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Fit & Finish Fit and Finish = the difference in "good art" and "fine art." Join in, as we discuss the fine art of finish and embellishment.

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Old 12-07-2014, 09:29 AM
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Andrew Garrett Andrew Garrett is offline
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What's the Current Trend in Stabilizing

So, I just got a box of great woods and burls from our old friend David Peterson. Odds and sods mostly--some stabilized, some not.

I want to have the unstabilized blocks stabilized, but I'm wondering who to go with.

I've used WSSI products and find them to be very desirable. However, they never answered the phone when I attempted to have my own wood stabilzed years ago, so I wound up going with someone who had a bit better communication. I can't recal who that company was, but they did a good job.

I have read herein that K&G does a great job, but according to their website, they use pressure, not a vacuum. To my mind, vacuum just seems far superior for penetration as liquids cannot be pressurized (that's why hydraulics work). Maybe I'm just over thinking it, but their have been more than a few discussions on this topic over the years, and what I took from most of them is that vacuum is the best way to stabilize.

All that being said, who can steer me back to a good stabilizing service that gets full penetration and has good customer service/communication?


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Old 12-07-2014, 10:17 AM
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Alright, a twist:

Perhaps I want to do my own stabilizing. Vacuum chambers on ebay are resonable.

What should I look for in a resin? How is that Cactus juice stuff?


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Old 12-07-2014, 10:53 AM
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Gary Mulkey Gary Mulkey is offline
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Andrew,

IMHO it isn't worthwhile to do your own stabilizing. Without professional equipment you're not going to have the same results.

I have used both companies that you mentioned previously and have no problems with the quality of work from either one.

Gary


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Old 12-07-2014, 05:54 PM
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I agree with Gary....not only about he professional equipment, but moreso about the "resin" used. I spent nearly two years working on stabilizing, and without the "correct" resin, you'r just wasting a lot of time, money, and effort. I was able to get a small amount of the "resin" that most of the "professional" stabilizers use, through a middle man......and when I used it, found it to be the best I'd tried. The problem is that there is only one distributor of it in the US, and they have a minium......that minium is 50 gallons......at $195 a gallon.

Honestly, all this other "stuff" that everyone tries to pawn off as "stablizing agents" all have fatal flaws.
Without typing a book, I'll just say that sending matierals out to a professional for stabilizing is what makes the most sense for our "one man" shops.


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Old 12-07-2014, 06:48 PM
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X 3 what Gary said


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Old 12-08-2014, 02:29 AM
Bob Hatfield Bob Hatfield is offline
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I have used several other companies in the past, but for the past 2 years I use River Ridge Products LLC to do all my stabilization. They do a great job with good turn around time and you can get hold of Carol, office manager via email or phone anytime during business hours. They have given me 110% and their customer service is one of the best I have ever encountered. they have a web site and will do clear stabilization and also will dye your wood at your request.


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Old 12-10-2014, 09:40 AM
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River Ridge..., that's the company I could not remember. I had good service with them too!

As for home stabilizing..., I respect everyone's opinion and thank you for it, but I am not fully detered from attempting it. I am fully prepared to aquire excellent equipment if need be.

So, what is this 'preferred stabilizing agent' that is so hard to find in small quantities, and who is the distributor?


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Old 12-10-2014, 01:24 PM
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The information I obtained was an outfit called TEK Distrubuting in Boca Raton, FL. I could never find anything about them on the internet, and was only able to contact them through a phone number given to me by that "thrid party" I mentioned. I was only able to get them to answer the phone once in many tries......that was about 3 years ago, and the last time I tried to make the call, it said that the number had either been changed or disconnected.

The "agent" itself was slightly amber in color, about the viscosity of 20W motor oil, and heat activated. The instructions passed on to me were for vaccum, pressure, then vaccum again for 24 hours each, then remove and place the stabilized material(s) in an oven at 220F for 1 hour per inch of cross section.

It worked the best of anything I had tried for wood stabilizing......the amount I got was approx 3 quarts, and it did about a dozen blocks of wood. I gave up on my own stabilizing when I found out the price....I just could not justify the cost to benefit ratio. I suppose I could have kept trying "other stuff", but once you stumble upon something that works that well, everything else is pretty much a disappointment.

If home stabilizing is something you really want to do, and you have the money to invest, I say go for it. For me it turned into just throwing money away, hence the reason I quit.


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