Pictures of Crappy Stabilization

Man, that's rough.... Looks like they weren't allowed to dry (by Geraldine, not you) and sent out.

I've dealt with Geraldine for a while and she's always been cool to me, but I've primarily stuck with getting Thuya Burl and Amboyna Burl from her, so that probably explains it.

I will say that the response you got is very disturbing...... I haven't bought anything from her/Bob(her husband, I think) for quite some time though so who knows what happens over time.....






MT
 
Will,

You are absolutely right about customer service. The eicalyptus scales may be another thing. I got some eucalyptus 15 years or so ago. I cut some of the blocks into scales, others I let whole. They all twisted. It got to be a game with me. I kept them in a hot box. Periodically I'd drag them out, flat them and put them back. They continued to twist. After 10 years I burned them.

Eucalyptus, as I understand it, was brought into the US from Australia to use for railroad ties. It didn't work because it twisted so badly. In the meantime they grew wild and took over large tracts of land in California. Don't know about the other states. I was raised around the stuff and remember how the bark and branches twisted.

that said, youd wood doesn't look twisted, just mostly warped. K&G is a good bet.

Gene
 
Had the same thing, from same seller.. but it did make a good unusual and spendy fire starter.
 
Will,

moral of the story is not to buy burl, stabilised or not. I have repaired 2 knives made by other makers ( dam good makers ) Both had different burls, one lifted and the other literally pulled itself apart. I have also seen hidden tang handles crack or shrink badly.

I have had a good customer send me 2 matched pairs of stabilised burl to use on two integrals only to have the scales curl on the first knife as I was about to start the second one. No more burls for me, I hope you guys have more luck than me. This Geraldine chic might not be as bad as it looks.

Peter
 
As long as you keep to the dense burl (Amboyna, Afzelia etc..) you'll find that they stay pretty stable....

I've limited what I use down to Amboyna, Desert Ironwood, Thuya Burl, Black Ash Burl, Mesquite Burl and a few select others...

I've been stabilizing my own stuff for a while now and sometimes it just doesn't take, at all.... There's so much involved, temperature, dryness, density, pressure, type of stabilizer used etc..... It's kind of a hobby of mine now... I will say this, the more I learn, the more I realize that there's very, very few wood stabilizing services that are worth a crap....

Stick with the long time outfits, and get recommendations.... Also, be aware that the cost quoted is not the weight of the wood when you ship it to them (they charge by the pound), it's how much it weighs when it leaves their place.... The final weight can be very different than when you sent it in... There's also a number of places that will leave gobs of stabilizer all over the wood to jack up the weight...

At any rate, I'm rambling...



MT
 
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