Using Cyanoacrylate to stabilize wood?

[kenhills]

There is a lot of chatter on the forum about sealing/stabilizing wood using diluted Cyanoacrylate (Crazy Glue). Could someone who is familiar with this process expand on it some. Specifically what to dilute it with, proportions and do you coat the wood or submerse it in it. I'm looking for an alternative to purchasing stabilized wood and saving some money. Thanks

 

[69_knives]

Have a read at this page, it describes another alternative.

http://www.northcoastknives.com/northcoast_knives_tutorials_hints_tips3.htm

 

[IH8U]

wicked, thanks for that link. Northcoast knives has some great tutorials, I have been there lots of times, but never checked out that section.

 

[TekSec]

I will only add that there is no substitution for properly stabilized wood. You can make a home setup with a vacuum pump and a container but you will never get the penetration that a professional does.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I'll chime in for having the professionals do it. I use WSSI. The cost is less than doing it at home (unless you are doing one of those half-way techniques). The wood comes back totally stabilized. I can't say enough about the great job Mike does.

Super glue (yuck ) and wood hardner are not the same.
Stacy

 

[Keith_H]

What makes the pro stabilization better? If you were to make a vacuum chamber what resin would be best?

 

[gixxer]

What makes pro stabilization better for one is the resin they use. To the best of my knowlwdge their resin needs heat to cure after the block gets impregnated. And the stuff is "industrial grade" stuff you really do not want to mess with at home.

I have a vacuum chamber (actually a paint pot so I can do both vacuum and pressure). I use Minwax wood hardener and Acryloid B72 pellets mixed with MEK from Home Depot. I use the MEK and B72 to either thin out the hardener or thicken it up if I mess up. I do have the ability to get complete saturation on most wood, the difference is time. The real porous stuff takes less time than more dense stuff.

 

[AcridSaint]

My understanding is that, aside from the "recipe", professional stabilization uses high pressure and high vacuum, allowing the cells to be impregnated with resin, not just space between the grain like most home setups.

 

[Philadelph]

So if using paraloid and those types of mixtures, wouldn't something like this work: http://www.instructables.com/id/The-Alvin-Vacuum-Sealer/

Or is the amount of pressure needed just far more than what this type of thing could provide? What about a pressure canner? Or would you just not want to mess with these chemicals and heat?

 

[butcher_block]

after having been sent more then once (from different makers/sellers ) "stabilized wood"
ther are jsut 3 i trust to do the job right
WSSI
K&G
and wild woods

Mike Stuart i think knows another one thats good to go
BTW these are the people that the knife supply houses use mickley, AKS, knife kits and the like