What does it mean to 'stabilize' wood?

[sdb777]

I've tried searching out an answer on the 'net, but maybe I'm typing it wrong....

I'm asking because a Predator Call maker is 'stabilizing' his calls. What does 'stabilizing' do? What do you use to 'stabilize' the item?

Do any of you 'stabilize' your items? If so, why?


Scott (probably to simple) B

[admin]

The only stabilizing I've heard of is to 'stabilize' a pinecone or other material that is prone to breaking, cracking, etc, while it is turned. Normally done with CA glue. (DougB posted a very informative article down in the 'articles and tutorials' board here at WoW)

TJ.

[maverick31]

you can also stabilize with casting resins. I forget the name of the place that sells the stuff. most woodturning places sell kast a blank type kits that will accomplish this, also. I think there are several people here that do game calls hopefully they will chime in. My guess is they probably just do a ca finish on them. seems like it should be sufficient with normall wood

[TDHofstetter]

The word "stabilize" is a little misleading. It's used for all sorts of things, always the same concept... like stabilizing turquoise, for example. It always involves filling all voids with some sort of plastic resin, resulting in a more-or-less totally homogenous material with no breaks or blemishes in the surface. It's used often for burls, which often have tiny voids all through 'em, or for heavily spalted woods.

The BEST "stabilization" is done with a vacuum pump, drawing the workpiece under very deep vacuum while it's drowning in liquid resin, then releasing the vacuum so the workpiece draws the resin deep inside to fill every internal cavity. Gotta' work fast for that, though, since the resins are fairly quick to set up... so having a vacuum accumulator (big tank) helps a lot - with a big accumulator you can draw your vacuum down very deep very quickly, far faster than your vacuum pump can do the job.

EDIT: The resins you can use may be polyester, acrylic, or epoxy resins, or even extend into some of the lesser-used resins like polyurethane, nylon, or polycarbonate. Polyester, acrylic, and epoxy resins are easy to get, though, and in common use. If you use epoxy (which gives more control than the others but is harder on the tools), use the slowest-setting epoxy you can get; it's generally stronger & also gives you a longer working time for the vacuum pump.

[Ruffnek]

Stabilization is simply the process of impregnating the wood with a resin.

Some woods like burls or punky spalted woods require it while other sound woods have the color enhanced by the stabilization process and it also becomes impervious to moisture. That's likely the reason why the game calls were made from stabilized wood. The resulting blank still turns like regular wood.

[Doug B]

Quoting directly from Arizona Silhouette web site: www.arizonasilhouette.com/Pen_Blanks.htm


"

Stabilization

We are frequently asked why I have wood stabilized - even when it doesn't 'need' it. Some woods actually need processing in order to be turned and finished properly (punky spalts, soft buckeye burl, etc.). Processing will transform these soft woods and make them harder than woodpecker lips. There are other woods that don't need to be stabilized but the process brings out (or 'pops') the color and/or figure of the wood. Either case, stabilized blanks will finish much easier and to a higher luster, the wood is impervious to moisture, and the wood will retain its beauty much longer. These factors, in our opinion, far outweigh the higher cost of a stabilized blank compared with an unprocessed blank. We offer many different species of wood that have been professionally stabilized by companies that specialize in this type of process. No 'home brews' are used to process our wood."

I imagine that for game calls the benefit of stabilizing the wood is because game calls are going to be used primarily outdoors in poor weather conditions.

I love the part about woodpecker lips ;D

[TDHofstetter]

Yeah, that was a nice touch.

I wonder how our grandfathers stabilized their game calls?