Oregon Myrtle Burl

scottickes

scottickes

Joined
Oct 27, 2005
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I was on the Oregon Coast for a friends wedding and picked up a nice piece of Oregon Myrtle Burl. The piece is 2-1/2" x 3" X 14". Does anyone know if this wood benefits from stabilization?

Thanks in advance.

Ickie
 
Scott,
I have used stabliized myrtle.
bathunter.jpg
 
AlphaKnifeSupply has stabilized Oregon Myrtle....so WSSI does process it.


I love the stuff. I've used it both stabilized and unstabilized. Love the smell!
 
forgot to answer the question....( :foot: )


Myrtle is hard, but medium weight. It does benefit...but takes on quite a bit of stabilizing resin.
 
That's a nice piece Scott. I'd have it stabilized, but that's just me.

-d
 
They had a huge board that was 1" thick x 8" wide x 5 foot long that had incredible figure. I wanted to buy it soooooooo badly. I just didn't want to part with $254 for it. On the way home, my wife said, "You could have cut it up and sold a bunch of it."

I was tempted to knock my head against the car window!

Ickie
 
Scott,
You have to make sure it is really really dry before stabilizing. It stabilizes well, and Mike at WSSI can do it. Myrtle tends to be a bit wet, so dry it well.
Stacy
 
Mike CAN do it, but he doesn't LIKE to. He told me this himself, when I sent him several blocks of it about 5 years ago. Mike is as good a guy as you'll find to deal with, and I appreciated his honesty. He told me it doesn't take the polymer real well, and it has a tendency to have all sorts of problems coming out of the chamber.

I've still got several pieces... it's pretty, but I don't think it's nearly as good to work with as other species.

Even though it's VERY pretty.... I feel like it's a little better suited to fancy furniture. :)
 
bladsmth said:
Scott,
You have to make sure it is really really dry before stabilizing. It stabilizes well, and Mike at WSSI can do it. Myrtle tends to be a bit wet, so dry it well.
Stacy
Click to expand...

This is great advice, that I already follow.

I cut all my newly purchased wood into blocks. Usually 1-1/2" x 2" x 5 or 6". I then paint the ends and let them sit for a year at the very least. I purchased a bunch of California Buckeye Burl, Birdseye Maple and some California Redwood back in 2002 that I haven't touched. I'm going to be sending it all out to WSSI in the near future. I also have some great spalted maple burl that I purchased in 2004 that's ready to send out also. I'm going to have a bunch of very nice stabilized handle material pretty soon.

It's a necessity, since the only stabilized wood that I have left is birch burl. It was stabilized by WSSI. I bought it at a knife show in Ohio back in 2000. I don't use it often, because it has a bunch of blue and brown dye that makes it look too unnatural for most knives.

For right now, I'm using cocobolo rosewood and ebony on many of my knives. I did also use some tulipwood recently. It might be time to cut up some of my mammoth ivory tusks and mammoth bone.

Here are pictures of the cabinet that I store it all in. It's 8' tall x 3' wide x 1' deep. The pictures are the top and bottom of the same cabinet. It's made out of hickory. Each little cubby hole is 5" x 5" x 1 foot deep. There are 70 cubby holes.

I also keep 52100 rollers and my 1084 and 15N20 as well as my 1080 steel in it. I have some mother of pearl also. Each cubby hole is labeled with the material that is stored in it.

Ickie
 
Myrtle sometimes stabilizes well, sometimes it comes out looking like God gave it a squeeze. Ken McFall also quit stabilizing it. I don't know if it's an oil that causes the problem, moisture has no bearing on the pieces that I've had go sideways. Ken McFall is really savvy about what works, myrtle is iffy.

Should you decide to stabilize it, leave the pieces a bit oversize in case it corkscrews. Be prepared for all of it to go gunnybag. And I'm referring to real stabilizing like WSSI or K&G, not the backyard variety.

Gene
 
I'm one that only uses something that I have confidence in. I know that WSSI will provide quality stabilization. I don't have experience stabilizing on my own. Mike has the equipment to do it correctly. I don't.

I'm beginning to think I'm best to just leave this stuff sit for a year or two and then use it unstabilized. I don't want to take a chance and ruin it.

Ickie
 
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