Q&A about getting wood stabilized

Mark - I little while ago you helped explain what my Red Maple "onion burl" is. I've had large blocks of this sealed and drying since then, and will continue to leave them be for several months more. But, when the blocks are dry enough, will stabilizing completely fill the small cracks that characteristically run throughout this wood?

Its beautiful, hard stuff but the cracks are tough to deal with.
 
Big cracks do NOT get filled by the polymers in most cases and the polymers are not very strong. They can fall out. They are NOTHING like epoxies or cyanoacrylics (Superglue). If you have voids left over, you can fill them with Superglue gel or mixes with like colored wood sandings or grindings.

Also, not all treaters do as good a job as others. One large outfit will not treat walnut and two others I know do treat it successfully. One outfit successfully traeted it, but the finished color was grey/black and not worth using. Sometimes the treater needs to use different processes and be careful which to use on certain woods or woods in certain conditions. Sometimes you just have to pay your money and take your chances.

There is one thing ALWAYS to remember: wood is/was a living thing and there are many variances and you get what you get. Sometimes God makes the choice.
 
Brian Ayres said:
Mark,
Is there a list of woods that need stabilized? Or a list of woods that won't take it?
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Whether or not to have a piece of wood stabilized is a personal judgement thing.
My feeling is that if the wood is not tough enough to hold up for it's intended use without stabilizing, then have it stabilized.
Also when using woods prone to cracking or movement when untreated.

A lot of the makers these days prefer that any wood that can be stabilized, to be stabilized.
Kind of like an insurance policy. Plus it makes it easier to get a better finish on the handle.

There are some woods that are difficult to stabilize.
Like Peter said, oily woods.
 
I dunno, personally, if it's a wood that can handle the work, I'd rather leave it natural than stabilize and not dye it. I loved dyed stabilized wood, but I usually prefer the various finishing techniques with oils, etc, for un-dyed, and the character they take on over time.


Un-dyed stabilized wood just looks frozen in time to me, but that's just me, although I guess it mostly only bothers me on lighter colored varieties.
 
The_cutting_edge said:
I have not used them myself yet. But woodstabilizer.com is out of Alberta and from what I have heard they put out a quality product.
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Sadly, this is from their websites:

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY (November 22, 2011):
We are no longer offering a wood stabilizing service. We were getting so busy stabilizing other people’s wood, that there wasn’t any time left to produce our own product. We want to get back to producing our own stabilized wood product, and in order to do so, something has to go.

The search goes on. :(
 
Patrice Lemée;10222276 said:
Sadly, this is from their websites:

EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY (November 22, 2011):
We are no longer offering a wood stabilizing service. We were getting so busy stabilizing other people’s wood, that there wasn’t any time left to produce our own product. We want to get back to producing our own stabilized wood product, and in order to do so, something has to go.

The search goes on. :(
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I saw this yesterday as well. I sent them an email and they replied within 15 min. I was told once the clear up the back log and get some of their own stuff caught up they would bring it back. They also said they would "take care of their local guys" so don't give up on them yet.
 
The_cutting_edge said:
I saw this yesterday as well. I sent them an email and they replied within 15 min. I was told once the clear up the back log and get some of their own stuff caught up they would bring it back. They also said they would "take care of their local guys" so don't give up on them yet.
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That sounds promising.

I hate the thought of shipping to and fro the US when it can be done here.

They do have much greater margins on finished blocks, some nice wood, but priced higher than I'm willing to pay.
http://woodstabilizer.com/2011/11/22/large-block-stabilized-maple-burl-1379/
$55 + $8.50 shipping for one nice but small maple burl block.

Sure it's 8" long, but that's still too short to get 2 handles from even though it's labelled as a knife handle block.
and at 1 7/8" square, it's still nowhere near the Nick Wheeler sized blocks that Burl Source Mark has now


Burl Source here has nicer wood, more variety, bigger blocks & better prices

That's too bad as I prefer to shop in country.

It will be nice when they stabilize again - it allows the freedom to send in your own blocks.
 
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Seems like everything is overpriced in Canada some days.. but I'm very happy with Burl Source.. I don't like going to the site because I always leave it quite a bit poorer :P Great prices and product though.
 
mgysgthath said:
Seems like everything is overpriced in Canada some days.. but I'm very happy with Burl Source.. I don't like going to the site because I always leave it quite a bit poorer :P Great prices and product though.
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that's the biggest hurdle I've found here in the great white north... finding material sources, as well as other knife guys to talk knife junk about. it's lonely making knives in canada, and yes expensive.
 
This is a list based on my experience with K&G stabilizing these woods for me.

Maple - very well
Spalted maple - very well
Birch - very well, takes on amber tint
Myrtle - slight weight gain
Madrone - slight weight gain
Spalted Madrone & Myrtle - very well
Redwood - very well, medium weight gain
Koa - very well
Mango - very well but resists some dyes
Eucalyptus - very well but resists some dyes
Ebony - very well
Black & White Ebony - very well, takes on an amber tint
Brazillian Rosewood - not good, weeps
Amboyna - very well
Walnut - very well, medium weight gain
Ash - very well
Buckeye - very well
Sycamore - very well
AU Morrell and Mallee - very well
AU York Gum - very well
Black Palm - very well
Bubinga - very well, turns darker
Ziricote - very well

These results are based on woods I have had stabilized by K&G. Bear in mind that they do not use the same recipe with everything.
 
mgysgthath said:
Seems like everything is overpriced in Canada some days...
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rustyrazor said:
that's the biggest hurdle I've found here in the great white north... finding material sources, as well as other knife guys to talk knife junk about. it's lonely making knives in canada, and yes expensive.
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Aw, quit yer bellyaching. :p If you ever get a chance, try it in paradise in the middle of the Pacific sometime... :D
 
Hey Mark -- I didn't see buckeye in your list? I would have thought you'd mention weight gain for the spalted maple? -- Phil
 
Phil Dwyer said:
Hey Mark -- I didn't see buckeye in your list? I would have thought you'd mention weight gain for the spalted maple? -- Phil
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Sorry Phil.
Buckeye burl takes stabilizing very well with a significant weight gain. Buckeye burl also accepts dyes very well, colors tend to turn out darker than with most woods.
Spalted Maple will also have a significant weight gain.
 
Burl Source said:
Buckeye burl takes stabilizing very well with a significant weight gain. Buckeye burl also accepts dyes very well, colors tend to turn out darker than with most woods. Spalted Maple will also have a significant weight gain.
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Thanks! So edit your list already...:p
 
Phil Dwyer said:
Aw, quit yer bellyaching. :p If you ever get a chance, try it in paradise in the middle of the Pacific sometime... :D
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laugh now Phil, but if I'm ever in the neighbourhood, I just may take you up on that... it probably beats waiting for the kerosene heater to thaw the shop out before I can handle my frozen equipment, lol.
 
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