# Stabilizing help



## Lance s (Aug 16, 2016)

I am new to this stabilizing process and have some questions, first I am using cactus juice and pulling a vacuum of 27-28 in/Hg after bubbles stop remove vacuum and let set for 24-48 hours. But when I inspect the blanks with a black light after curing I am not seeing complete penetration on all wood. The wood that I am working with is eucalyptus and has been dried in an oven for 24 hours at 200 degrees and then cooled then put thru stabilization. Does anyone have any solutions? Please help. Thanks


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## Chris S. (Aug 16, 2016)

I would try to get better vacuum levels, make sure you don't have any leaks, and let soak longer. Also, call Curtis at @TurnTex, he is the most helpful, nicest guy I have met in a long time and has a wealth of information he can and will share with you. Reach out to him through his website and he will help you however he can.


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## norman vandyke (Aug 16, 2016)

Is the wood dense or oily before stabilization(oily and dense woods won't take resin well)? Did you put your blanks into a plastic bag after you removed them from the oven(keeps then from absorbing moisture from the air)?How long did you pull vacuum(I usual go 12 hrs minimum)? Like woods take a lot longer to soak. Redwood burl can take a week to fill. Sometimes my Russian olive burl takes that long, depending on density.


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## ripjack13 (Aug 16, 2016)

Lance s said:


> I am new to this stabilizing process and have some questions,



Hi Lance, I'm not sure how you got to post here first, but we need you to make an introduction here in this area 
http://woodbarter.com/forums/introductions.3/
After that you're free to continue posting elsewhere.
Thanks...


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## Lance s (Aug 16, 2016)

I put a bit more about me in an introduction post. So yes I deal my wood hot in an air tight container and let cool. I live at 5000 feet so 28 inHg is the best my one horse high vac pump can pull. That's on a non calibrated gauge. I will try the longer soak time. I seam to get some uv indication in olive wood under the one day soak time but this eucalyptus is kicking my butt. Thanks for the advise. By the way has any one tried a small pressure chamber? If so how did you build it. 
Thanks

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Schroedc (Aug 16, 2016)

One observation with denser woods, even though bubbles have stopped or trickled down to not much, I'll let it run a few more hours as there may be air in the wood still working it's way out.


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## TurnTex (Aug 17, 2016)

Please do feel free to call me if I can help in any way, Lance. Couple of points...not all wood is going to take up a lot of resin. What we are doing when stabilizing is displacing the air in the wood with resin. In really dense wood or even dense portions of less dense wood, there is very little air so you will not get much resin in those areas. They are will still be perfectly stabilized, thoguh. Also, some woods need an extra long soak. Not sure about eucalyptus but it may be one of them. For some woods such as Redwood burl, letting them soak for a week does wonders. One other point...at 5,000' you are not getting anywhere near 28" so your gauge is not accurate. Vacuum is absolute, you can not get below perfect vacuum no matter what you do. Perfect vacuum at sea level is 29.92" Hg on a standard atmospheric day. For every 1,000' above sea level, you lose roughly 1" of vacuum. At 5,000, perfect vacuum is 24.98" Hg. You can check this yourself with the calculator on my site here: https://www.turntex.com/help-center...rces/77-maximum-theoretical-vacuum-calculator

(contact info removed - not allowed in posts)

Reactions: Like 1 | Great Post 3


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## Don Ratcliff (Aug 17, 2016)

TurnTex said:


> Please do feel free to call me if I can help in any way, Lance. Couple of points...not all wood is going to take up a lot of resin. What we are doing when stabilizing is displacing the air in the wood with resin. In really dense wood or even dense portions of less dense wood, there is very little air so you will not get much resin in those areas. They are will still be perfectly stabilized, thoguh. Also, some woods need an extra long soak. Not sure about eucalyptus but it may be one of them. For some woods such as Redwood burl, letting them soak for a week does wonders. One other point...at 5,000' you are not getting anywhere near 28" so your gauge is not accurate. Vacuum is absolute, you can not get below perfect vacuum no matter what you do. Perfect vacuum at sea level is 29.92" Hg on a standard atmospheric day. For every 1,000' above sea level, you lose roughly 1" of vacuum. At 5,000, perfect vacuum is 24.98" Hg. You can check this yourself with the calculator on my site here: https://www.turntex.com/help-center...rces/77-maximum-theoretical-vacuum-calculator
> 
> Again, please feel free to give me a call if I can help in any way. My hours are 1pm to 1am central time


Do you make house calls? I mean shop calls...?


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## TurnTex (Aug 17, 2016)

Don Ratcliff said:


> Do you make house calls? I mean shop calls...?



Sure, for just the cost of travel expenses!

Reactions: Funny 1 | Way Cool 1


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## Jim Beam (Aug 17, 2016)

Lance s said:


> I put a bit more about me in an introduction post. So yes I deal my wood hot in an air tight container and let cool. I live at 5000 feet so 28 inHg is the best my one horse high vac pump can pull. That's on a non calibrated gauge. I will try the longer soak time. I seam to get some uv indication in olive wood under the one day soak time but this eucalyptus is kicking my butt. Thanks for the advise. By the way has any one tried a small pressure chamber? If so how did you build it.
> Thanks



I have not stabilized wood yet (tho I am getting close) but I know from experience that eucalyptus is a very dense and oily wood. This could be part of the problem.


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