# The Norman VanDyke Stabilizing and Dyeing Tutorial



## Jim Beam (Sep 21, 2016)

Come on, @norman vandyke , how about it? At least share a few pearls of wisdom with us new stabilizers!


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## Schroedc (Sep 21, 2016)

1- Add dye
2- Add more dye
3- Add even more dye

Reactions: Agree 1 | Funny 2


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## norman vandyke (Sep 21, 2016)

Jim Beam said:


> Come on, @norman vandyke , how about it? At least share a few pearls of wisdom with us new stabilizers!


Haha! I Only started a year ago and yes. Add dye.
Add more dye.
Add even more dye.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Schroedc (Sep 21, 2016)

I've been doing it a couple years now and will be running blanks in the chamber next week. Want me to put something together?

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Sprung (Sep 21, 2016)

Schroedc said:


> I've been doing it a couple years now and will be running blanks in the chamber next week. Want me to put something together?



That's a silly question! 

If you're up for doing a step by step stabilizing thread, I'd be interested in it.

Reactions: Agree 2


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## Schroedc (Sep 21, 2016)

Sprung said:


> That's a silly question!
> 
> If you're up for doing a step by step stabilizing thread, I'd be interested in it.



Well then, I'll do one and @norman vandyke is off the hook at least until after I'm done and he can chime in with anything I missed (As long as you don't mind Norman, if you really want to do it just let me know and go ahead!)

Reactions: Like 3


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## Sprung (Sep 21, 2016)

Schroedc said:


> Well then, I'll do one and @norman vandyke is off the hook at least until after I'm done and he can chime in with anything I missed (As long as you don't mind Norman, if you really want to do it just let me know and go ahead!)



Sweet! I've done a lot of reading on stabilizing, but such a thread would be very timely for me. Right now I'm finally on track to get a pump, resin, and toaster oven sometime in October and get going on stabilizing. I'm getting tired of that chamber staring back at me, with me not doing anything with it yet, lol.

Reactions: Like 2


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## Jim Beam (Sep 21, 2016)

I'm all for learning and sharing. I'm on my 3rd batch. First with just resin - no problem. Second with teal dye - some spalted hackedberry soaked up a little, but the zebrawood just laughed at it. I've got the third batch going now - pulled vacuum for 4-5 hours until no more bubbles, now it's been soaking around 4 days. May try curing those tonight.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Kevin (Sep 21, 2016)

Schroedc said:


> Want me to put something together?



We must not let this topic dye . . . . . .

Reactions: Funny 2


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## Schroedc (Sep 21, 2016)

Kevin said:


> We must not let this topic dye . . . . . .



We'll let things stabilize and then I'll get something hard together instead of just a half baked idea.

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 2


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## Kevin (Sep 21, 2016)

Schroedc said:


> We'll let things stabilize and then I'll get something hard together instead of just a half baked idea.



That resinates just fine with me.

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 3


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## Jim Beam (Sep 21, 2016)

I'm tired of working in a vacuum over here....

Reactions: Funny 3


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## Kevin (Sep 21, 2016)

Jim Beam said:


> I'm tired of working in a vacuum over here....



Suck it up lightweight.

Reactions: Funny 3


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## Schroedc (Sep 21, 2016)

Kevin said:


> Suck it up lightweight.



As long as he doesn't suck it into his pump and lock up his thought process.

@Kevin- You need to slow down on posting, My guess isn't until Friday

Reactions: Funny 1 | Informative 1


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## Kevin (Sep 21, 2016)

Schroedc said:


> As long as he doesn't suck it into his pump and lock up his thought process.
> 
> @Kevin- You need to slow down on posting, My guess isn't until Friday



YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO TELL ME THAT!!!!

Reactions: Funny 2


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## Schroedc (Sep 21, 2016)

Kevin said:


> YOU AREN'T SUPPOSED TO TELL ME THAT!!!!
> 
> View attachment 113925



You're going to post however much you post. I was just jerking your chain.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Kevin (Sep 21, 2016)

Schroedc said:


> You're going to post however much you post. I was just jerking your chain.



I swear I never even think about that silly contest or even what my post count is (would never have noticed I was approaching 30K if Marc hadn't mentioned it) when I sit down at the puter until someone mentions it.



Moving on . . . .

Reactions: Like 2


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## ripjack13 (Sep 21, 2016)

Kevin said:


> that silly contest . .


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## norman vandyke (Sep 21, 2016)

One thing I can say is don't skimp on the vacuum pump. I've burned out 3 this year. Saving up to but a new, good one.

Reactions: Like 1


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## rcdeck (Sep 21, 2016)

Really looking forward to this! As someone interested in getting into it, I would love to not only see how it's done, but if you can provide an equipment list too (maybe for beginners) that would be great!

Reactions: Like 1


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## Chris S. (Sep 30, 2016)

@Jim Beam I would say pull vacuum longer and use more dye. I have pulled vacuum as long as 24 hours and at times still doesn't seem long enough as larger blocks still didn't get dye into middle. And a nice long soak in juice is in order. Look forward to seeing your newest efforts.


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## norman vandyke (Feb 13, 2017)

Alright, now that I have some stabilizing and casting resin in stock, I'll give you all a small tutorial on multiple dyeing and casting without pressure. During this 2 week tutorial, I'll be showing you what I've learned in the last 2 years through trial and error. Here is what I do first. Select good wood stock for your project. I'm using 2 pieces of live edge box elder burl. During this step, I'm giving them a soak for several days in cactus juice mixed with stick fast anyline dye. Since I'll be using a mix of colors, I'm only placing the wood pieces on their edges in the dye.

Reactions: Like 5


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## Chris S. (Feb 14, 2017)

Looking forward to this as always can learn something from others methods of work.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Tony (Feb 14, 2017)




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## norman vandyke (Feb 14, 2017)

Next step. I pulled my pieces out of the resin and cooked for 2 hours in the toaster over at 200°F. Always use an oven thermometer to get your temperature right. My toaster oven gets to 200°F when set at 150. They all vary. Cook them flat side down sitting on top of a piece foil. I don't wrap up stuff for live edge casting. Real pain to get all the excess resin off the live edge. 

After cooking them for the 2 hours, let them cool of before sanding any flat faces you have(this makes sure the wood's pores are not closed off from taking on more resin). Make sure all saw dust from sanding is gone before moving on to your second run with resin. I'm gong with purple for my second and lost color to stabilize.

I only have the three primary colors to work with for coloring my cactus juice. Red, blue and yellow. As anyone who has taken an art class knows, you can make virtually any color with these basics. I discovered early that when you're trying to mix these colors, it's best to not to try to make a color combination by adding two powders to one batch of resin. It's very difficult to calculate exactly how much of each you need. I now mix two smaller batches of one color and mix them to muy desored color.

Since I already had blue available from my first run, I just needed to mix a batch of red and blend the two. I ended up using about 1/3 blue to 2/3 red. I placed the two pieces of material in one container large enough to accommodate them with room to spare to prevent runoff during vacuum. I placed weights(railroad spikes) on top of them to hold them under, then poured on the resin until they were covered up plus extra to ensure they didn't come uncovered while soaking up the resin.

I now have them under vacuum, which I will leave on until morning. When I wake up I'll cut off the vacuum, turn off the pump, then release the pressure to the chamber slowly, so I don't cause any splash since my release points directly to the bottom of the chamber. Lol

Once the vacuum is released, I place a lid on the container and let it sit for about week, then pull them out and cook again. 

See y'all in a week.

Reactions: Like 3 | Informative 1


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## norman vandyke (Feb 22, 2017)

Covering a couple steps at once here. After going through the second dye and cook, I glued the flat sides of each piece to scrap wood, which will serve as the sides of the mold. This might seem weird but it works for me. I then cut and sand down the ends and bottoms of the pieces to near final detentions before glueing the bottoms to another piece of scrap wood. After ther glue dries, I'll be trimming and sanding the ends to accommodate two more scraps to finish the mold.

Reactions: Like 5


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## norman vandyke (Feb 25, 2017)

Sorry I don't have pictures of the process but I poured the casting resin last night. I went with emerald green pearl-ex. I used about a 10 oz. of silmar 41 to 6 ml of MEKP. As far as amount of pearl-ex to add, I just add a little at a time until it looks good to me. Ended up using about a teaspoon I think. Don't get yourself in a hurry with silmar 41. Mix very well, so the catalyst can get worked in. Then, just pour into your mold and wait for it to harden. I do this outside since silmar is very smelly. I sealed up all cracks and edges of my mold with epoxy to make sure it doesn't leak. After pouring the resin I put it into a box and sealed it up with tape before bringing it inside to cure. Here's a pic after the pour. I'll post up the blank I get after I cut it out in a day or two.

Reactions: Like 1


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## norman vandyke (Feb 25, 2017)

Finished product. I got a little aggressive with a full saw blade and took a chunk out of a corner but I'm pleased with the looks.

Reactions: EyeCandy! 4 | Way Cool 6


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## rocky1 (Feb 26, 2017)

Absolutely tooooooo cool Norm!

That one rocks!!


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## rcdeck (Feb 26, 2017)

Hey Norm, those came out great! I notice that you dont use a pressure pot that I see a lot of people use, rather let it cure on its own. Do you see any advantage to doing that? Any disadvantage? Does it come out more fragile or anything? Ive been waiting to acquire a pressure pot to do this, but if i can do it without, then hell im all in!


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## norman vandyke (Feb 26, 2017)

If I had a pressure pot, I'd use it but I don't, so I use slow curing resin to allow time for any bubbles to rise out. Pressure casting compresses the air bubbles, so you can't notice them and is usually used with fast curing resins like alumilite. I don't know about either being more fragile. Only advantage to not using pressure for me is I don't need to save up money for a pressure pot. Lol

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## rcdeck (Feb 26, 2017)

Sounds good. I may give it a go! I have some alumilite which has a pretty long cure time so I may give it a good once I finish dyeing what i am now :)


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## Jim Beam (Feb 26, 2017)

Beautiful!

@norman vandyke what will you make with that?


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## norman vandyke (Feb 26, 2017)

Jim Beam said:


> Beautiful!
> 
> @norman vandyke what will you make with that?


Thanks! I don't think I'll be making anything with it. It's not really long enough to hoard for knife making and that's pretty much all I'm collecting blanks for right now. It would probably make a cool mod though.


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## rocky1 (Feb 26, 2017)

rcdeck said:


> Sounds good. I may give it a go! I have some alumilite which has a pretty long cure time so I may give it a good once I finish dyeing what i am now :)



Robert - Alumilite does not have a long Pot time is the problem with it. From the time you mix Alumilite, until it begins setting is about 15 minutes. Silmar 41 has a Pot time closer to 45 minutes AND it's more flexible than Alumilite in adjusting your catalyst to slow cure time. Otherwise, time to full cure, when mixed according to directions, is about the same on both.


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## norman vandyke (Feb 26, 2017)

rocky1 said:


> Robert - Alumilite does not have a long Pot time is the problem with it. From the time you mix Alumilite, until it begins setting is about 15 minutes. Silmar 41 has a Pot time closer to 45 minutes AND it's more flexible than Alumilite in adjusting your catalyst to slow cure time. Otherwise, time to full cure, when mixed according to directions, is about the same on both.


I tried to see how slow I could get the cure time using as little catalyst as possible. My best result is one I poured over 2 weeks ago that is still tacky. A week ago it was still a thick liquid.


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## rocky1 (Feb 26, 2017)

That's settin pretty slow!!! 

In my experience it sets slower on the outsides than it does in the middle, where reaction is taking place and it's generating more heat. If the outside remains tacky, dampen a rag with a little catalyst, wipe it down, and set it in the sun on a nice warm day, it helps to speed cure on the outside along.


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