Good Source for Wood?

K

Kallaste

Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Messages
4
Hi All,

First post here. I have just gotten started in knifemaking, and am trying to find quality vendors selling supplies online for reasonable prices. Can anyone recommend a good source for handle materials? I am looking mainly for stabilized wood, but untreated wood sometimes as well.

There just seem to be an overwhelming number of options, and it would be great to have some first hand recommendations from people who know.

Thanks.
 
check the link in my signature line. We don't stock much "ready to go" wood but we cut, stabilize and dye to your specifications. If you're on Instagram check us out on @burlsandblades

Also Mark at Burlsource, who is a fellow forumite, has a great selection of quality wood.
 
Contact hellspawn here. He turned me onto bigmikeyc1 on ebay. I might have the name wrong. You can try him out.
 
Hey! What are you looking for? I know suppliers in quite a few cities as well as being pretty close with a few great internet sellers. If you are in Los Angeles I can be a huge help. If you are looking for Ironwood I use Don on ebay as well as Arizona ironwood LLC, for Cocobolo I like to use tallship model. As HSC pointed out I do a lot of work with bigmickeyc1 on Ebay. He is a great source of rosewood, exotic ebonies, lots of end grain stuff and snakewood. If you shoot him a message and tell him that Ben sent you he will also probably be able to find you plenty of other stuff if you need it. Shoot me a message if you want!
 
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Wow, thanks for all the information! It's really helpful. I should have joined this forum sooner.

I have been looking at Ebay lately and picking up a few things here and there, with varying degrees of success. But with the recommendation for bigmickeyc1, I just spent about two hours browsing his store and bought a LOT of stuff. I still haven't seen everything he has, but I have to stop now before I spend way too much money! Funny thing, though, I actually already bought some cocobolo from tallship, so I guess I did good on that one. It hasn't gotten here yet, but I'm glad I won't be disappointed.

Hellspawn, thanks so much for all the great info. I'm not in LA, but actually on the on the other coast in Florida. I'll be moving to Alaska soon. Lately I've been looking for lots of burls, especially buckeye, as well as cocobolo, rosewood, and maple. But after today I think I'll be set for a while. That mickey guy sure has a lot of nice materials.

Thanks again!
 
Kallaste said:
Wow, thanks for all the information! It's really helpful. I should have joined this forum sooner.

I have been looking at Ebay lately and picking up a few things here and there, with varying degrees of success. But with the recommendation for bigmickeyc1, I just spent about two hours browsing his store and bought a LOT of stuff. I still haven't seen everything he has, but I have to stop now before I spend way too much money! Funny thing, though, I actually already bought some cocobolo from tallship, so I guess I did good on that one. It hasn't gotten here yet, but I'm glad I won't be disappointed.

Hellspawn, thanks so much for all the great info. I'm not in LA, but actually on the on the other coast in Florida. I'll be moving to Alaska soon. Lately I've been looking for lots of burls, especially buckeye, as well as cocobolo, rosewood, and maple. But after today I think I'll be set for a while. That mickey guy sure has a lot of nice materials.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

If you can visit their shop, they have some killer stuff. They turned me onto spalted tamarind and mango.

http://www.amazonexotichardwoods.com/
 
Ben,

How do I find the Ebay sellers you mentioned? I tried searching by sellers and none of those names produced any results.
 
hellspawn415 said:
Hey! What are you looking for? I know suppliers in quite a few cities as well as being pretty close with a few great internet sellers. If you are in Los Angeles I can be a huge help. If you are looking for Ironwood I use Don on ebay as well as Arizona ironwood LLC, for Cocobolo I like to use tallship model. As HSC pointed out I do a lot of work with bigmickeyc1 on Ebay. He is a great source of rosewood, exotic ebonies, lots of end grain stuff and snakewood. If you shoot him a message and tell him that Ben sent you he will also probably be able to find you plenty of other stuff if you need it. Shoot me a message if you want!
Click to expand...

I have bought a few pieces from bigmickeyc1 on ebay. They were all stabilized(spalted pecan, Curley maple, spalted maple....I think). Anyway, I think they were $36 for the three. Do you know anything about the stabilization process he uses?
 
i4Marc said:
Ben,

How do I find the Ebay sellers you mentioned? I tried searching by sellers and none of those names produced any results.
Click to expand...

Tall ship: my source for coco: http://www.ebay.com/usr/tallships_model_builder?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

BigMickey: my source for most of my stuff: http://www.ebay.com/usr/bigmikeyc1?_trksid=p2047675.l2559 "tell him Ben form blade forum sent you, I've been trying to convince him to join the forum"

Don: My ironwood guy: http://www.ebay.com/usr/donsknifes?_trksid=p2047675.l2559
 
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Rookie25 said:
I have bought a few pieces from bigmickeyc1 on ebay. They were all stabilized(spalted pecan, Curley maple, spalted maple....I think). Anyway, I think they were $36 for the three. Do you know anything about the stabilization process he uses?
Click to expand...

I'm not quite sure. I do know that his stuff holds together pretty well though. I just sent him an email, i'll post what he responds.
 
There are suppliers out there who can provide you with highly figured and stabilized woods that are very affordable if you know where to look. With regards to stabilization, personally I only trust stabilized woods from K&G or WSSI as I want to provide the best for my customers. Usually a supplier who uses either of the two will make mention of it, but not always. If it is a supplier I've not done business with before, I will ask them directly who does their stabilization (and I don't mention K&G or WSSI). If the supplier does their own stabilization, I avoid them. Even on ebay, there are suppliers who use either K&G or WSSI. In fact, one supplier I sometimes use on ebay, even sent me a copy of the paperwork from WSSI to verify the first time I placed a small order. Don't let anyone convince you, that you have to pay inflated prices for highly figured and stabilized pieces. Again, the suppliers are out there. You just have to do a little searching to find them.
 
Rookie25 said:
I have bought a few pieces from bigmickeyc1 on ebay. They were all stabilized(spalted pecan, Curley maple, spalted maple....I think). Anyway, I think they were $36 for the three. Do you know anything about the stabilization process he uses?
Click to expand...

This is what he says on his listing pages on Ebay about his process:

STABILIZED:

STABILIZATION INCLUDES A COMPLETE IMPREGNATION

THROUGHOUT THE WOOD INTO THE FIBERS UNDER PRESSURE.

THIS WILL MINIMIZE OR ELIMINATE WARPING, SHRINKING,

CRACKING, WOOD EXPANSION AND PROVIDES BETTER

ADHESION FOR EPOXY OR CYANOACRYLATE ADHESIVES.

THE END RESULT IS A NATURAL LOOKING PRODUCT,

STRONG AND DOESN’T HAVE A PLASTIC LOOK. (NON-ACRYLIC PROCESS)

STABILIZED KNIFE SCALES LISTED ARE IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE.

AIR/OVEN DRIED

...

WE STABILIZE MOST OF OUR KNIFE SCALES/GRIPS TO PREVENT YOU FROM EXPERIENCING SHRINKING, EXPANSION, WARPING, CRACKING, ESPECIALLY AFTER WORKING ON YOUR KNIFE/GUN FOR SEVERAL HOURS!
WE HAVE BEEN STABILIZING WOOD FOR 25 YEARS AND ASSOCIATED WITH DOMESTIC AND EXOTIC WOODS FOR 50 YEARS.
WE USE A COMMERCIAL STABILIZATION AGENT WHICH WE PURCHASE IN DRUMS.
OUR STABILIZATION EQUIPMENT IS PAID FOR SO WE DO NOT PASS ON THE COST OF $3.00 - $15.00 PER SET TO YOU.
WE ONLY STABILIZE OUR OWN WOODS.
 
"We use a commercial mixture of mineral spirits with a concentration and percentage of Naphtha as well as other resins and oils.
This is not an acrylic (plastic) heat process that adds weight to wood, but a process that leaves wood with a natural look.
We also add additional wood hardeners for softer woods like spalted and some burls.
We have been stabilizing wood for 25 years and associated with wood for fifty years.
Each listing of stabilized wood includes a statement on stabilization​ as follows:
What he sent me
 
hellspawn415 said:
"We use a commercial mixture of mineral spirits with a concentration and percentage of Naphtha as well as other resins and oils.
This is not an acrylic (plastic) heat process that adds weight to wood, but a process that leaves wood with a natural look.
We also add additional wood hardeners for softer woods like spalted and some burls.
We have been stabilizing wood for 25 years and associated with wood for fifty years.
Each listing of stabilized wood includes a statement on stabilization​ as follows:
What he sent me
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. I noticed, on the ones I have, that the end result was different than previous stabilized woods I have used. It didn't take a shine like I thought it would. It seems to be holding up well so far. For the price it seems pretty good. Anybody have any thoughts on this stabilizing process?
 
Personally I like it. HE sometiems sends me scraps and cut off, and I got bored and did a compression test. IDK about the harder woods like kingwood and brazallian, but i have some of his stabilized end grain spalted maple, but i put a center punch on it, supported it with a tube and a base and put weights on to see how much weight it took to leave a 1/8th inch dent. Mike's spalted took 35 more pounds than a piece of regular maple end grain from my wood shop.
 
hellspawn415 said:
Personally I like it. HE sometiems sends me scraps and cut off, and I got bored and did a compression test. IDK about the harder woods like kingwood and brazallian, but i have some of his stabilized end grain spalted maple, but i put a center punch on it, supported it with a tube and a base and put weights on to see how much weight it took to leave a 1/8th inch dent. Mike's spalted took 35 more pounds than a piece of regular maple end grain from my wood shop.
Click to expand...
I wonder if I could put a top coat of some kind to make it shine?
 
Super glue works well. Though it does darken everything up some. I think Karl on the forum uses a ton of spalted end grain.
 
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