cooked/baked maple

Darrin Sanders

Darrin Sanders

Knifemaker
Moderator
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
2,914
Does anyone here have any experience with or any info on maple that has been stabilized by the cooking/baking method?
 
Cooked/baked wood of any sort is not stabilized. It may be dryer, but that's it. It will eventually absorb moisture, which can cause cracking, warpage, or expansion of the wood.

True stabilization means permeating the wood 100% with a liquid polymer that then hardens to a clear solid, allowing the permeated material (e.g. wood grain) to be shown. The polymerized material greatly reduces the chances of moisture entering the material, and therefore reduces cracking, warping, etc.

Beware many of the people selling "stabilized" woods on Ebay. Some advertise "baked stabilized" woods, others "stabilize" by dunking them in Minwax wood hardener, or some other concoction. You might get a useful product, but neither should be considered to be truly stabilized.
 
I bought some such scales from a guy in Canada, off of ebay. I can't say whether they are any more stable than any unstabilized curly maple scales. I will say they were darker and turned out much prettier than any other curly maple I've used. I wish I had a digital camera to show you.

I love curly maple and have experimented with acid stains and leather dye. These scales, with only teak oil as a finish, turned out beautifully. I'll be buying more in the future. However, I agree that the heat "stabilization" is not likely to make them impervious to the elements.
 
Thanks guy's. I was skeptical about it being completely stable. Gerry I'm glad to hear you are sataified with it's looks and will be using it again. I'm in LA & you're in WA both of which are pretty humid, have you had any swelling/cracking issues?
 
Not yet but I use multiple coats ofteak oil. That should seal it pretty good and the epoxy seals the other side.
 
When the maple and birtch burls were dried with the microwave the cells collapsed and that's why the sides collapse inward. Did you know that there has been research by large lumber producers with microwave drying? When the material is now sealed with the Min Wood hardener and the moister is sealed out. You may want to try this and thats fine but I have seen many blocks where there has not been a problem afterwards and the maker who came out with this now has several hundred knives sold with no reported after sale problems. No this is not the stabilizing as has been hard pushed but it to does work. Frank
 
It's not what the guy is talking about with his maple, but there are thermally catalyzed (heated) polymers that can be used to stabilize woods. They are vacuumed and/or pressured into the wood, then the wood is "baked" to set the plastic. I picked up some of this stuff, www.ultrasealwoodstabiliser.com but haven't worked with it yet.
 
What would be a good "test" to see if wood has been stabilized? See if it will soak up moisture?
 
Iboschi said:
What would be a good "test" to see if wood has been stabilized? See if it will soak up moisture?
Click to expand...

That sounds like a reasonable idea. You hear all about testing blades, but rarely about handles.

Here's an excellent recent thread on finishing natural woods, http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=688972. There's also lots of oil finishing info for gun stocks that might be worth ferreting out.
 
From what I understand, even stabilized woods can soak up some moisture and oils. Is there a reliable test?
 
You could smell the plastic in the stabilized woods I handled, especially when grinding/sanding them.
 
You could smell the plastic in the stabilized woods I handled, especially when grinding/sanding them.
Click to expand...
And what would you recommend to test a finished knife handle or wood you just weren't sure about?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top