Stabilizing Part 2

So if you read Part 1 you know your wood should be dry, dry, dry by now.

Next is to put it in your chamber...let's talk chambers. I started out using a chamber with a thick glass lid, many people use these...I don't anymore. After so much vacuuming this type of chamber will implode, yes speaking from experience! I switched over solely to using Curtis' chambers from TurnTex, they are made exclusively for stabilizing and I use my other chambers for soaking.

Alright you have your chamber, put your wood in and make sure it is completely submerged, the TurnTex chambers can come with a piece that fits snug in your chamber to keep your wood down, some people use weights, just make sure it is submerged with about 2" of Cactus Juice more than what you have in wood. Turn your vacuum pump on and keep it going until ALL THE BUBBLES ARE GONE! I have never had this happen in less than 24 hours, it will take awhile! Once they are gone..even the champagne bubbles..let it soak in the Cactus Juice. Let it soak AT LEAST twice as long as it was under vacuum.

*Stabiling with Dye - There is no exact science to using dye in your wood. I exclusively use the dyes made for the Cactus Juice except for a few like my brown I use Alumilite dye. Recommended is to start out with 1 oz of dye to a gallon of juice and go from there depending on the depth of color you want. Also, when I am using dye in my wood I will let some soak for weeks to get a good color on it. Some wood takes it really well, that light punky wood you find..some burls with really tight grain won't take it at all no matter how long I soak it. That however, I have found to give some pretty cool looks too.

Once the vacuuming and soaking is done I will put it on cheap cooling racks to let all the excess juice drip off and get ready for curing. Curing is done in an oven between 180 and 200 F. I have noticed pen blanks take about 45 minutes to an hour, bigger blanks take longer. I check it and when the excess juice cracks off from the bottom of it then I know it is done and take it out.

I will do one more post on making hybrids and my acrylic blocks. Let me know if you have any questions about my process or any comments!!