curly maple for scales

M

matlocc

Joined
Jan 29, 2016
Messages
50
Do any or many of you use curly maple for scales? I have some nice wood from a tree cut down near me and wondered if it was worth sawing up into scale blanks.
 
Curly maple and walnut are the two woods I absolutely adore for knife handles!

Not a great pic but: CPM 10V and stabilized curley maple for the Service Member of the Year at SOCSOUTH.

m1CN7Ua.jpg
 
IF you have a local muzzleloader maker bet he has scarps you can use. Been living off his scarps for year. My local legend who made muzzleloaders just recently died. Sad day!
 
I'll agree with the above. Well except the centuries part. In fact, on the 3 maple trees I've taken down on my property, I have yet to offer one of these for sale, keeping them for myself.

Well, now that I think of it, I did sell 2 blocks to Dave Lisch ~2 years ago. But this was right after I cut down the second tree and knew I'd have more to replace them.

kdnolan- That looks almost exactly like one of my wa handles, brass, ebony and all.
 
weo said:
I'll agree with the above. Well except the centuries part. In fact, on the 3 maple trees I've taken down on my property, I have yet to offer one of these for sale, keeping them for myself.

Well, now that I think of it, I did sell 2 blocks to Dave Lisch ~2 years ago. But this was right after I cut down the second tree and knew I'd have more to replace them.

kdnolan- That looks almost exactly like one of my wa handles, brass, ebony and all.
Click to expand...
Actually, the bolster is Wenge, I haven’t tried ebony...yet.
 
kmf600 said:
You guys stain your curly maple?
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Fiebings spirit based leather dye works for me. British Tan will give you a really cool reddish orange color. This is just with some red alkanet root oil finish, no dye. The ferrule was a little scrap of old growth Brazilian rosewood that I have left over from an 1.5 sq by 18 stick.
IMG_0674.jpg
 
jdm61 said:
Fiebings spirit based leather dye works for me. British Tan will give you a really cool reddish orange color. This is just with some red alkanet root oil finish, no dye.
Click to expand...

Would you be willing to describe your process for dyeing to get enough color penetration before stabilizing? Or is this done with unstabilized wood after shaping the handle?
 
I'm just heading out to the shop to cut up three big slabs of fantastic curly/quilted/flame maple. I ought to get close to 100 handles from them. I will send them to K&G for dying and stabilizing.
The undyed is most popular, so I have about 60% stabilized with no dye.
Brown, green, red, and black get 10% each.
Black dyed can have an awesome look with a silvery sheen rolling through it.
 
The best way to do curly maple is with aqua fortis but you can’t use it on stabilized maple. It brings out beautiful red hues and chautoyance
 
what is the best size to cut them if i want to dry and sell, or do they need to be stabilized?
 
Unstabilized with a high grade oil finish
weo said:
Would you be willing to describe your process for dyeing to get enough color penetration before stabilizing? Or is this done with unstabilized wood after shaping the handle?
Click to expand...
 
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