# Stabilizing question



## Rich P. (Apr 7, 2018)

for those who stabilize wood and do not wrap with foil. 

I have always wrapped my blanks in foil before I bake them. I know that many of you do not. So after the wet blanks have dripped dry do you put them in a preheated oven or in a cold oven then turn it on?

I am looking at trying this and I have an oven with two racks and a drip tray. I am pretty sure one of the treads said to place unwrapped blanks directly on the rack with the tray under to catch the drips.

Thanks for any help.
RichP


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## Sprung (Apr 7, 2018)

Preheated. Always a preheated oven, no matter whether you're curing with or without foil wrap.

I do not wrap my blanks. Just too much of a hassle. My toaster oven has a built in drip tray under the rack, that I line with foil, so I can just pull out the foil and any resin that's dripped or bled out. If I'm curing a larger batch of blanks or a blank too large for my toaster oven, I use my digital smoker that I use for drying wood. I use a 1/4 sheet tray, covered with foil, with a suitable sized backing rack set on top of the foil to give a place for the resin to drip to. Same deal with the foil - easy cleanup of the pan, instead of resin getting baked in that I'd have to try and get out of it.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## FranklinWorkshops (Apr 7, 2018)

Sprung said:


> Preheated. Always a preheated oven, no matter whether you're curing with or without foil wrap.
> 
> I do not wrap my blanks. Just too much of a hassle. My toaster oven has a built in drip tray under the rack, that I line with foil, so I can just pull out the foil and any resin that's dripped or bled out. If I'm curing a larger batch of blanks or a blank too large for my toaster oven, I use my digital smoker that I use for drying wood. I use a 1/4 sheet tray, covered with foil, with a suitable sized backing rack set on top of the foil to give a place for the resin to drip to. Same deal with the foil - easy cleanup of the pan, instead of resin getting baked in that I'd have to try and get out of it.



Is a "digital smoker" the same thing as an electric smoker like I used for ribs, fish and chicken? If so, what temp setting do you use to dry wood without it beginning to char and smoke? How do you avoid checking as the moisture rapidly leaves the wood? When I air dry wood, I always coat the end grains with a green wood sealer wax. But I don't know if that would work in a rapid-dry situation in a smoker.


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## Sprung (Apr 7, 2018)

FranklinWorkshops said:


> Is a "digital smoker" the same thing as an electric smoker like I used for ribs, fish and chicken? If so, what temp setting do you use to dry wood without it beginning to char and smoke? How do you avoid checking as the moisture rapidly leaves the wood? When I air dry wood, I always coat the end grains with a green wood sealer wax. But I don't know if that would work in a rapid-dry situation in a smoker.



Yes, I mean exactly that - what you would use for smoking meat - and this is the exact model I am using.

I am not using it to dry green wood. I use it on wood that is already air dried to EMC, or is close to EMC, at a heat setting of 220F to drive the moisture down to 0% prior to putting it in a vacuum chamber with stabilizing resin, such as Cactus Juice (which is the product I am currently using). Drying it down to 0% moisture content ensures a better finished product when it comes to stabilizing. So I am not doing general wood drying with it, but am using it for a specialized task in the process of stabilizing the wood. The stabilizing resin is a heat cured resin and cures at about 190F, so with being able to program the temperature on the smoker, I have been able to use it for curing as well. Obviously this smoker has never been, nor will ever be, used for food!

This particular smoker has a box directly over the electric element to place wood chips for creating the smoke. Obviously I'm not putting wood chips in. I'm merely using this as more of an electric oven/kiln. On the rare occasion I've had to dry something that wasn't at EMC, but wasn't green either, I've been able to set the temperature as low as 100F and gradually increase it over a period of a couple weeks with good success.

But I definitely wouldn't want to try and dry green wood in it - not unless I'm looking to make kindling for the fire pit. Green wood I prefer to seal and air dry. I seal with Anchorseal. Or if it's an item that I will need to remove the sealer from once it's dry to run it through the stabilization process, I will seal with a couple coats of wood glue thinned a little with water that can later be easily sanded off, instead of having to try and remove wax.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## FranklinWorkshops (Apr 7, 2018)

Thanks Matt. That's interesting. I've never learned about stabilizing wood until I joined WB. A whole new chapter in my woodworking experience. 
Somewhere I saw on the site that people were stabilizing box elder and coloring it. Do you do that? If so, I have a couple of boards of box elder that is white (no flame) and I'll post a box to you. No charge.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## Sprung (Apr 7, 2018)

FranklinWorkshops said:


> Thanks Matt. That's interesting. I've never learned about stabilizing wood until I joined WB. A whole new chapter in my woodworking experience.
> Somewhere I saw on the site that people were stabilizing box elder and coloring it. Do you do that? If so, I have a couple of boards of box elder that is white (no flame) and I'll post a box to you. No charge.



Yes, I have done a lot of dye work with stabilizing. For dye work I use mainly Boxelder Burl - highly figured wood really pops with the color added. I will also use other burls, like Maple Burl, Buckeye Burl, and Black Ash Burl, or wood with good figure (like lots of curls) or is fairly well spalted.

Low figure and straight grained stuff I won't stabilize - it's not usually worth the cost of the resin and time to do so - unless there's something special to the wood, like family significance or has historical value. (I've stabilized lots and lots of old, straight grained pine - but it was pine with history. It was once part of the bleachers in Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI!)

Here's a small sample of my work with color. The dyed items in the first and third pics are all Boxelder Burl. The second pic is some spalted items another member here had me stabilize for him. The fourth pic is the sapwood of some Amboyna Burl.

Reactions: EyeCandy! 5


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## FranklinWorkshops (Apr 7, 2018)

I hang out at a couple of sawmills in Lancaster county and will ask about burls. I'm sure they see them. Will get in touch if I find a source.

Reactions: Like 1


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## rocky1 (Apr 7, 2018)

Rich, after chatting with Matt about that technique, and trying it, I quit wrapping them altogether. Let it drip dry, cure it on the oven rack over a foil lined drip tray. The time and aggravation saved in cleaning up your blanks warrants throwing the foil away. Haven't seen any difference in quality of cured blanks either, if anything they look better. 

Always start with preheated oven, reduce your temperature to 190o, spend a tenth the time cleaning blanks! 

I like cleaning them while they're still warm too, what little residue is on them cleans up really quick while still warm.

Reactions: Agree 3


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## Rich P. (Apr 7, 2018)

Thanks Matt and Rocky, I have a batch in resin currently and will give it a try without foil.
RichP

Reactions: Like 1


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## cgseymour (Apr 28, 2018)

Hello Matt
What do you use for the dye?
Are there dyes used specifically with stabilizing?

Thank you


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## Sprung (Apr 28, 2018)

cgseymour said:


> Hello Matt
> What do you use for the dye?
> Are there dyes used specifically with stabilizing?
> 
> Thank you



I mainly use Alumilite dyes and the Cactus Juice Stabilizing Dyes that Curtis has started selling on the TurnTex site. I usually order my dyes from TurnTex whenever I'm ordering resin.


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