OK I'll start.

My business partners and I started stabilizing last winter, after a few weeks we came up with a set of best practices to get good consistent results.

first only stablize when the out side temp is bellow 70degf... we messed up our vacuum pump by doing this the resin sets in the pump and messed everything up.

we used a scientific oven set to 215degf to dry the wood after is has been seasoned and blocked or slabbed. we have had the best results drying for at least a week. Once the wood is as dry as possible, is is let to cool and then placed immediately into a bath of cactus juice weights are placed above it to keep the unstablized material submerged. we do this in tuperwear bins and then place the bin in the vac-chamber. the vac chamber is drawn to at least 29 bars and held (with the pump running) for as long as it takes for all the bubbling to stop. It is then removed and soaked for at least as long as it took under vacuum (normally 24-36 hours) this can be hurried somewhat by placing under pressure, but we had inconsistent results using pressure with no way to figure out how much time to shorten. the blocks are removed, whipped down and wrapped in tin foil, and immediately put in to an oven at 250degf for at least three hours.

keep track of the date on the mixed resin it has about a 1 year shelf life. always add more color than you think you need..and write down what is in a mix once you have a good color, it is tough to get the color you want sometimes. Never stabilize Koa and maple in clear together unless you want the maple to get a bit darker..

I have had very good results with these methods, 4 of my JS knives had wood I stabilized and have not had any issues with clouding or soft spots etc. as long as i used the best practices.

I've learned a few lessons:

- Use an 8+ tpi bandsaw blade or it can jam and slam the block into the table and possibly damage something.

- Keep the wood in vacuum longer than you think, like at least an hour, release the gasses slowly, and let it soak overnight.

- Use more color than you think you need. The directions on mine say use 4 drops per ounce, and that wasn't even close. So you'll have to sacrifice a couple blocks to get the ratio right.

- If you're going to do a variety of colors, buy at least a gallon instead of the half gallon.

- I had a hard time finding the right sized jars. I found the ideal size for single blocks is a 16 ounce tall jar with a 2 inch mouth. This will comfortably hold 12 ounces of resin and still fit the block in. The block needs to be submerged at least a couple ounces since it's going to soak all that resin up. You can buy these online for about $1 each. Also "salsa" jars seem to be an ideal size. I wasn't happy with the generic mason jars I could find locally because they need to be filled with like at least 16 oz of resin to be effective.

- If you think your block are dried, throw them in the microwave for a few seconds with a paper towel on them. You might be surprised there's still a lot of moisture in them. Don't do it too long or they will start to actually burn, and in some cases warp and crack. Any moisture in your blocks will cause hazing or rougher finishes than you could get with otherwise dried wood.

- Get a pump rated for resin. Most of them aren't, and the seals in them will deteriorate from the resin gases.

- Don't let anyone tell you that you need a $10,000 vacuum chamber. A vacuum is a vacuum is a vacuum. As long as you have a pump that will get you to at least -25, you can stabilize. Mine will get over -28, but I'm also in upstate NY and not at sea level.

- Only lightly tighten your resin jars. I read somewhere that they will explode if sealed tightly, and there's comments about it on the Cactus Juice website. Not sure how true that is, but I do it as a precaution given the testimonies.

- When you buy and cut your wood stock, don't penny pinch and try to get every curly part out of it. Just get the "best" parts and make scales. You're already saving hundreds by stabilizing that plank of wood vs buying scales, no sense on stabilizing mediocre grained wood. I bought some loosely grained curly maple and I stripped the maple into block and stabilzed a few of them without giving much scrutiny into what I was doing. and a few of the blocks are very bland and I'll never use them now. So I wasted resin there.

- If you know you're going to scale full tang knives, cut the blocks first. This will ensure the resin impregnates more evenly and take less time.

I'd love to hear thoughts on finishing stabilized scales and alternatives to Cactus Juice. I guess my understanding that a stabilizing resin needs to be 100% solids, otherwise you're baking in vacuums or air pockets if you have something like acetone based that loses volume as it dries. Lately I've been wet sanding to 800 or 1000, buffing with white and then blue compound, then finishing with car polish and wax. It brings the grain out and looks beautiful. But I still can't match the candy coating I'd get out of poly or nitrocellulose.

I heard pink buffing compound works awesome but I haven't tried it.

I've been considering stabilizing my own material for a while but really don't know where to start, equipment-wise. Any suggestions on what minimal equipment I can make decent material with? Brands? Sizes of tanks? And, Matt, did I read that correctly? Dry in an oven for a week?

Thanks!