Stabilizing Blanks ?

[GunRunner]

I am curious as to what is involved or meant by "stabilizing" blanks for making calls. I have seen references to this process in several forum discussions.
Can someone explain this process and when it is used?

Thanks,

GunRunner
 

[Sir-diealot]

I have a VERY elementary understanding of this, but and I am hoping others will fill in the blanks and politely correct me if I make a mistake here which is quite likely.

So from videos I have seen there is a long vertical tube that the the say pot calls after being spun on a lathe will go into, (I have only ever seen it done with a round tube, that is why I assume it has already been worked on to some point on a lathe) a liquid of some sort is added that will harden the wood by being forced into the wood via pressure. I view it as a kind of a pressure cooker, kind of.

Anyway in some cases the maker may also add some die or color to change or accentuate the color of the wood. This is as I understand it forced into the wood, thus making it much more dense and less porous thus making it waterproof.

Again There are those that can answer better than I can, I just thought I would give a very basic idea as I understand it, others will come along and tell you far better than I can.

[vthokie7227]

Sir-diealot has outlined it pretty well. Stabilizing is basically a process to make normally unsuitable wood for turning or building into something that can be used through injecting resin into the wood under a vacuum. If you have a wood stabilizing kit (essentially a pressure cooker with a vacuum pump), you can do this yourself, or you could by pre-stabilized blanks. After the wood has been impregnated with resin, it is cured. Once cured, the wood blank is then safe and suitable for turning. If you're interested, here's a good overview... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2jEdjYEd1M

[M,Yingling]

Lots of time and money goes into it normally it takes 2 days get wood to zero moisture and then day or 2 of constant vacuum to get all air from wood  then it got sit in resin 2 or 3 days sometimes a week  then the  resin is ruffly $100 a gallon and as pot blanks go depending on how soft or hard the wood is before stabilizing can get 10 to 20 blanks a gallon   

little better vid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7EoPC1Nlb4

[GunRunner]

Got it......thanks guys !

The videos were really interesting and helpful as well.

GunRunner
 

[Sir-diealot]

I could not find this video when I first replied, but I stumbled upon it in one of my lists a few seconds ago. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQxtHxfqbeQ&list=WL&index=113&t=232s