Commercial stabilizing set up

BossDog

KnifeDogs.com & USAknifemaker.com Owner
Staff member
My Google mojo has let me down.
A few years back some one was selling a full blown stabilizing kit all set up. I can't find it using Google. Maybe they don't exist any more.
Does any one have a link?
 
Tracy, looking at your knives, I get the feeling you can make anything "work". I've been thinking about trying a stainless steel keg, like soft drink syrup is dispensed from in fountain drink machines. They have a fitting on top for pressurizing with C02, so I don't don't see why one couldn't be connected to a vacuum pump. They come in a 3 gallon (about 15" tall) and 5 gallon(about 24"tall) the top has a pretty large opening for cleaning, so if the wood is like most sizes used for stabilization, you could pack quite a bit in there at a time. This is only a thought, as I haven't done any research. My thoughts, are that the resins are so expensive, (and I don't know "working life" of the resins) that a smaller tank might allow less resin in a batch. The diameter of these kegs is about 8 inches. I used to make beer with them yrs ago, back then Cornelius( check spelling) made them. New from Brew stores they were $55, but they can be had much cheaper used from the vendors of the syrup. I just can't remember how the lid worked, if it was inside clamped to underside of keg top for positive pressure, it might not hold for a vacuum or negative force pressure. You see these all the time outside fast food places, a look at one will tell you if the lid is out or in.I'm not sure that at 29.8 vacuum it would matter either way. My worries are how long do the resins last after exposure to air, I know I can come up with a pressure "cooker" that will hold a vacuum, simply need to change a few fittings for the vacuum pump!
 
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Tracy
I know the guy you are talking about. Burl source on blade forums bought one from him. I don't believe he uses it anymore. He coould probably be talked out of it easily.
Chris
 
Ironwood knives.com was the guy who was posting on some knife forums several years ago about his system.
Can't comment on how good a system it is though.
Chris
 
Camjoe for $69 it might be worth it to give it a shot , I bet clean up of those things is a PITA lol.
Anthony
 
Lot's of good can come from this thread I think.
10 years ago I was determined to be able to stabilize wood myself and spent quite a bit of time working with some different chemicals and set ups and found out life was much better just sending wood out to be done by the pro's. If I was a typical part time maker I would still just send it out to be done. My situation is a bit different now and I find I need to get set up to stabilize and dye wood and bone.

The community has advanced quite a bit with at least a couple turn key solutions (kind of) and a greater awareness of the resins that are available.
These guys have posted more information on the largely secret process than anyone or anywhere else I have seen. If you are even just curious on how it works, you might browse the information they have. You will have to poke around their site a bit.
http://www.woodstabilization.com/

Here is their brouchure:
http://www.woodstabilization.com/products_and_pricing_2011.pdf


I ordered a pressure paint bucket from harbor freight here: http://www.harborfreight.com/2-1-2-half-gallon-pressure-paint-tank-66839.html
I probably should have ordered a couple. I will see about putting together my own pressure and vac system. I also have to start looking around for a large convection oven to heat cure the stuff and not burn this place down.

I'll start another thread as I cobble a system together and try to post some results. This will go very slow as my (limited) R&D time gets eaten up by work every week.
 
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Camjoe for $69 it might be worth it to give it a shot , I bet clean up of those things is a PITA lol.
Anthony

I agree, for $69 it looks like a steal imo. Looks like he sells a heat cured resin so I don't know how bad clean up would be. If I order one I will post up a review for sure.
 
One thing I would look into Tracey is having a vented type oven. I know of 2 diffrent folks that have experimemted with this and both got bit in the "cookig" portion.

Hope this works out, would love to see you offering stabilized woods!
 
One thing I would look into Tracey is having a vented type oven. I know of 2 diffrent folks that have experimemted with this and both got bit in the "cookig" portion.
Hope this works out, would love to see you offering stabilized woods!

the heat cure with any kind of volume seems to be challenging part.
 
I wish I new someone was looking for a large oven I just sold 5 parts cleaning ovens they were the vented type, although I think they were 3 phase 220V. They measured 5' wide 3' deep and 6' high. only went to 500 degrees most stabilization process only require 300.
 
I have been stabilizing wood for about 2 years now with great results. I made my own pressure pot from steel. I have used the pop cannisters, which work real good, but I needed more volume so I built my own custom vessel. I have been using a chemical that is very safe to use. once my vaccumm and pressure cycles are done I wrap my wood in heavy tin foil and put in a kitchen size oven for heating to 205 for the catalyzt to kick in.

Jim
 
I think the curing part is the easier part. I can see metal ductwork with maybe a heat source and fans blowing from one end, over the treated wood, and out a vented exit (fumes are forced away from heat source) . Maybe a hotplate(burner with rheostat for temp control) with fans or heatguns blowing the heated air across the curing wood? What I wonder is what chemicals are being used? Everyone says "the chemicals I use" but it seems to be a secret as to what the chemicals are.
 
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I use 95-1000a from Godfrey and wing. It was designed for filling porous metal. I have had a couple small fires in my stove but nothing serious. Wost thing that happened was burnt a couple pieces of wood. I now chip out all the chemical that leaked onto the bottom of stove. No fires since.

Jim
 
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