i ordered this--look what i got

If it was from a particular seller on ebay (and I think it is), then I had the same experience. After I purchased a set of scales, the wood I got was not even close to what I purchased. I sent photos to the seller to prove that what I received was not what I purchased and again this person said keep the wood and then sent a "replacement" piece of wood that looked like the sawed off end of a 2 by 4. Only time that I had to put down a negative comment. I see really pretty stuff on ebay, but only trust about 2 sellers. Hope everything works out.
 
To me it looks like the same piece. The first picture is before stabilizing. Stabilized wood has resins inside and outside. Why dont you sand the face down and have a look. I think its looks normal to me.
 
Bruce Bump said:
To me it looks like the same piece. The first picture is before stabilizing. Stabilized wood has resins inside and outside. Why dont you sand the face down and have a look. I think its looks normal to me.
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The problem with that is if he sands it and it doesn't go back to looking like the first picture, he can't return it because it is not in its original condition. I personally wouldn't take the chance and would just send it back for a full refund, just my 2 cents
 
I have to agree with saint to a certain extent. The wood doesnt change its still the same wood, but stacey is right depending on the properties of the wood it can change form when treated. If the wood has soft spots they will absorbe more resin and with thus change the appearance.I firmly believe you get what you pay for most of the time unless you know what your looking for to start with. Over the years ive made alot of things out of some really nice wood. The best stuff ive got is very hard to come by now pretty much especially thick wide pieces is Ribbon Mahogany. Ive about 40 board ft thats 80 years old been thinking about making a cabinet/dissplay case. I will wait .
 
unky_gumbi said:
The problem with that is if he sands it and it doesn't go back to looking like the first picture, he can't return it because it is not in its original condition. I personally wouldn't take the chance and would just send it back for a full refund, just my 2 cents
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I would assume they did a good stabilizing job and the only way to know is to sand it down and look. If they indeed tried to pass off something unexceptable and wont take it back I would complain loud enough to alert everybody concerned. They wont be in business long.
 
They did this to me with some thuya and redwood burl. The pics were gorgeous, the scales looked like they were dipped in horse snot. I would just have sanded the surface, but the scales also felt light as air. To me, this suggested zero penetration of whatever they use. I ended up snapping one of the scales while trying to shape it for a straight razor handle, and the wood was dry as a bone with no sense of there being any stabilizing agent internally.
 
Sounds like the Ebay seller that Troop mentioned in his post. When I first started buying handle material for knifemaking I bought some scales from that seller. I bought several sets of unstabilized Red Elm burl and a set of stabilized Black Ash burl. My experience with the black ash scales was very similar to your. They looked like a$$ when I got them... nothing at all like the photo shown in Ebay. The scales did, however, look much better once they had been sanded down. I used them on my very first knife... which was posted HERE. I didn't feel 100% confident in the the quality of the stabilant, so I did end up adding several coats of tung oil... but the handle looks to be holding up extremely well.

I have since found some quality Ebay vendors of stabilized woods, as well as started sending unstabilized wood out to WSSI. In fact, the two sets of Red Elm scales mentioned above just came back from Mike in a batch wood last week. :thumbup:

Erin
 
well you all are correct about the transaction. i sent them back. the thing is they were not very thick at all, so if i started sanding them down - i would lose alot of playing room when i finally did use them. I also feel they were very light and fragile. I did not want to take a chance with so little thickness and end up with crap anyway. Maybe somehow it might of just needed a quick 2 or 3 strokes with some 60 grit--but i doubt it. I also asked if they could send me a unstabilized piece--from one of there pictures--they said no more or less---so did they take the picture awhile ago-then automatically try to stabilize -if so how come mine was still sticky and sludgy feeling. Ill try to talk with them again about getting one of there pictured pieces---unstabilized. I dont know but i would buy one unstabilized if i could. Then i can send it out or not stabilize it at all. thanks for the responses--marekz
 
Marekz,

You probably already know this, but you should be cautious when sending scales to be stabilized because MOST of the time you will have significant amount of warpage occur. You will lose quite a bit of thickness sanding them flat. In most cases it's better to buy blocks, have them stabilized then cut them into scales.

Erin
 
this may be a dumbass question but what is burl??? i hear people talk about it all the time but it looks like plain old wood to me. guess i never paid attention cause all my handles are stag or bone. and if it is wood can't you just sand down a little and clear coat to make the color pop? don't know anything about burl but thats how the rest of the wood world works.
 
Stabilization is a process, not a stabiliant!

There are key points to the process:

1) The stabiliant
2) The catalyst
3) Pressure
4) Moisture content
5) Material to be stabilized

The stabiliant and catalyst work together to seal the wood and make it harder. Chemical catalysts can be added in different amounts to achieve different results. Do you want the wood very hard so it polishes to a high luster? The trade off is the wood will be more brittle and may chip if the knife is dropped. I prefer to have a little less shine and wood that does not chip. Stabiliants that are catalyzed by heat cannot be modified like a chemical catalyst. Stabiliants that rely on evaporation (MinWax Wood Hardener) are a joke when compared to professional stabilizing. Mike Fitzgerald can explain the explain the differences in long vs short monomer chains. Mike has a life time of experience working with chemicals. I wish he would post more often.

Pressure is important to ensure the wood is completely penetrated. I want the handle to be stabilized all the way through. I wrote in a post a few weeks ago WSSI uses far more than 1,000 psi in their process. Why would a process that uses less pressure be the same of better?

I written a few posts regarding moisture content. We try to get our wood down to 6% moisture before stabilizing. This is the one part of the process where I have control. Different woods dry at different rates. We've learned eucalyptus from Australia dries much slower than eucalyptus from California. The only way to know this is to have a good moisture meter. We built a kiln to dry our wood. Some woods have taken more than two years before they were dry enough to stabilize.

Which brings up another question. If you spent months getting a piece of wood dry enough to stabilize, is it a good idea to spritz water on the wood for a photograph? We never spray the wood with water except when we are pressure washing burls we receive. There are other ways to see the figure.

I do not think everything should be stabilized. We received some african blackwood burl this year. I refused to have it stabilized. I much prefer natural blackwood to stabilized. I think it polishes better and the figure is more visible. Stacy, next time you send in thuya burl try this. After stabilizing we heat the thuya to 200° for several hours. Make sure you have a drip tray. We do not sand it. We let it sit for about a year. At this point it is much harder, resists cracking and polishes well. The heat helps the stabiliant force the oil out of the wood.

Marekz, you were right to return the scales.
 
sterlinghaney23 said:
this may be a dumbass question but what is burl??? i hear people talk about it all the time but it looks like plain old wood to me. guess i never paid attention cause all my handles are stag or bone. and if it is wood can't you just sand down a little and clear coat to make the color pop? don't know anything about burl but thats how the rest of the wood world works.
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A burl is basicly a growth on a tree, often caused by mold. It has varying grain patterns. If you wikipedia it they give a good description of it
 
Hello, i got a refund with no problems. so all is well--although i wished i could of sanded it abit to see if the figure would have come out. but it was thin and im heavy with the sandpaper so its all for the best. thanks FOR all the replies-marekz
 
Markez... you got lucky, if it was that moron "Geraldine" off of eBay. They told me they couldn't believe I was mad after storing the scales for a bit on the shelf. The scales looked like beef jerky. I asked them what was I supposed to tell my customers if the scales crapped out after a couple of months. I posted a thread on here about those idiots.
 
I too got scammed by the above mentioned e-bay seller.In my case no refunds.One particular scale set was warped 3/8ths and they said"we are not responsible for what occurs during the stabilization process as all wood is sold pre stabilization and shown wet in our pictures" 3 other sets of burl darkened so much they are unusable and have become sanding blocks.I will say who it was so others are forwarned BOBS EXOTIC WOODS.
 
Crap, I had forgotten about some walnut burl scales I got. Left them in the shop for a week, they were pretzels. It was probably the same seller, but I honestly can't remember.
 
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