Thread: 5x Dye Stabilised Buckeye Burl Block

Multi stabilising with different colours seems to be the latest craze in the USA and I thought I would give it a try with my Cactus Juice (CJ). Basically you apply one colour at a time without vacuum (ie just flooding/soaking to get it absorbed) but then baking it to fix the colour. You then add another colour repeating the process until the last colour that is applied under vacuum, filling any unstabilised areas, then baking to fix that colour too. You can get 4 basic colours (yellow/blue/green/red) for CJ but you can then mix them to make other colours.

I have a few blocks of Buckeye Burl (BEB) and chose this timber as it needs to be stabilised anyway. I also decided to use the 4 main colours, making up small quantities, then use a final colour of purple as I already had a 1ltr bottle from previously (a mix of leftover red and blue) under vacuum. As CJ needs 2 hours baking to set it at 200F it meant a total of 10 hours of baking. Before I even started I also put the block in my dehydrator overnight to ensure it was dry (been wet here). I also put it in the oven for 30mins to ensure the wood was hot to start with that helps with the dye penetration.

So yes a lot of effort but I was pretty impressed with the result. I managed to get 4 knife scales and 1 pen blank out of the block. Unfortunately I think I didn't bake the yellow enough as when the blue was applied it mixed with the yellow forming more green than I wanted inside the block. The purple I had was also more maroon but all good learnings. I gave all the blanks a quick coat of lacquer to pop the colour and grain.

BEB1.jpg BEB2.jpg

The photos show the book matched pairs (ie from the inside of the block), then the other sides where there are two similar colours x 2. I will probably sell all 4 eventually together, that way the buyer can chose if they want booked matched, or not book matched, but better colours . I will turn the pen blank, or get someone else to turn it, ASAP to show what the finished product looks like.

I have quite a few more blocks of BEB so will be experimenting again soon as I really like the result

Cheers