*Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin - 1.89 Litres (1/2 US Gallon) - Revised Formula!

Cactus Juice 1/2 Gallon - Revised Formula!

Cactus Juice Stabilizing Resin' is a premium, professional grade, heat-cured resin for stabilising and hardening wood and other porous material. It's especially effective on those beautiful, spalted woods that are normally too soft to work with. Cactus Juice is easy to use and does not significantly change the colour of most woods. 

Cactus Juice Resin must be used in a high quality vacuum chamber, sold separately here.

Cactus Juice is not toxic, nor flammable, and it is not solvent based! It cures 99.99% from liquid to solid by weight; far superior to typical home stabilising solutions. 

This is not an entirely new formula, just a revised one that will mix absolutely fine with your existing Cactus Juice. It still has the same curing temperature and vacuum time as the previous version, but with great new benefits such as virtually no foaming, 15% less bleed out and is as clear as water! 

Following numerous requests from woodturners across the UK and Europe, we are now stocking Cactus Stabilizing Resin. This product is produced in Texas, USA, by Curtis O. Seebeck (if you're a wood turner who has spent any time on wood turning web forums you might know him as "MesquiteMan") at Turntex woodworks.

This size of Cactus Juice is shipped unactivated with the activator in a separate bottle. Activating is simple; just open the small bottle and add the contents into the large bottle. Replace the cap and shake well. If some of the activator particles do not dissolve, allow it to sit over night and shake again the next day. YOU MUST ACTIVATE THE ENTIRE BOTTLE! It is not recommended to activate portions of the bottle since it is difficult to properly proportion the semi paste activator. Activated Cactus Juice has a shelf life of 8-12 months.

It can be heat cured in an oven, at about 85C-95C. We recommend using a small convection oven, separate to the one in your kitchen due to fumes.

You can add colour using the Cactus Juice Stabilizing Dyes safely, with no risk of the dye affecting the resin. *Please note with the revised formula, some settling may occur after mixing with the Bright Yellow, Coffee Brown and Lime Green Cactus Juice dyes.*

*Please note you can also use some of Alumilite Resin Dyes. Please note, not all Alumilite Dyes are suitable, only use the following with Cactus Juice: Black, Blue, Brown, Green, Ocean Blue, Orange, Red, Violet and Yellow.

Approximately 1.89 Litres (1/2 US Gallon) - also available in a larger size.

Quick Start Basics for Use

1. Prepare blanks - sand, etc
2. Place blanks in vacuum chamber and weight down
3. Add Cactus Juice to completely cover blanks
4. Apply full vacuum to chamber and keep your vacuum pump running until bubbles stop
5. Release vacuum and soak blanks for at least twice as long as you had them under vacuum
6. Remove blanks
7. Wrap in foil
8. Cure at 190-200° F (87-93° C) until Cactus Juice has solidified
9. Remove foil
10. Allow to cool to room temperature
11. Store your excess Juice for the next use (DO NOT STORE IN AN AIR TIGHT GLASS JAR!)

Who is TurnTex Woodworks? Curtis and TurnTex is the leading authority and a pioneer in the field of stabilising and casting and has been at the forefront of this industry with the following innovations:

• Cactus Juice Stabilizing Solutions - The first to offer affordable DIY stabilising resin and dedicated vacuum chambers for all types of stabilising needs.

• Alumilite Casting Resin - The first to start using Alumilite Casting Resins for woodturning and helped make it a mainstream casting product.

• Alumilite Clear Casting Resin - This formulation of Alumilite Casting Resin is based on my needs and feedback to the owner of The Alumilite Corporation. I did all of the initial testing to develop the current product including testing 7 different versions until the properties that are important to woodworkers were achieved. (Metal Clay Ltd are also the UK stockist for Alumilite Clear Casting Resin)

• Worthless Wood - Otherwise commonly referred to as hybrid blanks, is the technique of casting wood and resin combinations to form a unique, hybrid blank. This technique was originally created by me in 2006 and shared with the woodturning community through an article I wrote entitled "Worthless Wood - Salvaging Otherwise Worthless Wood with Pressure Casting". This technique has been used by thousands of craftspeople around the world since that original article.

Regarding health & safety, we always recommend doing your own research, and make your own decisions on any precautions you need to take. Read the SDS and get advice if needed. We suggest ensuring you have good ventilation, and protect your skin and eyes (use nitrile gloves only, don’t use latex with resin). If you work with a large amount of resin, or work with it often, you might want to invest in a VOC filtered face mask.

Once activated, Cactus Juice must be kept below 29°C at all times otherwise it may cause rapid hardening. It is also recommended to keep the vacuum pump at least 1.5m (5’) away from the chamber when in use. Vacuum pumps operate at a high temperature and can contribute heat in a workspace. 

Click here for an SDS sheet for this product.