I would be very concerned and skeptical of almost any home-done stabilizing.
The stuff pulled into the professionally stabilized materials has a catalyst that, once heated up just a little after the vacuum treatment, kicks off by a chemical reaction and then hardens like epoxy.
Stuff used in the home shop mostly is material designed as thin coatings that air dry.
Once some of the outer surface dries and seals the exterior of the block, I've seen some materials cut in 1/2 after being done for more than a year and were still wet inside. And because the home-brew results are seldom done with the high vacuum necessary for full penetration, the stuff that was wet was not even near the center.
Unless a person gets ALL!!! of the gizmos and properly designed stabilizing agents, I think most of the efforts are wasted if a fella really is doing it to produce a 100% effectively done product.
If you're just doing it to have fun and enjoy the process, then that would be a great way of doing it.
If, however, you truly ARE trying to get a properly done piece of material to put on a high quality knife, especially if it's for a customer, then I would send it out.
I recently sent out 12 large blocks to K and G in Arizona.
All of my expense, including shipping, was about 84 bucks.
That's $7.00 a block for professionally stabilized material and I got to spend the time making knives.
Not making something that was only sub-standard.
Topic: Stablizing wood questions (Read 778 times)
