$12 stabilizer

M

mikeS

Joined
Apr 7, 1999
Messages
1,015
I've been playing Red Green again.
I got a one gallon glass pickle jar out of the kitchen, a bolt-on air stem from the tire store, a hose barb fitting from the hardware store, 4' of vaccum hose from the auto store and little gas quality ball valve from my stash.

I drilled a hole in the lid of the pickle jar and bolted in the air stem. Then I attached a short piece of hose from the air stem to the barb on the valve. I put the rest of the hose on the other end of the valve.
After that I went out to my '89 Dakota and pulled a vaccum line of the throttle body and attached the hose from the stabilizer and started the truck.
Pretty neat to see the air pulled out of the wood. The slabs of soft maple where cut 5" long 11/2" wide and 1/2" thick. they weighed in at one ounce.
I'll get a weight on them the next couple days when they come out.
I'm using the thompson's and minwax formulae for the stabilizer, I also threw in 8oz of Fiebings medim brown to dye the maple.
That may be a mistake it did'nt want to mix with the water seal to well.Oh well I'll see when it comes out.
 
Pure Genius, this might be the simplest, cheapest way yet. If your experiment works well it opens a whole world of possibilities for the guys just starting out, hell for the guys that have been around a while too. GREAT IDEA!

Jake
 
Great idea.
How much did the Dakota cost?
Seriously I just added the thompsons to my mix and the wood hardener and the thompsons seem to not mix to well. The thompsons goes to the top part of the jar and the minwax stays at the bottom. Let me know how yours works out.
Take Care
TJ Smith
 
Hey! I am on the same trail. Just pickup a vacuum compressor. Waiting for my order from McMaster, to build my vacuum chamber. I was planning on using Mini Wax wood hardener. Would anyboby know, if this would also work on bone, horn & etc.?

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INDIAN GEORGE
http://www.onlineknifeshow.com/maker36.html
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumList?u=261337
 
I've got $1600.00in the Dakota.
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Sola Fide
 
I ran the Dakota stabilizer last nght on idle until no more air bubbles came from the wood. I checked this a.m. and still had vaccum so the pickle jar is a sucess.

I hooked the jar back up to the truck aand no more bubbles until I revved it up a bit (more vaccum) I ran it about 5 minutes and am still getting bubbles.
At the price of gas i believe I'll get a T fitting and stabilize on the way to work.
 
We HAVE to have an award for the MOST ingenous post
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I have added Fieblings die to the wood hardener and used it on stag. The results were excellent. The stag now looks like a mix between Giraffe bone, mastodon ivory, oosic and stag!! I don't know why but the saddle tan color produced about ten different colors in the bone!!!!
The only problem is that it's hard to match pairs!!!!!!
One word of caution, before I started using a vaccuum chamber, my Mayo (not Tom) jar violenty imploded!! I would at least wrap a towell around it or put a piece of plexiglass in front of it if you are watching it!!
I use a considerably smaller vaccuum pump
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Neil

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Knives IN STOCK!!!!

blackwoodknives.com
 
More findings. I got an extra length of vaccum hose and fittings for the Dakota stabilizer, ran the vaccum line through a convenient hole in the firewall and hooked up the pickle jar. I drove about 12 miles and shut off the valve. Oh by the way, I did wrap the seat belt around the pickle jar.
I left the vaccum on overnite and and pulled the pieces out about 10:00am I had stacked 4 slabs together with toothpicks as stickers and tied the bundle with stainless ty-wire and added a stainlees nut to hold the bundle submerged.

After wiping off the slabs, they have gained 1 1/8 oz in weight. I also sliced a small piece of the end of one slab and was pleased to see the color had penetrated completely through.
I will check the weight again in a week or so and see what's up.

Hey Neil, good to see you here, you must have been a busy boy.

CAUTION: On the Mayo jar (not Tom) when I helped my Mother put up garden we canned in glass jars, the Mayo jars (not Tom) were thinner than the Kerr or Ball Mason Jars and could cause problems. I chose the pickle jar for more room and the fact it is thicker.
It would not be a good thing to implode while driving. A wooden box to set the container in to protect against bumps and booms would be Ideal.

I'm not sure how much vac, I'm getting but the dye penetration alone should be a good thing.
A friend of mine sent me some stuff from the knife rec. list
One suggestion that sounds good among others was to put the slabs in ziplock bags leave the bag open, fill with stabilizer or dye and clothespin the OPEN bag to a rack in the chamber to hold the baggies upright.
Less chemical and different chemicals can be used at one time this way.

I also threw in a nice acorn cap and a dried locust. The acorn cap soaked up enough that it sank.
I didn't have a Lizard handy, maybe next time.
Another hint from the list was to reverse the valves in a pump up sprayer and use it for a vaccum pump. I think the pump up sprayer might be better used for the pressure side of the treatment.
NO WAY I would pressureize a glass jar.

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Sola Fide
 
The test drive of the Dakota stabilizer:

I put a coupla pieces of anler in the pickle Jar and have been driving them back and forth to work, for 3 days.

I get vaccum put I don't get real good vaccum unless the motor is revved about 4500 rpm. At this rpm the air really comes out of the antler, but I fear is is not cost effient.

It does get the dye into the anler or wood really well.

Next try will be an electric motor tied to an auto air conditioner pump.



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Sola Fide
 
Why not try an old pressure cooker? (In good working order) Plenty of room, hole is already in the top. Add a good Vacuum pump and gauge your in Business
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I would think a Vac pump that is adjustable would work best for different types of materials.
 
It has been about a week since I took the soft maple out of the stabilizer. They have retained an ounce in weight. They are not as hard as the a company stabilization but I think this mixture would be good for harder woods, simply adding the ability to resist moisture.



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Sola Fide
 
Oh yeah, I have a pair of walnut scales soaking in the mixture, no vaccumm, I will check their weight when they come out.

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Sola Fide
 
WOW! Kudos to you for the idea, the persistence to stick with it, and for posting about it so accurately.

Sounds pretty cool to me.

I think the best thing would be the satisfaction of knowing you did it yourself.

But I don't have a Dakota.
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I have to admit, I'm still extremely comfortable sending everything to Mike at WSSI and getting it back all done, just like magic.
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Awesome idea though. I always tell clients, "keep driving" and now I say it to you Mike, but literally this time
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Nick
 
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