Intro and spalted maple question

[sebastes]

Hey there, I kept coming across this forum when googling my questions so I figured I might as well join the community. hopefully I will be able to share some creations soon enough.

metal work and bladesmith has always intrigued me along so I took some old circular saw blades and practice the stock removal technique and roughed out a cleaver and a little skinning knife just to work out the kinks and be sure I wanted to dive into this hobby.

I have been working at a rural piece of property in humboldt county california helping to maintain the orchard and property and have always been catching my eye on various pieces of firewood that are always too cool to burn so I have been stashing them. Mostly figured and spalted big leaf maple with a couple random spalted pepperwood and tanoak pieces.

I finally borrowed a saw and was able to cut up one of my more spalted pieces of big leaf maple into a few blocks and was wondering what I should do next. It is obviously unstabilized and definitely soft to the fingernail but not quite punky. I read that big leaf maple is one that definitely benefits from stabilizing.

My question is would it be a waste to try to use these chunks on these blades? would it be worth attempting to stabilize myself (with CA glue) or send them out to get stabilized (If people even do that?)? Or would I be best of using some other piece of wood and saving these spalted pieces for down the road? thanks for any help. here is what im working with

 

[John L]

Those are all prime candidates for stabilizing. Don't try it yourself as you just need better equipment than 99.9%of us have access. Send it to K&G for stabilizing if it is dry. The materials must be dry to stabilize properly. Good luck.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

They need to be stabilized. Send them to either K&G or WSSI. They will properly and professionally stabilize them. Trim the blocks to about 25% oversize for the size you want before sending them off. You can send larger blocks and cut the scales after stabilizing. Don't cut into scales before stabilizing.

http://www.knifeandgun.com/
http://www.stabilizedwood.com/wssi.shtml

 

[PaMtnBkr]

That wood will really be gorgeous after stabilizing! Nice! I just finished off a case of Mad River Steelhead last weekend! Not all at once though! Ha ha! Nice brew!

 

[sebastes]

thanks for the replies people. I think I will save these blocks and round up a few more to send off to get stabilized. I think I will keep them on the larger size as I dont really have proper tools to cut them at the moment. I should be able to find an appropriate saw once they are done.
and PaMtnBkr, cool to see it getting enjoyed on the east coast. I really enjoy their beer, they are my favorite and most consistent local brewery.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

.......... I think I will save these blocks and round up a few more to send off to get stabilized. I think I will keep them on the larger size as I dont really have proper tools to cut them at the moment. I should be able to find an appropriate saw once they are done.........
.

That may be simpler, but will cost you money that will be wasted. You will pay for stabilizing by the pound of finished weight. That soft wood will absorb a lot of resin, and will weigh a good bit more once stabilized. If you just end up cutting a lot off and throwing it away, you will be tossing dollars in the trash can. Go to a friends place if you don't have a table saw or band saw, and cut them into 2X1.5X5.5" blocks. Or if you will be making scales, 3-4"X2X5.5" blocks ( Once stabilized, you will slice the scales off the 2" face).

 

[sebastes]

That may be simpler, but will cost you money that will be wasted. You will pay for stabilizing by the pound of finished weight. That soft wood will absorb a lot of resin, and will weigh a good bit more once stabilized. If you just end up cutting a lot off and throwing it away, you will be tossing dollars in the trash can. Go to a friends place if you don't have a table saw or band saw, and cut them into 2X1.5X5.5" blocks. Or if you will be making scales, 3-4"X2X5.5" blocks ( Once stabilized, you will slice the scales off the 2" face).

Good call; no one likes wasting money. I will try to cut them into ~4"x2"5.5" blocks so I have some wiggle room and can cut them into size at a later date. I really only have access to a sawzall, circular saw, chop saw and a hand saw, all of which are less than adequate. Im getting excited to send this wood off. Ive already got about 10 pounds of raw wood, just grabbed a few nice chunks of pepperwood that has some nice spalting to it. thanks again for the reply and advice, it more than helps

 

[A C Richards]

FYI, Pepperwood does not stabilize well. If anyone can do it it would be K&G. I sent some to WSSI and they would not do it. The Maple and Oak will stabilize very nicely.

If you have not already done so check out the Fire Arts Foundry on South G street in Arcata. I think they are still open. If not see if you can get contact info for a Wendy Lawrence. She is heavily involved with the Willow Creek Chapter of NWBA. She was one of my students as well. Also the Blue Ox millworks in Eureka used to have some blacksmiting and bladesmithing classes. Good luck and have fun.