A customer described to me a process by which to impregnate small wood parts with a finish. I believe he was using linseed oil.
You make an air tight canister with 3" X 8" PVC hydrolic pipe a glued-on end cap and a screw-on cap. You install a pressure guage and car tire stem. You fill the canister half-way with the finish and sink the part(s) with a weight to insure it will remain submerged. Close the cap and inflate to 60 lbs. for 48hrs. Then deflate, clean-off let dry and continue finishing normally.

It is supposed to insure the wood is completely sealed.

Is this going to casue the wood to swell and maybe crack?

Anybody ever heard of this?

I don't know but it can also be done with an old trick where you heat the wood to drive out the sap or resin and then immerse it in the oil which is then supposedly sucked back into the wood. I'm no woodworker but I think just about any oil finish will penetrate wood to some extent unless you are working with an extremely oily wood.

Ron Barch describes a vacuum/air pressure process 'similar to that which you described' which he uses with resins to impregnate bamboo blanks. If my recollection is correct, he pulls a vacuum for 30 min or so then applies 60/80# pressure for several hours. It is described in his book "The Best of the Planing Form". If you don't have it and want some details let me know.

Steven: I have seen this done at the Rodcrafters seminar using a high build epoxy finish and then flamed with an alcohol torch to draw the epoxy into the wood. I have tried this on several occasions and it seems to work well. Apply your finish light coat heat it until almost smoking and keep it rotating. Dry spots will appear, cover them with epoxy. Continue this until completely filled then rotate until cured. After a few days begin your progression of sandpapers. I go down to 2500 grit. Available at most auto refinishing stores. I also use this to fill in any checks in the wood. I had a piece of beauitful wood no idea what type. Grains and figure going every way. Big crack right in the middle. Filled in with the high build, and it virtually disappeared. It looked like corncob when I started. Looked like glass when I was done. Good depth. Anyway it took four applications of finish to fill all the dry spots. The heat will drive out the moisture. And impregnate to about 1/2 the depth of the wood. This was two years ago. No problems yet, and still looks great. Good Luck

You can always send your wood of to WSSI and let them stabilize it for you. Mike Ludemann does a fantastic job. I know that's not as exciting as some of these alternatives, but it works. I guess the downside might be the fact that you have to have a minimum batch stabilized.