Good method for stabilizing wood?

I have only made a couple of knife handles and done them on finished blades. I have been using really hard pieces of wood I have left over from some traditional bow making projects (cocobola, mesquite, babinga, etc.).
Is it necessary to have these hard woods stabilized or is it ok to seal them with something like teak oil?
I also have some ram horns from sheep that have expired for one reason or another on my farm. Is it necessary to do anything special with them before I use them for handles?
Thank you, BigJimBab
 
bigjimbab, welcome to bladeforums. i have knives that i put deer antler on years ago and they are in fine shape although i put mineral oil in them occasionally. as for the wood you mentioned, i have never used any of these so i do not know. you might fill out your profile a little better so members will know a little more about you.
 
So Richard J, are you saying that you have had some good results with would you stabilized in a vacumn camber. I have a large steel paint pot and am looking to get a good vacumm pump.
What would be the best way to go as far as a stabilizing agent for the home guy.
 
this is my first time at stabilizing wood but since what i'm doing works, a paint pot should work too, you would just need to buy a quantity of polyurethane to submerge your wood. although the pieces i done were small, the ammount used was minimal when poured back into the origonal can. it just has to be able to submerge completely to work right from what i have found. i had to do the birdseye again since it didnt get enough polyurethane soaked in the first time. its drying now so i'll find out later how it did.
 
ib2v4u said:
So Richard J, are you saying that you have had some good results with would you stabilized in a vacumn camber. I have a large steel paint pot and am looking to get a good vacumm pump.
What would be the best way to go as far as a stabilizing agent for the home guy.
Click to expand...
Minwax high performance wood hardener... Home Depot $8.77 (or something like that) Also in the paint section get some Methyl Ethyl Ketone for later on when you get around to buying this: The solid pellets...

http://www.conservationresources.com/Main/section_40/section40_04.htm

When you empty the bottles of wood hardener you can put a 1/4 cup of those pellets in the hardener bottle, fill halfway with the MEK, and shake for at least 15min. That solution is thicker than the wood hardener, and you can use it to top off your jars if you do not have enough to cover the piece you are working on. Interesting side note. I use quart mason jars in the chamber to hold the product, and after I am done I put the lid on the jar and keep the hardener in there. The solvent cannot evaporate if the lid is on. you do not have to tighten it all the way, jsut enough to create a seal. surte beats the potential for spilling money on the floor when trying to get it back in the original bottle. I have three jars going now. One that was a screw up with half a red coca cola cup melted in, another that is for dark woods only, and another for light woods only. When I get ready to do another piece, I take off the lid, drop in the wood, and pour some of that MEK solution in to cover.
 
can I use the compressor from a small refrigerator as a vaacumm pump if I spray a bit of oil in the intake once inna while or do I have to pony up the money for a real vacumm pump and if so how much vacumm to I need to pull. I see many on ebay are listed as so many microns. Thanks
 
I cannot find the thread, but some folks have done exactly that with a fridge compressor. Cant for the life of me even remember if it is a thread in this forum even. the dude did it for like way under $100 from start to finish. Do you have a pretty big air compressor? if you do then get this:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3952

I have it and IT ROCKS!! if your vacuum chamber is tiny then it will pull up to 20" almost instantly. My chamber is 10" across by 12" tall and it pulls to 20" in less than 30 sec (maybe, have not timed it but it is pretty damn fast, less than 1 min I do know that). Here it is.

http://www.alumilite.com/checkout/p...id=48&osCsid=dee2e56d3a9cc3f706549719c2464bd7

At the time I did not know about using pressurized paint pots and this was the cheapest thing I could find. Only drawback is if you actually use the solvent based solutions like minwax wood hardener, the lexan will craze over time.
 
The best way to stabilize wood is to buy it from places like Alpha Knife Supply.... since it's already stabilized.

Or, buy it directly from Mike.

Or, if you have your own stash that you really think is that great, send it to Mike Ludeman at WSSI and pay Mike to do it. It will be well worth your time and money.

I quit buying my own wood and sending it in, when I realized that I could just buy it from Chuck (AKS) and/or Mike and be ready to use it NOW :D
 
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