Stabilizing wood

Btw isn’t anyone the least bit terrified about leaving a toaster on for 24 hours. I would have to leave it on when I’m at work and I don’t trust a 20 dollar toaster with my house. I have been reading people are using food dehydrators at 100 degrees that seems more palatable to me any thoughts? This is for wood that was already kiln dried but has been left out
 
If you don't wish to follow the directions by owner of Cactus Juice for stabilizing on the link provided I'd suggest using K&G to stabilize wood. When I first started using Cactus Juice I had problems until I talked with owner of Cactus Juice on phone. After following his directions Cactus Juice works good on suitable wood. Most woods that have a specific gravity <0.3 or so will home stabilize just fine. Once the specific gravity gets above 0.6 it's more of an "iffy" proposition. A lot of determining proper wood is testing yourself.

To get wood really dry in 24 hrs you need to hold temp above 200F. Since you're really worried about safety, put toaster oven outside with an extension cord. Perhaps put a metal tub over toaster to protect from elements, but don't reduce air flow or the oven might get too hot and actually cause a problem.
 
Happychicken said:
You mean I have to have it under vacuum for 12 hours? Thanks
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You have keep wood under vacuum ( withe the pump running) until ALL bubbles stop. Unless the wood is totally dry, this could take days. Bake the wood in your oven at 220°F to dry. Weight every couple of hours, when it STOPS losing weight, it's done. Put it in an airtight bag ( I use a vacuum sealer) immediately. DON'T try to stabilize it until it's totally cool. Even with dry wood, the bubbles will take a long time to stop. Usually, for me, at least 8 hours, often longer.
 
Happychicken said:
Ok great I can do that! I’ll see what floats. There is a lot of conflicting info on particular woods ability to be stabilized.
For example I am looking at orange Osage right now and apparently it can be stabilized by pros but difficult for home stabilizing.
I gotta use up this cactus juice!!
Thanks again everyone especially for your patience with my questions!
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You can stabilize any wood, but all woods don't HAVE to be stabilized. Greenberg woods has a handy list of woods in three categories
1.should be stabilized
2. Can be stabilized but don't have to be
3. Don't take resin well.

I would start out on maple, it's the easiest to get good results at home and is pretty easy to find with interesting figure. But as has been said, if you aren't willing to follow the directions Curtis has on his cactus juice site, don't bother. Trust me, trying to shortcut will just waste time and money. Ask me how I know.
 
I DO want to follow the directions. Meaning I want to dry the wood before I try to stabilize it. I was just asking if I can use a dehydrator instead of a toaster. There has been some places elsewhere on the net that have said a dehydrator can be used instead of a toaster.
I emailed turntex yesterday morning and asked them the same question so far they have yet gotten back to me
I am going to try doing a batch of maple after this one of I believe it’s burl redwood. It floated no problem so this should come out good. I baked it last night for 4 hours and was surprised to see how much water came out already
 
Happychicken said:
I DO want to follow the directions. Meaning I want to dry the wood before I try to stabilize it. I was just asking if I can use a dehydrator instead of a toaster. There has been some places elsewhere on the net that have said a dehydrator can be used instead of a toaster.
I emailed turntex yesterday morning and asked them the same question so far they have yet gotten back to me
I am going to try doing a batch of maple after this one of I believe it’s burl redwood. It floated no problem so this should come out good. I baked it last night for 4 hours and was surprised to see how much water came out already
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Listen, I was exactly where you are when I started. Understand that stabilizing is unlike knife making in one huge way. You CAN"T get "creative". Often there are multiple, valid ways to do something in regards to a knife, that will render different, but still TECHNICALLY sound work. In stabilizing, the only real creativity to it is what you do as far as color choices. So as far as the tools and methods, just do EXACTLY what Cactus juice states, this is from his directions: The best way to assure your already air dried blanks are as dry as possible is to place them in your toaster oven at 220° F (104° C) for a minimum of 24 hours." If the dehydrator can maintain 220° F for 24 hours, by all means use it. Otherwise use an oven (i use my large oven for drying, and a toaster oven for curing) The key thing is the 220° F part. At that temperature the water in the wood turns to water vapor, which is how it gets out of your wood.
 
one more tip, to make sure both your drying oven and curing oven are actually at the temperature you need, don't rely on the built in thermometer. use a separate digital one. You'd be surprised how far off most ovens are.
 
Thanks Kevin! I am going to get an in oven thermometer.
I will do the 24 hour in the toaster but just in the kitchen over the weekend when I’ll be home.
 
Happychicken said:
Thanks Kevin! I am going to get an in oven thermometer.
I will do the 24 hour in the toaster but just in the kitchen over the weekend when I’ll be home.
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Good call. it may or may not take 24 hours. get a good accurate digital scale. They are cheap and handy for measuring epoxy as well. Weigh your blocks after 6 hours and then ever couple hours. when they stop losing weight, they are done. I've had it take 16 hours, but usually less than 8.
 
Kevin is giving good advice, not much reason for me to add. While I no longer weight wood while drying, just leave in for 24 hrs or so at around 200F to 220F and it's usually fully dry. Needs to be up around 200F+ to get all the water out.
 
Ken H> said:
Kevin is giving good advice, not much reason for me to add. While I no longer weight wood while drying, just leave in for 24 hrs or so at around 200F to 220F and it's usually fully dry. Needs to be up around 200F+ to get all the water out.
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True Ken. I just do it, since my wife usually wants to use the oven every 24 hours or so...:)
 
Everyone's comments just reinforces the reason I use K&G. No wood needs stabilizing, but there are only a few woods I would consider using without stabilizing, and bubinga is not one of them. I use a lot of bubinga and it's all stabilized.
 
J. Hoffman said:
Everyone's comments just reinforces the reason I use K&G. No wood needs stabilizing, but there are only a few woods I would consider using without stabilizing, and bubinga is not one of them. I use a lot of bubinga and it's all stabilized.
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Stabilizing can't really hurt. I too will send wood to k&g, wether it's a large quantity, or something notoriously tricky, like black walnut.
 
Ken H> said:
If you don't wish to follow the directions by owner of Cactus Juice for stabilizing on the link provided I'd suggest using K&G to stabilize wood. When I first started using Cactus Juice I had problems until I talked with owner of Cactus Juice on phone. After following his directions Cactus Juice works good on suitable wood. Most woods that have a specific gravity <0.3 or so will home stabilize just fine. Once the specific gravity gets above 0.6 it's more of an "iffy" proposition. A lot of determining proper wood is testing yourself.

To get wood really dry in 24 hrs you need to hold temp above 200F. Since you're really worried about safety, put toaster oven outside with an extension cord. Perhaps put a metal tub over toaster to protect from elements, but don't reduce air flow or the oven might get too hot and actually cause a problem.
Click to expand...

I agree. Over 0.6 doesn’t stabilize well with vacuum and atmospheric pressure only. You need pressure as well with denser woods.
 
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