Homemade stabalizing setup tutorial

I guess I will throw my 2 cents out there too. This is just my opinion, but....

The wood hardener will turn white. I know this from first hand experience, and I ruined some really nice stuff using it. (see Amboyna burl)

I have heard really bad things about Nelsonite (smell is terrible and doesnt go away, wood doesnt get hard, etc) but I have never used it.

I have some Res 90 but havent used it yet, heard mixed results but to me it was expensive !!!!!.....

I have a vac tank that does pressure too, but I use it for casting and send all my wood out. Originally I had tried the B72 with xylene and acetone, and had mixed results.

One thing to remember is that its dangerous, these chemicals are bad in general and your time is worth something !!!!, plus the equipment to do it. Oven, chemicals, wrapping supplies, moisture meter etc.......If you do the math to me it seems like it would be spendy. I think its money well spent to have the pros do it, and have the peace of mind knowing that it was done professionally. Penetration is 100% through the block, and thats the most important thing, but also you don't want the stabilizer to be too brittle, so your handle cracks when the blade gets dropped, and yet it should'nt gum up your belts either cuz its too soft.

For my stabilizing service I use WSSI exclusively, I do a lot of box elder and I like the double dye WSSI has, but I would also go with K & G.

Soak your stuff thats stabilized in a bucket of water overnight......then set it on the work bench to dry. Check your results.

In the end, stabilizing helps but its no guarantee that the wood won't move, etc.....

Anyways.....this is just my experience, and your mileage may (and probably will) vary.....2thumbs

Larry
 
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Larry I am in the process of doing all my own wood. I have a profesional system and a better chemical in my opinion than the one other compnaies use. The juice I use doesnt clog belts doesnt smell and isnt 4 times heavier than normal like other companies. It is way cheaper than to send it out and have someone do them im the kinda person who doesnt like spending money if I can do it myself. I also wouldnt recomend any of my customers to soak their knife in water over night especially when is 250 bucks.
 
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The reason for that is all in my head, I think!

I would leave the pressure on for a long time and after about ten to 20 minutes there would no longer ba any air bubbles coming from the wood. Then when I would release it and pump it back up again I would see alot more air come out of the wood.
So I figured doing this means getting better penetration of the wood hardener.
 
HELLGAP said:
Larry I am in the process of doing all my own wood. I have a profesional system and a better chemical in my opinion than the one other compnaies use. The juice I use doesnt clog belts doesnt smell and isnt 4 times heavier than normal like other companies. It is way cheaper than to send it out and have someone do them im the kinda person who doesnt like spending money if I can do it myself. I also wouldnt recomend any of my customers to soak their knife in water over night especially when is 250 bucks.
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Kelly,
Theres more than one chemical that is used when my wood is "professionally stabilized" which is done by industrial machines that exert thousands of pounds of pressure, on top of the vacuum and theres also a lot more that is done for the price that you pay besides just infusing it with chemicals. I have no problem paying for that service, because I know how much work goes into it. The additional weight is the hardened chemicals that has been absorbed by the stabilizing solution. When I suggested "soaking your stabilized stuff in water", I was referring the stabilized block of wood, not a blade. I have seen a lot of home brew systems, and I know that there has been an issue with getting full penetration. Again all of this is just my experience, and your mileage may vary......but I look forward to seeing your process of how you stabilize your wood. From what you are saying you don't have any of those issues. Sounds like it would make a great tutorial on the board here. 2thumbs

Larry
 
I did soak a block that I cut in half in water, they did turn white.

There were a few people that gave me a heads up on this.

I am going to be giving Nelsonite 30B02 Wood Stabilizer a try!
 
How long between soaking in the wood hardener and exposure to water? If I recall correctly, Minwax Wood Hardener is actually a thinned lacquer. Exposure to moisture during drying causes lacquer to "blush" white. I wonder if being trapped that deeply in the wood retards the evaporation of the solvent.

Great thread though!
 
DrThunder88 said:
How long between soaking in the wood hardener and exposure to water? If I recall correctly, Minwax Wood Hardener is actually a thinned lacquer. Exposure to moisture during drying causes lacquer to "blush" white. I wonder if being trapped that deeply in the wood retards the evaporation of the solvent.

Great thread though!
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The pieces that I soaked in water are the same ones in my original post. I cut the chunk I first did (after a week of drying) in half and sanded and polished. They sat in a 70 degree room with little to no humidity. So My guess is they had to be dry. I just soaked them in water so It was a little over a month since I originally stabilized them.
I soaked them in water for 22 1/2 Hours.
 
I'm new to knifemaking, so forgive me if this is a dumb question. Could you use something like RENAISSANCE WAX and impregnate the wood with it?
 
I'm sure I will use a service, I was just curious if it was possible and what the results would be.
 
Nice Tutorial

Thanks for letting us know how to stabilize wood. I bet the foodsaver will work for drawing the vacuume. I have one I no longer use for sealing.

Mark
 
Wayne Coe said:
I guess that I should think things out before hitting the send button.

I just copied this from Ellis Knifeworks: http://elliscustomknifeworks.hightemptools.com/index.html

[SIZE=+0]Nelsonite 30B02 Wood Stabilizer:

[/SIZE]1 qt = $17.50

1 Gallon = $50.00


Nelsonite 30B02 is the wood stabilizing compound that leaves your wood/bone/horn/ivory handle material feeling natural, not like plastic! This stabilizer has long been used in the woodworking and pool cue fabrication communities, and is just now being discovered by knifemakers as an alternative to products such as MMA and Resinol 90C. Several prominent knifemakers use this stabilizer and prompted us to start carrying it.



Nelsonite has a very long shelf life in the unopened container, approximately 10 years according to the manufacturer. However, exposure to oxygen (air) degrades the material and starts to affect its efficacy within 3 - 4 months. It is advisable to either purge your opened containers with an inert gas (nitrogen, argon, etc) or top up your container with something like ball bearings or clean pieces of steel to keep the air head space to a minimum. You can also store your opened container in your vacuum chamber (if you use one) and keep it pumped down.
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Who sells the Nelsonite?
Thanks, Rex
 
Well just for grins I took a piece of Maple Burl that I had stabilized with MinWax Wood Hardner. I coated one side with epoxy like it would be if glued to a knife, then I applied 2 coats of CS to the rest of it and then sanded and buffed all but the side with epoxy. I soaked in water from last night until just a little bit ago and when I took it out of the water it looked the same as when I put it in. It's sitting on the bench in the shop right now and I'll look at it again tomorrow. I know that it was actually sealed so the water couldn't get in but then again so are my handles.

Mike
 
Hi Ernie
I made your stabilizer and it has worked perfectly, I just wanted you to know that I took some denatured alcohol and dissolved some aniline dye put in a piece of curly sycamore and pulled my vac and it looks to have really worked I will cut the wood tomorrow and see how the center looks, would be really cool if it went to the center, I'll let you know how it works out Howard
 
This is how I do it.:what!:
I use B-72, woodhardenner and acetone, 1/3 of each. Pull a vacuum (the acetone will boil at room temp under vacuum). I will add pigments and dyes to the mix. I leave it in the soup a minimum of 2 weeks. After the 2 weeks I'll pull them out, put them on a rack over a heater until they are cured.:les
The canister is where I do my Springbok horns. I fill them resin and pull a vacuum until they weep.
 

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