# Whats the difference?



## chippin-in (May 26, 2012)

I hate to sound like a mo-ron...well thats not entirely true, sometimes its advantageous to have people think your stupid...but I digress. 

Anyway, whats the difference between stabilizing and kiln drying wood?

Is there a difference?

Why would you stabilize instead of drying?

Thanks
Robert


----------



## EricJS (May 26, 2012)

Robert,

When folks here talk about stabilizing wood they are referring to a process that takes place after it is dry. Stabilizing is usually done on small pieces and what takes place is that the wood is saturated with a resin to make it "hard." Most people stabilize wood that has soft or punky areas within; this keeps the wood from coming apart or crumbling as it gets worked.

Some stabilizing resins allow the piece to be soaked, then dried. Others require the wood be placed a vacuum chamber filled with resin, then the chamber is put under a vacuum so that all the air is pulled out of the wood, then once the pressure returns to normal the resin fully penetrates the wood. In most cases, the wood needs to be cooked in an oven for the resin to cure.

Hope this helps.


----------



## Mike1950 (May 26, 2012)

Too add to above Kiln drying is method to dry wood faster then air dry- various methods- steam-solar-dehumidfier(Darens kiln). Sawmill I work at in early 70's had huge steam kilns-in the winter they created their own cloud. All electricity, heat and steam for mill was created by burning the waste- mostly bark.


----------



## BangleGuy (May 26, 2012)

Just to add one more opinion to the response, there are some "stabilizers" that are applied to green wood to slow the drying rate and help avoid cracking. Joe Rebuild recently posted a thread on using Liquid Dish Detergent (LDD) and/or PEG to the surface of the wood as a "stabilizer". I suppose, one could say that paraffin, Boiled Linseed Oil (BLO) or simply spray paint could be 'stabilzers'.

SO, when you hear discussion about stabilizing, it is important to distinguish between stabilizing green wood for drying, OR stabilizing dry wood to prevent moisture absorption and literally harden the wood (as EricJS described).

One last side note, I used Pentacryl (from Woodcraft) as a trial replacement to the standard methacrylate resins in the vacuum process, and it never hardened. Personally, I worry about wood treatments that do not harden or cure, since I really don't know how it might affect subsequent wood finishes that are suppose to harden. (i.e., what does LDD do underneath a CA finish...)

BG


----------



## chippin-in (May 26, 2012)

Thanks for the explanantions. I have a kiln that I built from Darens plans and it works great. Dont know that I will ever stabilize any wood as I am not a turner...yet. But its good info to have. Thanks again.

Robert


----------

