is to your liking. Then, in one very long weekend, apply 20 coats of Mike's Stuff. Wipe some on with a small 2 or 3 inch square of cloth and wipe it off when it tacks for each coat. No dust, no brush marks, and the finish is always just perfect. Also, the rod will be impregnated with this for a couple thousandth's of an inch and be completely waterproof. The wipe on varnish is pretty neat. You wipe it on with some 4/0 steel wool or even a rag and rub off. Do that a few times and you end up with a real nice finish on the rod without having to make a dip tube and such. I have used the Stuff as an overcoat on some duller finished rods to shine them up a bit and it worked great. I have also used the Walnut Oil for threads and it does exactly what it says it will. The only problem with the walnut is that it dries a little slow, you may need a kicker. His CP is similar to some lacquers and works well. My favorite of all is the impregnation solution. I first tried it on a junk fine weight tip that I planned to toss anyhow. I soaked it for about 72 hours and pulled it out. I wiped it down every couple hours until pretty dry and it looked great. I allowed it to dry overnight in a heated area. I then cut the blank in half to check penetration. Penetration was right at 100% at the center of the tip, very impressive. I next did a butt with it and then cut it. After 72 hours and drying, I cut the butt section in half and had 90%+ penetration there also. Good stuff. I have gone to using it on all my blanks. As you can probably see, I really like these products and would not hesitate to recommend them. I just finished a rod with Mike's stuff, color preserver and his rod varnish. All of the products worked great. I used four coats of the wipe on Mike's stuff, wrapped the rod, used the color preserver (four coats, thinned a bit) and then three coats of his rod varnish thinned 50/50 and dribbled it over the rod. I was really pleased at the finish. Looks as though it were dipped. The varnish dries really nicely and looks great. I don't think you will be disappointed in the finishes. I make several different varnishes - for my own use and for the use of friends - and all serve different purposes. The wipe on varnish that quick cures called Mike's Stuff is not even remotely related to standard varnishes. To begin with, it is a reactive varnish. It also penetrates several thousandths of an inch into the bamboo, combines with both the lignin and cellulose in the bamboo and physcially alters the structure of the bamboo making it very waterproof, chemical "proof", etc. Indeed, if you tried to remove the finish from a rods finished with Mike's Stuff you would find that some of it would appear to be in the cane and just wouldn't come off no matter what you did. I designed it for amateur builders who want to finish a rod with nothing more than a piece of cloth and a chair to sit on. It cures in about an hour (not dries...cures) and can be recoated immediately or weeks later with no adhesion problems. You can build up a surface with as much depth and as shiny as you could possibly want. Some guys have put on 20 coat and their rods make me ashamed of the ones I dip - they are just drop dead gorgeous. All that and a 2 ounce bottle will do that 20 coat finish on a any "normal" rod. The walnut oil is designed to make for frost free wraps. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective) a one ounce bottle, the smallest amount practical to package, lasts practically forever. It will easily do 100 rods. Ditto for the two CP's I make. The impregnation solution is pretty thrifty, too. A one quart can will do 20 rods, or you can do like A.J. recommends and just steel wool it in (it works great and he gets very good penetration. I didn't believe it until he showed me). The dyes make exact color copies of famous blanks (Waterseal, Browntone, "normal" Granger, Phillipson, Jim Payne orange-brown, etc.). I also make a classic varnish for spot repairs on these and another version for brushing or wipe on or drip finishing rods (both are true spars). And I make a dipping version of ammonia treatment. And I am continually playing with all kinds of other finishes, too. I have even developed a special glue for bamboo rods that is natural cane colors and strong as (*&*#$)*&! Don't know about the impregnation stuff for an hour or not. I soak mine in it for a while. I have used the Mike's Stuff over Waterlox Sealer/Finish which is tung oil based and had excellent results. It is really nice stuff. I also used it as an overcoat on a rod with General Finishes Arm R Seal on it which is also tung based and again it did great. Hope that helps and I am sure Mike will chime in on the impregnation stuff. Mike's Stuff works fine over Tung Oil, but why would you want to use Tung Oil? The Mike's Stuff cures out in a fraction of the time. As for the WaterLox Sanding Sealer, it dries pretty fast but doesn't have much of a solids content. I use just plain Mike's Stuff as a sealer coat on all my blanks and it works just fine for me - so do Darryl Whitehead, A.J. Thramer and a lot of other professional builders. Plus, it's pretty cheap. A one ounce bottle will seal a dozen blanks. A two ounce bottle will seal and prep several dozen blanks or can be used by a hobby or occasional builder to completely finish one or two rods. At around $10 for a 2 ounce bottle, that is pretty cheap when compared to a dip tube, varnish, motor, etc. that etc. used once or twice a year. As for the impregnation solution, different people use it different ways an depends on how much time you have. I impregnate for a couple of days - soaking the blank in a rube of impregnation mix. This gets very nearly 100% penetration but, then, it takes two to three months for the blanks to completely cure out at room temperature (which is what I do, but I have 10 or so rods going at a time). Other builders do pretty much the same thing but force cure it in a heated box (125 - 150 degrees F.) and cure it in a week. Other's still, impregnate for 12 hours and cure it in a couple of days but the only get 25 percent penetration. And there are a few hobby builders and several professionals that apply it with steel wool and just let it dry overnight and immediately coat it with Mike's Stuff to kick cure it. All of these methods work to water proof the rod. If you want to structurally change the rod, though, making it faster and more consistent (which is what I was shooting for to begin with), I think you want 50% or more penetration and that means 24 hours or more in a tube and a week in a hot box or several weeks minimum at room temperature. One thing about the impregnation mix a lot of people don't know, it can be used on a blond blank and will not change the color, or it can be dyed to duplicate Bakelite or any other look you can dream of (for dyes use acid set dyes from Jacquard or use the alcohol based dyes from Woodcraft stores). Forget Ammonia treating. It is WAY more trouble than it is worth. If you want that ammonia treated look AND that little extra stiffness, do the following: buy some reddish-brown (RB) and gold-brown (GB) TransTint dye from Woodcraft. Mix them 75% reddish-brown and 25% golden-brown for a really dark reddish ammonia color ALA Edwards. You can adjust this, by going to 25% RB/75% GB to achieve the look of a Granger. Dissolve one ounce of the mix in a quart of denatured alcohol. Pour into a length of 1-1/4" PVC, suitably glued on one end, and immerse your blank for several days with the "open" end loosely capped with a PVC cap just pressure fit on . The dye will completely penetrate the blank and DYE it the desired color right down to the center (IE: you can't sand off the color). If you want the color darkened quite a bit, add one ounce of vinegar to the tube AFTER TWO DAYS (!!!) and let it set for at least 24 additional hours. Then, pull the blank and allow it to dry overnight. The alcohol will evaporate rather quickly. A big plus with this is that ALL of the moisture in the rod is gone - the alcohol will displace it. Then, impregnate the blank by immersing it in impregnation solution. If you use the stuff I make ($30 a quart - will do around 20 2/2 rods), place the blank in another length of 1-1/4" PVC, fill it up with impregnation solution and allow the blank to sit in the solution anywhere from 4 hours to 3 days. Pull the blank and let it dry on a flat surface or, hang it. It will be really flimsy until the impregnation solution kicks. This will depend on the ambient temperature, humidity, etc and can take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of months. I tend to air dry/cure my blanks but I always have 20 or so going at any one time. If you have access to an oven or hot box you can force cure them in a day or so by "cooking" them at 150 degrees. This will set the dye and will stiffen the blank considerably. The cost for this based on my local hardware stores: one 10 foot length of PVC @3.25, cut in two 5 foot sections, one for dying, one for impregnating; 4 PVC caps @ $0.57 each, PVC glue "kit" @ 5.95, 2 bottles of TransTint dye (it's in a liquid form in a 2 ounce plastic squeeze bottle) @ $16.95 ea.; 1 gallon denatured alcohol @ $6.95, impregnation solution @ $30 plus $10 shipping. So, your total cost wold be $92.33, but remember this will do at least 20 blanks making your cost around $4.62 per blank. Compare this with the cost of genuine ammonia treating and it works out to be about under 1/4 of the cost with much more precise control over the color. A big plus is that it is safer, a lot less messy, and looks exactly like you has ammonia treated the blank. Indeed, I don't think an expert can tell the difference between the two methods on even a raw blank. This is the easiest, safest method I have found for impregnating cane rod blanks. Purchase a piece of PVC pipe, 1 to 1 1/4 inch inside diameter and two end caps. Glue the end cap onto one end, making certain that it has a waterproof seal. Place a raw bamboo blank (one sanded, but not finished in any way) into the tube. Fill the tune with impregnation solution until the rod blank is covered. Cap the other end and stand in a corner for 12 to 24 hours or so. Pour the impregnation sauce back into the original can, give it a squirt of Bloxygen, and seal – a one quart can should be more than enough to impregnate ten to 20 or more 2/2 blanks. Next, wipe down the wet blank. Let it sit for an hour or so and rewipe it --- the varnish on the outside will have started to tack. Then, let it set in a WARM place for 24 to 48 hours. The impregnation solution will cure out so long as the ambient temperature is above freezing. It will even cure out in the presence of moisture. It will just take a very-very-very long time to cure out (like several weeks). Once cured, you will find that your blank will be varnished and impregnated all at once. The impregnation solution is actually a three-part solution. The stuff that does the actual impregnation will penetrate right through to the center of your blank. It will interact chemically with the bamboo and will make it harder, stiffer, stronger, and will produce a slightly faster action rod. The action will actually change by 10 to 20 percent. The other two parts are varnishes. One is a reactive varnish that penetrates the enamel layer of the bamboo and combines with it producing a very durable surface. The other varnish is a coating that makes for a nice, easily maintained shine that you can polish out and refinish or add to with Mike’s Stuff. One caution, allow you impregnated blank to cure completely. Immediately out of the impregnation solution it will be pretty loose and will take a set in a heartbeat. Allow it to hang for several days to allow the rod to cure. How long depends on your method. I hang mine for a full month, but I don’t use a hot box. Guys who do use hot boxes get their to cure in 2 days at 125 to 175 degrees. Forget Ammonia treating. It is WAY more trouble than it is worth. If you want that ammonia treated look AND that little extra stiffness, do the following: buy some reddish-brown (RB) and gold-brown (GB) TransTint dye from Woodcraft. Mix them 75% reddish-brown and 25% golden-brown for a really dark reddish ammonia color ALA Edwards. You can adjust this, by going to 25% RB/75% GB to achieve the look of a Granger. Dissolve one ounce of the mix in a quart of denatured alcohol. Pour into a length of 1-1/4" PVC, suitably glued on one end, and immerse your blank for several days with the "open" end loosely capped with a PVC cap just pressure fit on . The dye will completely penetrate the blank and DYE it the desired color right down to the center (IE: you can't sand off the color). If you want the color darkened quite a bit, add one ounce of vinegar to the tube AFTER TWO DAYS (!!!) and let it set for at least 24 additional hours. Then, pull the blank and allow it to dry overnight. The alcohol will evaporate rather quickly. A big plus with this is that ALL of the moisture in the rod is gone - the alcohol will displace it. Then, impregnate the blank by immersing it in impregnation solution. If you use the stuff I make ($30 a quart - will do around 20 2/2 rods), place the blank in another length of 1 1/4" PVC, fill it up with impregnation solution and allow the blank to sit in the solution anywhere from 4 hours to 3 days. Pull the blank and let it dry on a flat surface or, hang it. It will be really flimsy until the impregnation solution kicks. This will depend on the ambient temperature, humidity, etc. and can take anywhere from a couple of days to a couple of months. I tend to air dry/cure my blanks but I always have 20 or so going at any one time. If you have access to an oven or hot box you can force cure them in a day or so by "cooking" them at 150 degrees. This will set the dye and will stiffen the blank considerably. The cost for this based on my local hardware stores: one 10 foot length of PVC @3.25, cut in two 5 foot sections, one for dying, one for impregnating; 4 PVC caps @ $0.57 each, PVC glue "kit" @ 5.95, 2 bottles of TransTint dye (it's in a liquid form in a 2 ounce plastic squeeze bottle) @ $16.95 ea.; 1 gallon denatured alcohol @ $6.95, impregnation solution @ $30 plus $10 shipping. So, your total cost wold be $92.33, but remember this will do at least 20 blanks making your cost around $4.62 per blank. Compare this with the cost of genuine ammonia treating and it works out to be about under 1/4 of the cost with much more precise control over the color. A big plus is that it is safer, a lot less messy, and looks exactly like you has ammonia treated the blank. Indeed, I don't think an expert can tell the difference between the two methods on even a raw blank. I have done this with blanks glued up using a number of different glues and haven't had any problem with any of these that were cured. The glues experimented with include epoxies and heat set epoxies, Titebond II, URAC, Resorcinol, Gorilla Glue (unless this is set, it WILL dissolve the glue)- ditto for other PU glues. Allow these to cure for 7 days before dying). The reason to use alcohol instead of water, is that water will swell the bamboo and you might pop a joint. The alcohol causes virtually no swelling, plus, as I said above, it will completely dehydrate your blank (no more soft tips!). Other colors you might be interested in are Browntone (1 part RD to 10 parts GB), Leonard - straight Honey-Amber (HA), Waterseal - straight RB, Payne (1-GB, 1-HA, 1-Medium Brown, 4-Reddish Brown and a pinch of orange dye). Rockler stores sell the powered form of these alcohol soluble dyes in 8 ounce jars @ $28, which is actually a pretty good deal and the powdered form is available in a lot more colors. The only colors you need, by the way, are the four mentioned in this note (although you might want black if you are trying to duplicate Bakelite impregnation on some Hardy's, just mix it very very sparingly into your mix). With these dyes you can also do some pretty strange blank colors - purple, blue, lavender, black, pink (!! - don't laugh, it looked lovely and went to a drop dead gorgeous blond), etc. Good luck and have fun experimenting. I use either URAC or Resorcinol for 99% of my rods, but have experimented with several other glues. Once the glue has cured, the alcohol wont touch it. This is a cheap, efficient, and safe way to remove moisture from bamboo blanks. If anyone is interested, take a normally sanded out blank that you think is dry. Weight it and flex check it, using some small weights attached to the tip with the rod clamped to your bench. Soak it in alcohol for 24 hours. Dry for 8 hours and re-weight and check, again. You will find that it is around 10% lighter and quite a bit stiffer than before the alcohol treatment. Don't take my word for this. Try it yourself, it will cost you almost nothing.
Presumably an impregnated hollow rod would only be impregnated a small amount. (Jim Lowe) I think the idea behind impregnation is not only to provide a liquid and vapor barrier (which is what varnish does) but also to fill in the parts of the bamboo structure with resin so that it can't physically take on water vapor. The idea of "surface impregnation" has always seemed very odd to me. Even varnish will impregnate the surface to some degree. If the material used is better at keeping out water vapor than varnish, then that's great, but I doubt in the long run it keeps the internal structure free of moisture exchange. It might slow it down, more than varnish does even, but that's it. I may be wrong, but I believe that is true of any material that could conceivably be used on a rod as a coating/impregnate. Of course, that's not a bad thing at all, especially if your material is better at water vapor exchange than varnish. Personally, I think there's something to complete (or near complete) impregnation. I think the Orvis method is in this category, and I have several impregnated rods from the 1940s where the varnish on the wraps are shot but the sections are all straight as an arrow. In fact, I have never seen an Orvis rod with anything but a very minor set. (Rich Margiotta)
Hal's directions say to soak for 7 days flipping the tube once or twice a day then pull out and wipe off. Then, cure at 250 degrees for 2-4 hours. (Dennis Higham) Yep, and here is the link to getting more. (Bob Maulucci) Any specifics on tube material? Will a tube made from PVC be satisfactory? (Bob Williams) Hal uses PVC. (Dennis Higham)
I normally impregnate before but I really don't think it would make much of a difference. (David Ray)
1.. hang a sealable copper pipe in the vent-pipe section of my vertical heat gun oven, 2.. fill it with a non-linseed, oil-rich penetrating varnish, 3.. heat up the oven (and the varnish) to +-90 deg C, 4.. insert the sections, 5.. turn off the heat and seal the pipe. 6.. open up when cool Besides trying not to enter the extreme rodmaking section by starting a fire in the varnish does anyone have any comments or suggestions? do you think it could work? (Stephen Dugmore) My thoughts: You'd need a pipe long enough to hold the varnish after you insert the rod and still have a fair amount of air space above the varnish, maybe 30 cm. or 12", whichever measure you prefer. (The jam jar works by creating a partial vacuum.) Leave it sealed for as long as you think it takes for the varnish to penetrate, I'd go for 3 or 4 days, but that's a total guess. I don't see why it wouldn't work, let us know the results. (Neil Savage) If you are concerned about fire shut the varnish up in a cabinet with a 150 watt bulb and it will be over 90 degrees. (Timothy Troester) Thanks to all for responses to my home baked impregnation question. It would appear that it might work, but on the balance of things introducing a vacuum by some other means might be better - sorry Todd!!. I will look into it, but any suggestions for how to introduce a vacuum without requiring an expensive vacuum pump would be appreciated. One question I was asked was whether I knew what would happen to the glue with impregnation. I have been using PU glue. Would there be any adverse affect on the PU glue, especially if I use turpentine to thin the penetrating varnish? (Stephen Dugmore) I build nodeless and glue the scarf joints with Titebond II. The Deks that I have used for impregnation has not had any noticeable detrimental effect on the scarf joints. (Bill Lamberson) This is a question that's been bothering me too. I'm trying a bamboo ferrule (Bjarne Fries F.I.B.H, Power Fibers Volume 8, Pages 24-33), and am at the stage of fitting the females to the male. Bjarne uses PU glue thinned 40:60 with acetone to seal the bamboo and adjust the fit. Bob Nunley used Plexiglas dissolved in acetone to impregnate the bamboo for his bamboo ferrules. My concern is that acetone dissolves just about any plastic, and may dissolve or weaken the glue. Anybody have any suggestions for impregnating the end (~3 inches) of a rod section? Vacuum and pressure are out of the question, since I only want to impregnate the ferrule portion of the rod. I already have the female ferrules on the tips wrapped with silk and 3 coats of varnish on the silk. (Robert Kope) I use Super Glue. Put the ferrule end in a plastic baggie with super glue. Tie the baggie tight around the rod. Let it soak for several hours. This is not my original idea, got it off the list a good while back. It works well for me. (Tony Spezio) I have made Bamboo-look-a-like-ferrules using Super-Glue impregnation, light brass tube and a small caliber bamboo stick as the cover. (See here) The Super-Glue impregnation does not prevent swelling of the cane during fishing. It makes the ferrule easily jammed after long fishing period and you need a tool ("clothespin", "peg") to help to loose it. (Tapani Salmi) Good to know this, I have not had this problem yet. Maybe I have not gotten the ferrule wet enough to swell. I might try to see if I can get the ferrule stuck by wetting the ferrule. On the Twisted Miss I have a graphite insert in the bamboo female ferrule and a graphite sleeves on the male end of the tip sections. The graphite came from discarded graphite rods. On the quads, it is bamboo to bamboo. (Tony Spezio) Try wax. This acts as a lube and a water proof seal. No need to impregnate but the Minwax stuff works well if you want to go the extra mile. I do not incorporate a taper in the ferrule so there is no problem with sticking. Paraffin or candle wax is fine. (George Rainville) I haven't tried it but I seem to remember someone using super glue for this purpose. Didn't they soak the piece in a baggy with the air removed? You may even be able to use a test tube and seal around the bamboo. (Don Schneider) I have made and used about 6 ferrules out of bamboo. I put them in Minwax wood hardener for a couple of days to soak them. This stuff smells like the dissolved Plexiglas. After that is done I wrap the ferrule in white silk and varnish it to give it support. I also dip the end of the tip section in the solution for a couple of hours to let it soak in their as well. I have been trying to break them for about 4 years unsuccessfully. They are kind of fun on my play rods. (Gordon Koppin)
I am not familiar with the process of impregnating with tile glue. Could you or anyone else describe the process? (Steve Weiss) I'll tell what I know and believe to me true. One year at the Catskills rod gathering Hal Bacon talked about impregnating blanks and I think he was the one who recommended the Landmark tile glue (milky white color, skim milk to watery consistency). I participated in a group purchase with Bob Venneri and 2 others to split a case of 4 gallons (about $50 per gallon). I believe Hal suggested soaking the blank in the solution for 5 days. I've heard others says that even 1 day is adequate. I just took a blank out of the solution last night after soaking for 3 days. I made and use a PVC tube and pour the solution in so it covers the blank. Every 24 hours thereafter I gently (so as to not damage the tips) turn the tube end for end a number of times to make sure the glue is not settling (I'm not sure if it does settle) and to make sure the sections aren't stuck together (have never had that happen). Once removed from the solution (blank is very dark but will lighten once the solution is thoroughly dry), I wipe down the blanks with some rags. I then put the blanks in my oven for an hour at approximately 150 degrees to dry out the moisture from the glue. Additionally, I steel wool the blank. Some have suggested polishing with Micro Mesh. I may try to test polish with the same solutions I use to polish varnished blanks. Finally, there was not ill effects on the ferrules of the blank I just soaked. I did tape them up well. The solution did soak into the tape but again I've not noticed any ill effects, the ferrules fit no different than before I soaked the blank. After all that said, I really don't prefer impregnated rods over varnished rods. However, you can finish a rod much quicker which is what I was trying to do with this current rod. My first impregnated rod was really a test to see how I like the process and results. The rod fishes fine and no signs of the cane absorbing any moisture. (Bob Williams)
My only concern is the drying time. I really don't want to wait the recommended months to finish the rod. Has anyone used the recipe using Daly's products? If so, how long do you keep the rod submerged, and then how long do you dry it? Do you air dry, or kick it in an over? (Aaron Gaffney) You soak for 24-48 hours depending on the amount of impregnation desired. You can kick it in an oven at 125-175 for 24 hours (Mike has given several different versions of this time/temp combination on various boards so be ready to experiment some). He also mentioned once that he likes to dip 2 coats of Epiphanes thinned 25%. (Larry Puckett) Contact Mike and he will tell you how to "kick it" to dry faster, there is a heating process. (Pete Van Schaack) It would be interesting to see how much weight impregnating adds to the rod? (Doug Alexander) I'm really disappointed to say the least. I've done a quick and dirty moisture resistance test on some beveled heat treated strips. The idea was to compare the moisture resistance of impregnated strips to strips dipped in varnish. Without going into all the details of the test, the conclusion is that impregnating does very little to prevent the strips from reacquiring moisture over time. It's been noted recently that dip varnishing doesn't prevent the requisition of most of free water (at equilibrium) after a year or so. I just thought maybe impregnating would be better. According to my test, it is much less effective. Here's a little more detail. All test strips are about 2.5 inches long. There are 4 strips in each test group.
I weighed the strips before and after finishing. Both the soaked and dipped strips gained about 5 percent. So I have to assume the soaked strips retained some solids from the impregnation process. I submerged all the strips in a glass of water weighing them at timed intervals. After 24 hours of soaking, the weight gain was as follows:
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