pecan scales

[jraney]

hey has anybody used pecan wood for handles, and where can i send wood to get stabalized, how much does it cost?

 

[jawilder]

I've used pecan. It's a good hard wood and doesn't need to be stabalized. A few coats of Danish Oil will darken it up and keep it protected. If you feel that it must be stabilized (spalting, etc), then many people suggest WSSI, although I have never used them.

 

[jraney]

can some of the softer woods be stabalized like cedar?

 

[argel55]

WSSI or K&G Supply in Arizona both do an excellent job stabilizing. It is priced according to weight gain per piece.

 

[Mahoney]

Pecan is in the hickory family, it should make a good handle even unstablized

 

[marekz]

I have plenty of spalted pecan that is currently drying. I thought it would be wise to get them stabilized when dried. I have not actually used pecan without "stabilization" . It is a hardwood, i would like to find some more info on it.--Thanks Mark

 

[SBuzek]

Spalted Pecan needs to be stabilized as the process of the rotting that makes it spalted also softens it.It makes really nice handles and looks great.Pecan is a straight grained hard wood and is really plain with out spalting.
Stan

 

[jraney]

ok the wood i cut needs to dry for how long and how should i go about drying it i was told to put it in some water so it would not crack is this ok or should i just elevate the wood off the ground and keep it dry? and what is spalting?

 

[jawilder]

from what I understand, you can induce spalting by throwing a tarp over your wood and leave it outside for a while so that critters and bacteria can break down the wood.

If the bark is still on the wood, then leave it on if the wood is still green otherwise it will crack. You want the wood to dry as slowly as possible, so putting wax or lacquer on then end grain will slow the drying process and hopefully stop the cracking.

I would think putting the wood in water would be counter productive.

There are tutorials on how to slowly dry wood by creating a hot box with a light bulb.

I know that others, such as Burl Source will know much much much more than I can help. Good luck
Jason

 

[Mahoney]

The rule of thumb that I've heard for air drying hardwoods is 1 year per inch of thickness. That's assuming a fairly dry location like a garage or barn, elevated above the ground, and properly stacked and stickered. If you paint the ends of the boards with wax, or scrap paint, it may prevent some end checking. But unless the wood is quartersawn, some checking will likely occur anyway.

For spalting, the method I've read about involves putting the wood on shaded damp earth that's been covered with sawdust from spalted wood, and then cover with a tarp to keep moist. Check periodically to see if the fungus is doing it's work. There's supposedly a fine line between spalted and "rotted away"