Stabilizing Wood

[crazydad42]

I'm going to use some Minwax wood hardner on some scales and handles. I know its not the best way to stabilize wood but it will have to work. My question is if I'm supposed to sand and stain before I use the hardener or after.

Thanks for the help. Love this forum. Great for a newbie like me.

 

[Hankins]

First welcome to the craziness!
Recommend reading ALL the info up top as this has been covered many many times
Can't stain sealed wood. Best action if you are bent on going that route is to heat the wood in the Microwave for 15-30 secs (No Longer) and drop into the hardener.
Be sure to weight it down and have enough space for it to Foam up... Or you will have a giant mess ask me how I know this
After letting it soak a few days wet sand with the hardener to finish.
Second save your self the aggravation and send it to K&G or some other pro to get it stabilized

 

[Patrickknives]

You are fighting a loosing battle, if you are going to stain you will need the shape the handle to pretty close to the final, I did not have much luck in getting the hardener to soak deep into wood, worked ok on the surface. This means shape, sand to 180, stain deeply, stabilize, and sand very little to maintain stain. I dont think I ever used one of my own stabilized handles on a knife, like Hank said save time and pain and send to K&G or WSSI.