# Question on stabilizing



## Yotehntr (Oct 8, 2015)

I bought a stabilizing set up a couple years ago. I've never had very good luck with it. I believe it's a 3 or 3.5 cfm vacuum pump. I've been using "cactus juice" for the resin. It seems like the resin never gets as deep as I'd like. I've had things in the past stabilized by an outfit g & something can't remember. The job they did was so far supierior to the results I've gotten, makes me wonder is it worth doing myself? Any tips/tricks? Thanks for any input. 

Guess I should say I've run the wood in the chamber for several hours, left the wood submerged in the resin for 12 hrs.... cook @ 225 or so... Arrgh, frustration.


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## JR Custom Calls (Oct 8, 2015)

It depends on the wood. K&G and some other outfits I believe use pressure instead of vacuum. But not just 100psi like you could at home, from what I understand, it's several thousand psi. 

Did you dry your wood in the oven before you tried stabilizing in the past? If the wood isn't as close to 0% moisture as possible, it won't stabilize correctly. I dry mine in the oven at 225 for 24 hours before stabilizing. Then I put it in ziplock bags to cool down and prevent it from soaking back in any moisture from the air. Pull vacuum until there are no bubbles, then soak for at least twice as long as I pull vacuum. I usually just leave it in the resin to soak for a couple days because I get busy with other stuff and forget to cure it. Cure it at 200, instead of 225. The hotter you get, the more bleed out you'll get, which means less resin stays in the wood. 

For 90% of the wood I turn, stabilizing myself gives me great results. Walnut and redwood are the two woods I have the worst results stabilizing. From what I understand, they do best with pressure because of the composition of the wood fibers. Perhaps that's not true, but its what I was told by a couple guys who seem to know what they're talking about.

Reactions: Agree 3


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## TurnTex (Oct 8, 2015)

Jonathan is spot on and took the words right out of my mouth! I have nothing else to add!


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## Yotehntr (Oct 8, 2015)

Well of course I've been stabilizing redwood and walnut. Some others too though, I haven't done the oven treatment. I'll give that a try. Thanks for your advice! 

TurnTex I believe it's a system of yours I'm running.


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## chanser123 (Dec 15, 2015)

First put the wood in the oven for several hours to make sure MC is 0 % or you wont get the best results. Woods like redwood I let soak for over a week sometimes and they will gain a lot of resin! I also have a pressure pot so woods like that I out under pressure for a bit after as well, but after a long soak I have had redwood take on a lot of resin!


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