Hey gents,
Since I can't hunt as often as I'd like with the little one, I have been thinking of picking up another hobby. I have made some scales for my 1911 and knives but was wondering if anyone had any advise on casting or stabilizing wood? At the moment, I have been buying my stabilized wood or hybrid blocks but hey are not cheap. I understand there would be a bit of an investment up front, but if I wanted to turn calls or something, I figured stabilized wood would be better suited for the job. So, any advise on equipment? Have any pictures of your turned calls, pot calls, blanks, etc?

Thanks,
Pintail.

I use a vacuum pump for refrigeration . Found an old pressure cooker and made a simple lid with some rubber sheet glued to it and a couple of holes drilled and tapped for the hose to the pump and a gauge.

Once set up I put my wood pieces into it, with them down and then cover them with whatever I want in the wood Linseed oil , varnish or thinned down epoxy. pour in enough to cover the wood, crank up the vacuum pump and run it sucking a good vacuum, for 10 minutes or so. then let the air back in and the pressure will face the liquid into the wood. wait a few minutes then take the wood out and put in a warm place to cure

I assume by casting you mean resin casting? I do some resin casting blanks for calls for myself. For stabilizing wood you want vacuum for resin casting you'll want a pressure pot. Throw in a 3D printer and you can get really creative with resin casting. Here are a couple calls I made from blanks that I cast myself.

Thanks guys.