# Stabelizing Pen Blanks



## BassBlaster

I recently purchased some Buckeye Burl blanks and today ordered a box of Spalted Sweet Gum blanks. The sweet gum is suppose to be pretty punky but looks incredible. I'm going to need to stabelize these blanks.

Ive been reading all the info available on the Cactus Juice website and that seems like the best way to go. Problem is, I just cant afford to buy one of his vacuum chambers right now or a vacuum pump especially considering I only need to stabelize about 35 blanks. Ive read where guys use a large pickle jar instead of a vacuum chamber but you still need a pump. For those of you in the know, I'm wandering if I went to Harbor Freight and purchased one of thier brake bleeder pumps, if it would draw enough vacuum from a large pickle jar to stabelize some blanks?

If someone has another way to stabelize, I'd be interested in hearing that too. The guy I got the sweet gum from allready tried to stabelize some useing MinWax wood hardener and it didnt penetrate well so that idea is out.


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## BangleGuy

BB, I have a cactus system and would be interested in stabilizing your blanks in trade for some burly wood or ? (as far as cash value, I am not sure what a company like WSSI charges, but it wouldn't get interesting for me for less than $2 -$2.50/pc.)

Regarding vacuum; because of the level of vacuum required and the amount of air effusing from the wood structure while it is under vacuum, it is hard for me to imagine getting good penetration of the stabilizer resin into the wood pores/structure without a vacuum pump... Just IMHO. 

Cactus Juice isn't cheap, but it works great and it's worth the money spent.

Let me know if you are interested, BG


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## hardtwist

My first thought would be to use a vacuum pump on an old pressure cooker. There are a lot of them out there and can be found at yard sales, flea markets etc. Not sure whether the HF pump you mentioned would do the job, but a pressure cooker should be fairly easy to adapt to the pump IMHO
Mike


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## Graybeard

Search the web, you'll find folks that have done it just like you're suggesting. I did several corn cobs that way and it worked fine. I used some old poly I had left from a job and put it in a pickle jar, then used the HF brake bleeder hand pump to pull the vac. You have to be creative in making the connection and holding the vacuum but it sure can be done.

This pump made everything much easier. http://www.harborfreight.com/air-vacuum-pump-with-r134a-and-r12-connectors-96677.html

Here's a link to a way one guy does it. 

http://content.penturners.org/library/techniques/polyurethane1.pdf

Graybeard


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## Kevin

BangleGuy said:


> BB, I have a cactus system and would be interested in stabilizing your blanks in trade for some burly wood or ? (as far as cash value, I am not sure what a company like WSSI charges, but it wouldn't get interesting for me for less than $2 -$2.50/pc.)
> 
> ...



Eric, you might consider placing an advert in the Wood-Related Services Forum. No one has a stab advert yet and you'll probably have an advantage if you are first. Nothing wrong with mentioning it in individual threads not saying that at all, just throwing that out for you in case you're really interested in offering a stab service.


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## DKMD

In addition to WSSI, UpNorthBurls.net offers stabilizing. I dot know what the cost is, but I know the owner, and he's a solid guy. I've turned stabilized wood from him previously, but I've never sent anything to be stabilized. In fact, I think I'll send him an email inviting him to join here.


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## BassBlaster

Thanks for the replies guys.

bangle guy, thanks for the offer. i dont have any burls to offer as trade except the pen blanks mentioned and I only have a dozen of them so I'd like to hang on to em. I'm gonna give it a go myself before I pay someone to do it. I'll get in touch if I cant pull it off though!!


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## BangleGuy

BassBlaster said:


> Thanks for the replies guys.
> 
> bangle guy, thanks for the offer. i dont have any burls to offer as trade except the pen blanks mentioned and I only have a dozen of them so I'd like to hang on to em. I'm gonna give it a go myself before I pay someone to do it. I'll get in touch if I cant pull it off though!!



Sounds good! Let us know if you have any questions


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## kfuknives

If you don't want to try it yourself I have had great experience with knife and gun supply. I understand that the resin is quite expensive unless you are doing alot at a time but Im not sure. I send all my spalted items and some burls to them. For a knife block thats an inch thick, 2" wide and 6" long it will run around 7.00. They charge by the finished pound, I assume other services do as well, so you can figure double the poundage of what you send in. In other words, if you send in 5lbs it will come out to around 10lbs stabilized and they charge around 10.00 a pound so 100.00. I only get soft wood stabilized so it tends to really suck up the resin and gain alot of weight. If you send in hardwood it doesn't gain much weight so it would be cheaper, but probably wouldn't need stabilization to begin with. Just my 2 cents.


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## BangleGuy

kfuknives said:


> If you don't want to try it yourself I have had great experience with knife and gun supply. I understand that the resin is quite expensive unless you are doing alot at a time but Im not sure. I send all my spalted items and some burls to them. For a knife block thats an inch thick, 2" wide and 6" long it will run around 7.00. They charge by the finished pound, I assume other services do as well, so you can figure double the poundage of what you send in. In other words, if you send in 5lbs it will come out to around 10lbs stabilized and they charge around 10.00 a pound so 100.00. I only get soft wood stabilized so it tends to really suck up the resin and gain alot of weight. If you send in hardwood it doesn't gain much weight so it would be cheaper, but probably wouldn't need stabilization to begin with. Just my 2 cents.



KF, yes the resin is a little pricey but it does a nice job hardening up the soft/punky woods. I actually stabilize all my bangle blanks with the exception of the real oily woods (like Cocobolo) or the super dense wood like Ebony. This gives me some extra protection from moisture absorption and wood growth/shrink do to humidity.

I offer stabilization as a service and charge $8/lb, which for pen blanks works out to about $0.75/pc - $1.00 depending on the type of wood. 

Eric


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## justturnin

BangleGuy said:


> kfuknives said:
> 
> 
> 
> If you don't want to try it yourself I have had great experience with knife and gun supply. I understand that the resin is quite expensive unless you are doing alot at a time but Im not sure. I send all my spalted items and some burls to them. For a knife block thats an inch thick, 2" wide and 6" long it will run around 7.00. They charge by the finished pound, I assume other services do as well, so you can figure double the poundage of what you send in. In other words, if you send in 5lbs it will come out to around 10lbs stabilized and they charge around 10.00 a pound so 100.00. I only get soft wood stabilized so it tends to really suck up the resin and gain alot of weight. If you send in hardwood it doesn't gain much weight so it would be cheaper, but probably wouldn't need stabilization to begin with. Just my 2 cents.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> KF, yes the resin is a little pricey but it does a nice job hardening up the soft/punky woods. I actually stabilize all my bangle blanks with the exception of the real oily woods (like Cocobolo) or the super dense wood like Ebony. This gives me some extra protection from moisture absorption and wood growth/shrink do to humidity.
> 
> I offer stabilization as a service and charge $8/lb, which for pen blanks works out to about $0.75/pc - $1.00 depending on the type of wood.
> 
> Eric
Click to expand...


I can vouch for Eric's system as I use the same one. Like said it is pricey but you can take wood that is crumbling and make is solid. I just did 10 blanks consisting of Buckeye Burl, Box Elder Burl, Weeping Willow (2), Pecan Burl(2), Spalted Tamarind, Super Punky Maple Burl & Mango Burl (2). When I put them in the solution they weighed in at a total of 417gr, when they came out they weighed a total of 701gr. That is nearly a 70% increase in weight that is resin w/in the wood. I love the system and it is a lot cheaper in the long run than soaking in CA, turning it off, soaking in CA, turning it of.........


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## NCWoodArt

I am in the middle of building my own version of the cactus juice chamber, I even got some tips from him on building mine. I went with a 6" square chamber. I am waiting on all the components to come in so i can assemble it. I did opt for the 2.5cfm harbor frt vacuum pump. I will post pic's & results when it is complete.

On a reply to the pressure cooker idea, I see folks using them but kinda hard to tell when to vent during vacuuming process if not in a semi clear reservoir.

Also I know once I get into doing stabilizing I will also be starting my pressure pot system. It never ends, always another tool or piece of equipment I have to have!

Bill


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