stabilizing wood or other materials

[KurtHuhn]

I read something recently that got me interested in stabilizing wood and stuff. Basically you fill a big Mason jar half way with Minwax wood hardener, submerge your piece to be stabilized, and pull a vacuum. The setup seems easy enough to make. Some folks have suggested the use of a brake line bleeder pump in the absence of an expensive vacuum pump.

Anyone ever stabilized wood or anything for use as stem rings and shank extensions?

[bscofield]

While I've never gone there (i'm a rookie at extensions anyway) I have been warned by professional woodworkers about the results of not stabilizing it...

[bluesmk]

Kurt,
I've used water thin cyanoacrylic adhesive, on a few wood adornments. It seems to help prevent chipping. I've been thinking about using a stabilizer called Pentacryl, availible from Woodcraft.
Dan
Gabrieli Pipes

[pipemanruss]

i have been working with wood for quite sometime and i cant see the need to stabilize wood for rings or extentions. iff wood is properly dried and finished there shouldnt be a problem. maybe im wrong but i just see it as extra work???

[bscofield]

Well the stabalization I'm talking about may not be the same. I was told that the stabilization that I should be concerned with was not for structural needs, it was for discoloration. In some cases severe (rosewoods, I think).

[KurtHuhn]

i have been working with wood for quite sometime and i cant see the need to stabilize wood for rings or extentions. iff wood is properly dried and finished there shouldnt be a problem. maybe im wrong but i just see it as extra work???

I agree that, by and large, properly dried and finished wood shouldn't need stabilization. However, when used on a pipe, woods are subjected to a wide variation in temperature and humidity in a relatively short period of time. My experience with thin pieces of wood like stem rings and godets, is that, even though they were properly dried/cured to begin with, they will still change dimensionally over time, and some of those stresses can result in spliting and deformity. It's not a *common* occurrence, but it can happen, and I'd really rather not take the chance of it happening to decorative embelishment on a pipe that someone paid half a kilobuck for.

[pipemanruss]

that makes perfect sence i can now see why one would need to do that ill have to try it

[JHowell]

i have been working with wood for quite sometime and i cant see the need to stabilize wood for rings or extentions. iff wood is properly dried and finished there shouldnt be a problem. maybe im wrong but i just see it as extra work???

I agree that, by and large, properly dried and finished wood shouldn't need stabilization. However, when used on a pipe, woods are subjected to a wide variation in temperature and humidity in a relatively short period of time. My experience with thin pieces of wood like stem rings and godets, is that, even though they were properly dried/cured to begin with, they will still change dimensionally over time, and some of those stresses can result in spliting and deformity. It's not a *common* occurrence, but it can happen, and I'd really rather not take the chance of it happening to decorative embelishment on a pipe that someone paid half a kilobuck for.

I agree with Kurt. I use thin CA adhesive. The method of pulling a vacuum is good, and you can use it with many agents for stabilizing, including some heat-setting resins. Doing something along this line prevents chipping and cracking, the latter a concern because even well-cured wood changes when subjected to humidity changes. I ship a pipe with a wooden trim ring or floc from Pittsburgh to Denver, what happens? Also, wood that has been stabilized or filled with some material polishes better.

[jthpipes]

found thid in the pen turners website hope it helps

http://www.penturners.org/content/polyurethane1.pdf

[monkeyboy_ut]

ok call me a newb if this sounds stupid but I got to thinking about curing as a result of this thread. I cant help but wonder if the same vacuum setup would help with the oil curing process occasionally used for stummels. Just put in your oils in place of minwax?

[StephenDownie]

Since this thread started I've had a pipe returned for repair because a ring of olive wood in the shank of one of my pipes cracked. The olive wood had a moisture content of 4% which is fairly low and shouldn't have cracked due to drying. I can only assume that the heat from the briar is causing it to expand and contract. I've been experimenting with Pentacryl with good results so far, but I'm also interested in trying out some cyanoacrylic adhesive. For those of you who have used it before do you apply it only to the endgrain or the entire piece?