# Question for those out there doing their own stabilizing



## Schroedc (Sep 24, 2014)

Double dyed blanks. Way cool but I have no idea how to go about it. Has anyone here done it?

Thanks in advance!


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## TurnTex (Sep 24, 2014)

Yes, many times. My method is to soak the blanks without vacuum in the color you want to be the highlight color. I just toss my blanks into a container full of color resin and let them float. Soak time will depend on the wood but for punky stuff, I usually only go 15 minutes. Then take it out and cure the blanks in the oven as normal. After cured, let cool and then run through vacuum with your primary color as normal.

Reactions: Like 2 | Thank You! 1 | Informative 3


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## TimR (Sep 24, 2014)

Curtis, it's quite nice to see you here and being able to share your knowledge. I've wondered the same thing and will try this quite soon. I had considered soaking in a dyed alcohol bath and letting dry then stabilize with alternate color, but I can see where the way you described will set the color better. I guess the only concern I had was the "juice" being able to migrate inside after the exterior had been effectively stabilized, though not deeply.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Treecycle Hardwoods (Sep 24, 2014)

Thanks for the info Curtis I had been wondering the same thing as Collin for a while now.


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## TurnTex (Sep 24, 2014)

TimR said:


> I had considered soaking in a dyed alcohol bath and letting dry then stabilize with alternate color, but I can see where the way you described will set the color better. I guess the only concern I had was the "juice" being able to migrate inside after the exterior had been effectively stabilized, though not deeply.



Tim,

The exterior will not be anywhere near filled or impervious by soaking. Heck, even with vacuum and an extended soak, it is frequently possible to still get more resin in the wood with a second stabilizing after curing the first run. As a matter of fact, if you have a particularly stubborn piece of wood that you are doing clear and it seems like it could take more resin, run it again! I did a piece of whale bone once that was super porous. I stabilized it 5 times before I finally got it filled.

As for using alcohol dye bath...what you will find is the resin will wet out those dye particles and then that color will get pulled out of the wood some. This will then mix with the Juice and make it more of one color. For example, if you dyed the wood red, then used blue dyed Juice, your Juice is going to end up purple and the whole blank will be mostly purple.

Reactions: Informative 1


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## Kevin (Sep 24, 2014)

Curtis, you ought to consider posting some occasional/frequent (whatever you want) threads in the classroom around some kind of themes like _"My Trickiest Stabilzing Project/s" _or _"My favorite Dye project/s....."_ or _"Most Stubborn Casting Job ...."_ etc. I know we'd all learn a lot from them.

Forget the Classroom I started a new Stabilizing/Casting/Dyeing forum in the SPECIALTY WOODWORKING AND NON-WOODWORKING PROJECTS category. 

@TurnTex

I'll move as many stab/cast/dye threads that I can find to that forum and hopefully I can catch @ripjack13 between painting the sidewalk and the cat and he can move them also.

Reactions: Like 3 | Thank You! 1 | Great Post 1 | Funny 1


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## ripjack13 (Sep 24, 2014)

No problem...save some for me though.

Wife's on the computer xmas shopping at the moment...hold please.


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## Kevin (Sep 24, 2014)

ripjack13 said:


> No problem...save some for me though.
> 
> Wife's on the computer xmas shopping at the moment...hold please.



Tell her if she does our xmas shopping too, you can move all the threads. 

Man I gotta mow 2 acres so I let you do it for free.

Reactions: Like 1


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## ripjack13 (Sep 24, 2014)

I just mowed an acre and half.....first time I did that in 2 months.

Reactions: +Karma 1


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