Handle scales

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s_friz

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Feb 6, 2015
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Alright i am new to this forum and I have been making knives for about three months now, I have a pallet full of black walnut logs, they are about 20" in diameter and 2 feet long. Some loggers threw them into a burn pile and I grabbed them up, How would a man go about turning them into knife scales. Does anyone have experience doing this.
 
I will allow other folks much more knowledgeable than I am answer this - but I'll be following. The first question will be - how long have the logs been cut and how have they been stored?

Ken H>
 
They were cut down about a year ago. I grabbed some that were laying on the ground and some that were stacked up on top of brush. Some of it is spalted and it is beautiful. I can use 75 percent of the wood. The other 25 is rotted junk.
 
I have used unstabilized walnut with mixed results. One splintered really bad, the others came out ok. The general consensus is to use stabilized wood. You can cut it into scales and send it out for stabilization or get some cactus juice and a vacuum pump and experiment
 
Cut it into 2" thick planks.
Stack those planks on a shelf with "stickers" between them ( slats of wood).
Leave for a year.
Test the moisture content. Leave for another year if needed.
When below 10% moisture content, cut and rough sand into 1.5X2X6" blocks.
Let sit on the shelf for three to six more months.
Send the best blocks to Ken at K&G or Mike at WSSI for stabilizing.
 
Yep, since it's spalted, must be stabilized. Walnut that is good solid wood has been used for 100's of years as knife handle and works just fine..... stabilized is better.

Solid Walnut wood won't stabilize with Cactus Juice or with any of the home methods I've heard of. A good spalted wood does tend to work good with proper use of Cactus Juice because "spalted" is usually much more porous that a solid wood. I say this because the spalted wood I've stabilized with Cactus Juice sinks in water, and the Juice is completely thru the wood. Cut it in half, and the inside is same as outside. Solid Walnut wood just won't do that - and Curtis (Cactus Juice guy) says Walnut is not a good wood to stabilize with Cactus Juice.

Ken H>
 
The only part that is spalted is the outer sap wood. Once I get past that, it is nice and solid, no spalting, I just want to know how to turn it into planks? Chainsaw? Bandsaw? Mill? I've tried to do it with a chainsaw but I can't secure the log well enough. Any tips??
 
My personal plan of attack would be to use the chainsaw to cut the 2' to shorter pieces, probably 6". After that I would split it like firewood to chunks that I would finish out with either my bandsaw (14") or my table saw. Neither of these would be optimum due the danger involved in trying to cut the odd pieces so.... Try this at your own risk.

I realize that there would be a lot of waste involved but I don't have a mill to cut it in a way to get the most out of it.

I am sure there are those who would have better ideas but this is what popped in to my head.
 
I would not cut them into 6" long pieces until the wood dries, doing so will probably cause unnecessary cracks.
The way I would do it is cut the pieces length wise with a chainsaw to something you can handle on your bandsaw. if your goal is 1 inch thick blocks I would cut the boards 1 3/16 thick then sticker the wood and let it dry. It will take longer to cut the log length wise but it is still easy to do, just lay the log on its side and start cutting. I wouldnt bother trying to clamp it. put something under the log so you wont cut into the dirt when you get to the other side.

and of course as said: Try this at your own risk
 
Spalted said:
I would not cut them into 6" long pieces until the wood dries, doing so will probably cause unnecessary cracks.
The way I would do it is cut the pieces length wise with a chainsaw to something you can handle on your bandsaw. if your goal is 1 inch thick blocks I would cut the boards 1 3/16 thick then sticker the wood and let it dry. It will take longer to cut the log length wise but it is still easy to do, just lay the log on its side and start cutting. I wouldnt bother trying to clamp it. put something under the log so you wont cut into the dirt when you get to the other side.

and of course as said: Try this at your own risk
Click to expand...


Agreed, I did make the assumption this was already dried.
 
Ok thanks for the input, I'm pretty sure it's seasoned. My dad told me they have been cut down for 2 years
 
Cut for 2 years would be plenty "seasoned" for firewood but not "dry" enough yet for knife handles
 
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