Stabilizing Wood Knife Handles with Minwax Wood Hardener

Stabilizing Wood Knife Handle Scales with Minwax Wood Hardener.
Is this as good as the famous "Cactus Juice" wood stabilizer? No, probably not, but Minwax Wood Hardener has the advantage of being much cheaper than Cactus Juice and widely available in almost every home improvement store in the USA.

Edit: Somehow people keep missing the part that says I'm doing this to knife handle scales. This is video is aimed at home/hobby knifemakers, and is not intended as advice or recommendations for the home improvement project community. If you are not a knife maker, this video is probably not for you.

I have no idea if this product works on your rotten home foundations. My guess is that it doesn't work very well for structural reinforcement. This product does not penetrate deeply enough into the wood to do much good. You're better off replacing your studs with new wood that is structurally sound.

I'm happy to answer any questions you have concerning this product, but I am not an expert on anything. My advice is pretty worthless. Please do your own research and make informed decisions based on the best data that you can find.

[Headliner]

Shawn, thanks for taking the time to make a video that answered all my questions. I’m 70 years old and I don’t make more than a dozen knives a year. My problem with Cactus Juice is...it goes bad after a time, while Minwax Wood Hardener does not. The price for Cactus Juice is also sky high and I would never get my money’s worth from a 1/2 gallon of it because of its shelf life. I’m making knife scales using Cholla Cactus. This material is very brittle and once it is vacuum treated with Minwax Wood Hardener it turns rock hard...I mean super hard. I knew the Minwax Wood Hardener was doing a good job and your video proves it!!!

[rroberts]

Very enlightening. I have a pump chamber and Cactus Juice, but being a weekend warrior, I rarely use it... and now my CJ has likely gone bad. Great to see there is another option that does 'good enough' for my purposes.

[hollyweaver]

Thank you so much!! I’ve been watching stabilizer videos all morning and yours is by far the most helpful! I’m wanting to make wood coasters but did not want to have to invest in a vacuum system.

[tbrew]

I had the same issue with HF vacuum pump. They hardly pumped (second one almost did) and dont hold.
you can use a small jar inline on the line to keep overflow out of the pump

[smashtoad]

Batman sound effects made me laugh. Nice.

[aidenallen]

Thank you for the video, your friendly attitude made this video very enjoyable! I have been trying to find an affordable way of hardening the wood for my knife handles and this seems to be something worth looking into

[danafarris]

Great video, just starting in the hobby and always looking for tips!

[monteashmore]

I've used Minwax wood hardener for years on my pistol grips.

[ldf]

Very useful. Can you try a few different types of wood? The result for denser wood will be interesting.

[dyhosjw]

This is so cool. 🙌 excellent video, my friend. You deserve way more views and likes for the quality and effort put into this.

[ADHDAdventurer]

I’d love to see a video comparing these weight to cactus juice or comparable done in a vacuum chamber, and then soak all 3 in water for 72 hours to see it their weights change from absorbing water.

[petertorrosr]

Great demonstration Shawn. I'll be sure and give this a try in the days to come.

[col]

Acetone - at 20C one won't be able to go below 200mm Hg - the vapor pressure of acetone at that temperature - that's almost 1/3 of an atm.

[ernaerin]

Brand new to wood working and loved this video!

[JohnColgan.]

9:29 did you do a test with applying as per minwax instructions? Then test weight & cut end visual test?

[arkas]

The 7 gr. they gave a percentage of filling of 21% and 30% is not at all inconsiderable given that the woods are soaked throughout. I also liked that the wood retained a large percentage of its natural beauty. I don't think the word stabilization is the right one when you use juice and vacuum, closer to the whole job is the word mutation. Being a wood lover I would never put stabilized "wood" on my knives. I prefer woods that are stable by nature, such as cocobolo or ironwood.

[mattboutwell]

Once the hardener is used once, can the remaining liquid be poured back into the container and reused?

[wallaceviviansadventures]

that was a cool project that is nice looking wood you were working with

[arkas]

Informative video, great help. Have you tried this method on hardwood eg ironwood or cocobolo?

[adohko]

This was more of a test of penetration with or without vacuum. I was expecting a test of the hardness of the wood (I.e. load bearing) after treating the wood normally with a brush. That would have been a lot more useful/practical of a test IMO. Good presentation though.