Here is a quick and simple way to stabilize a blank you want to turn in a hurry. If your wood is realy punky or cracked give it a good soaking coat of thin CA. I use Accelerator to speed up the process, but let the thin Ca cure for a minute before using or it will smoke and turn white. If my blank has a lot of cracks or holes in it, I will use thick CA to fill them and wrap the blank tightly in Duct Tape before drilling. This will not turn white when accelerator is added. Drill out for your tubes and coat the inside of the blank well with thin CA again. Run your drill back through the hole to clear it of any build-up. Glue in your tubes. Mount on your lathe and turn round. Coat with thin CA. Every 2 or 3 passes on the blank, recoat with the thin CA. If there are any cracks or holes in your blank, this will bond it to your tube. If the imperfections are large, fill with saw dust and slowley add thin CA. I have been making pen for almost 20 years, and have used this method all the time. If you are making a larger number of blanks, by all means use a better method of vacuum or pressure to save time, money, and to remove any air trapped in the blank. As for the amount of time to leave the blanks under vacuum, wait for the bubbles to stop, release the vacuum, and let your wood sit in the solution for another 15-30 minutes. You can air dry on racks, or wrap your blanks in tin foil so they are not touching each other and place in a toaster oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees. Put some type of pan under your blanks so it will catch any leakage. There are many other ways to stablelize wood. Look in the library for ideas. I have seen the Min Wax Wood Hardner used for this purpose on single blanks and porous items such as bone before. Jim S
