# Stabilizing Questions?



## justallan (Sep 21, 2014)

I'm thinking of trying to figure out this whole stabilizing thing, can someone point me in the right direction for a pretty detailed explanation of it all?
Basically it sounds to me like you put your pieces in a mold, put in the right amount of CactusJuice, put the mold in a vacuum chamber and POOF your good.
I can weld plastic, aluminum, stainless and common steel, so the vacuum chamber is no problem.
I already have a vacuum pump that will hold 29 inches of vacuum, hoses, gauges and extra schrader valves.
I have a vertical mill and pieces of nylon big enough to make small molds plus aluminum, if that works.
The biggest thing I'll have is time. My job on a ranch requires me to work 7 days a week for 5 months in the winter, but only 3-4 hours a day, I live alone and don't care much for T.V.
See what I'm getting at here? LOL
Thanks in advance.


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## JR Custom Calls (Sep 21, 2014)

Check out @TurnTex website. Seems to be probably the most popular DIY stabilizing resource. 

I've never stabilized but I think you may be getting stabilizing and casting mixed up. Stabilizing doesn't have a set amount of resin, just sucks it in until it won't any more. Casting is where you use a mold.


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## Cody Killgore (Sep 21, 2014)

Yeah, I think you're mixing it up a bit. Not sure of a good website. 

You don't need a mold for stabilizing. You put the piece in the chamber, put something on top of it to weigh it down (I use a steel drain cover that fits nicely inside my chamber). Then you pour resin over it, making sure you have enough so that when it sucks the resin up, it will still be fully submerged (Depends on size of chamber but I like to put a good 4-5 inches over in mine...probably overkill). Turn the pump on for as long as you're willing to run it. You will typically want to run it for a few hours is what I have found. You can run it for longer than that if you really want to suck out some air. In my experience, the bubbles never completely stop but they will slow down considerably. I have run the vacuum for multiple days and still had small bubbles of air coming up. Then you wanna turn the pump off and release vacuum. This will let the blanks suck in the resin. I like to let mine soak overnight or until it stops sucking up resin. Then you pull em out and cook em at 200ish. I used to wrap them in aluminum foil to keep the resin from dripping down into my oven. This causes a lot of resin build up on the outside of the blank. I have since stopped wrapping them and putting a drip pan underneath in the oven. It still makes a mess of the oven but doesn't leave all the resin built up on the outside of the blank. (The fumes can get pretty bad when it's cooking)

It's pretty straightforward. I will say, when you first turn on the pump, the air bubbles really go crazy (like champagne). If you aren't careful, resin will get sucked back into your pump and you end up with some hardened resin in with the oil. I usually sit there with it and open an air release valve on and off until the bubbles settle down. If you can't see inside your chamber, it's harder to know what's going on but with a little experience, it won't matter.


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## Schroedc (Sep 21, 2014)

Curtis over at Turntex is a great resource. His chambers are also pretty reasonably priced IMO. Probably just need to decide how big of pieces you are looking at stabilizing.


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## justallan (Sep 21, 2014)

There see, I proved I know nothing about it, lol.
Thanks for the info guys. I think I had seen where someone was using dishes to put their blanks in and setting them in their vacuum chambers and mistook that for molds, oops no biggy.
I'm a firm believer of the only silly question is the one you asked after you did it your way.
I'll take a look at Curtis' site.
Thanks again.

Reactions: Like 1


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## justallan (Sep 21, 2014)

Curtis' site is very informative and very easy to understand. Great job, Curtis.
I think I'll give it a go. Do you just put any extra juice back your bottle and use it on the next batch?


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## DKMD (Sep 21, 2014)

justallan said:


> Do you just put any extra juice back your bottle and use it on the next batch?


I'm not a stabilizer, but I'm pretty sure that's the ticket.

Reactions: Like 1


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## manbuckwal (Sep 21, 2014)

justallan said:


> Curtis' site is very informative and very easy to understand. Great job, Curtis.
> I think I'll give it a go. Do you just put any extra juice back your bottle and use it on the next batch?



I have a PVC chamber and just leave it in there till i do my next batch. But, i also have a nice "big mouth"( resembles a large Mickeys big mouth plastic jug i will pour my excess in from time to time to clean my chamber out.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## ironman123 (Sep 21, 2014)

I pour mine in another jug and date it and put how many times I have used it and what species of wood it was used on.

Reactions: Like 1 | Thank You! 1


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## justallan (Sep 21, 2014)

Thanks guys. Another question, I understand it will vary with species and density of wood, but what's a wild guess as to how many pen blanks you can do with a quart, 1/2 gallon or gallon of Cactus Juice?
I'm sure there will be a bunch more questions, but I'll deal with them as they arise.


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## manbuckwal (Sep 21, 2014)

Buckeye is like a sponge when it comes to soaking up resin and i would guess around 12-15 ea 3/4" square by 5" pen blanks per quart.


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## TurnTex (Sep 22, 2014)

I typically see around 1-1.5 ounces of Cactus Juice per pen blank as far as usage goes. I do my blanks at 1" x 1" x 5.25" when I stabilize and mostly use punky spalted woods so this is just another reference for you. Also, as mentioned, the excess Juice can be re-used over and over again until it is gone assuming you do not contaminate it by trying to stabilize oily woods.

Oh yeah, thank you justallen for the nice comments on my website! Please feel free to give me a call if you need more questions answered! I keep weird hours so feel free to call Noon to midnight, central time. 512-738-0775


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## justallan (Sep 22, 2014)

Thanks guys. Curtis, I'll be in touch on for some pricing of the Cactus Juice.


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