Carving stabilized wood

[iceman123]

Hi
I was thinking about using stabilized wood as a knife handle. As I am pretty good at woodcarving I would be working with a knife. Will that work with stabilized wood? Or is it hard as a rock?

 

[DEllis]

Be pretty tough carving good quality stabilized wood with a knife. Abrasive cutters in a rotary tool, or mini rasps and needle files would be more appropriate.

Darcy

 

[iceman123]

Yes thats true. However I haven't got any specialized equipment like that so I hope a knife works too...

 

[kuraki]

You can cut it with a knife especially if it was a softer wood to begin with but it won't be fun and it won't behave like wood normally does when carved.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Get a half round bastard file and a stack of sandpaper. Whole batch should only run $20. It will do the handle quite well.

 

[tryppyr]

I like using needle files for the fine work.

 

[Randydb]

I do a fair bit of carving using knives. You COULD carve with a knife but it doesn't act the same and it definitely is going to be a difficult carve. On the other hand a half round bastard file like Stacy mentions works really well. That's what I give to my students when they are shaping their knives. It works really well and the kids love to use the name! I have sandpaper that starts at 40, 80, 120, 200, 400, 800, 1200, 1500, 2000. I use the paper wet when I get to 800 and above.