Well, I'll butt in again; I'm sure some condsider me to be an annoying pest here by now.
But I've worked a lot with vacuum lines in labs.
The pictured set-up is a nice home-brew version.
I would only add two things to it.
1) Tape up the mason jar with duct tape. Should it break while under vacuum, it will keep the user from becoming filled with hard to find bits of glass (like taping windows when a hurricane is expected). This set-up is likely fine unless volatile solvents are used to thin the stabilizing medium.
2) Ice-water temperature will not condense any vapors that boil much below 200 deg F if they are under vacuum. I know some of you guys thin the stabilizing medium with solvents. Vacuum lowers the boiling point. To trap such solvent vapors you need dry ice. Crush it and mix it with something like acetone or safer, isopropyl alcohol to make a slush. If you use solvents like acetone or toluene, an ice-water temperature trap will not catch it if there is a decent vacuum. And at dry ice temperatures, ordinary glass like a mason jar will be susceptable to thermal shock causing breakage ( not as bad as it could be it you already taped it or better keep it under a shield of some sort.) Best to use a metal container for the trap in this case, (Pyrex glass is fabricted into vacuum traps for laboratories, but I can't think of a readily accessable equivalent).
I butt in because you guys often discuss safety a lot. I've worked with vacuum lines for about 20 years in labs and have have had several built for research to my specs, so I think I know something about them.
One other thing is, if a oil vacuum pump is used instead of a totally mechanical pump, the oil will accumulate whatever isn't caught by a cold trap and will eventually become nearly as toxic the materials dissolved in it. A totally mechanical pump doesn't accumulate as much untrapped vapors, it distributes them into the air for you to inhale.
I've learned a lot here reading about the hazards of exotic wood , antler , MOP, etc dust here, just trying to pay back. Just as nobody needs to get sick from spalted wood dust, nobody needs to get sick or injured from vacuum stabilizing wood.
