Hi Ray,
As far as my extremely limited knowledge goes stabilising is burrs and punky woods, so woods that would not naturally turn brilliantly. the process involves soaking the wood with a thin resin under a vacuum to fill the gaps and voids and then curing with heat. there are videos on YouTube about the process. Hopefully someone with more knowledge than I can fill you in better!
Kind of.
The resin will not fill any gaps or voids.
Basically it is as you say soaking and immersing wood in the resin, then under vacuum the air is sucked out which is draws the resin into the wood. Then it is cured by heat.
Now the lads in the US seem to stabalise a lot more types of wood than we do over here, inc Cocobolo which I think doesn't need it. I also know the stabalise Oak which is a waste really. I think their view is rather than risk a blow out on an expensive piece they would rather stabalise it first.
I stabalise a lot of wood for the same reason, not because of cost but rather than getting that far and the blowout ruins something that is nearly finished.
Woods I always stab ( from experience) Anything Spalted especially beech, Buckeye is a must unless you want to smother it in CA.
Basically anything that is very light, not dense and will run the risk of tear outs and blowups.
When you weigh the blank after you will see that it has gained considerably, also when drilling and turning you'll get more fine particles.
So in my opinion stabalising has it's place and is brilliant for saving soft punky wood.
It is also essential for casting hybrid blanks because it removes air which can cause issues when casting.
I agree with Penpal, you should never need to stab Malee or the like. I doubt whether the resin would penetrate anyhow ...
Hope this helps
Brad
Lons thank you 
