WHAT IS STABILIZED WOOD?
It’s wood that has successfully completed therapy and has fully come to terms with a life
as lumber instead of being a tree.
Just kidding
Short answer: It is wood that has undergone a process that fills its pores with resin.
Long answer: The wood is dried in an oven until there is no more moisture left, then it is
submerged in a special, clear, resin (I use Cactus Juice brand resin, and, unfortunately,
no, I am not a paid spokesperson). The wood, in its resin bath, is then placed into a
vacuum chamber which pulls out all of the air that was hiding in the grain structure of
the wood. After several days under vacuum all of the air has escaped from the wood
and when the vacuum is released the resin seeps in to fill up the spaces where there
once was air. Next comes a soak in the resin bath (twice as long as it took to get rid of all
of the air) to allow the resin to seep into all of those nooks and crannies, and then,
finally, back into the oven to cure the resin and transform it from a liquid into a solid.
OKAY, BUT WHY???
First of all, it makes the wood more resilient; it is less likely to suffer damage if dropped
(there’s probably a reason they’re called “drop spindles” after all) or knocked around. As
a bonus, it allows the wood to achieve a smoother, shinier, polish without having to
resort to something like lacquer or varnish which can chip or wear off over time; the
resin becomes a permanent feature of the wood. Dyes can also be added to the resin
opening up a new dimension of coloring possibilities.
Cool, but why aren't the shafts stabilized?
Alas, I currently do not have a vacuum chamber large enough to accommodate pieces
long enough for the shafts, but, perhaps, someday.
Hopefully this answers some questions that you might have had, and provided you with
a smile or two.
