Spalted maple blocks?

weo

weo

Joined
Sep 21, 2014
Messages
3,111
Hello all. I've been lurking and reading for months, and have a problem(???:confused:) that I think someone here could help me with. Not sure if this is the place to post this question, or even exactly what the question is, now that I think of it.

I cut up a maple stump from a tree I took down on my property a number of years ago, and noticed it had spalted, quite nicely. I though it may make nice scales, so over the past few days, I cut up the stump into blocks approx. 2" x 1.75" x 4-6" (+/-). Well, so far I've got about 250-300 packed in sawdust in 2 coolers and am only about 2/3 through the pile of rounds, and I realized, "what the heck am I going to do with these???" I have only made one mushroom knife for myself, am more of an artist type hobby-ist blacksmith. So I guess my question is, are these worth anything? I'm assuming they are worth something and assuming they're worth more if I dry/stabilize them???
post-29018-0-76840400-1424143376.jpg


Any suggestions/guidance?
Thanks in advance
 
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Those will make NICE scales for sure. My wife really likes spalted wood on her knives. Spalted wood does need stabilizing most of all. K&G does a GREAT job and on that much wood you'll get a good price.

Ken H>
 
Instead of trying to yield the highest number of blocks, I'd cut them bigger

1.75" seems small, 4" is definitely too short


then dry them properly,

Sip them to WSSI or KnG for stabilizing.

mason jars and cactus juice aren't the same.
 
I would say that if you are talking about using such stuff for knife handles, you should probably never utter the world "spalt" without the word "stabilized" in front of it. ;)
 
Thanks for the replies so far.

Count, I mis-typed, the blocks are roughly 2" x 1.75" x 4-6". The 4 inchers are the end pieces of the longer pieces. Or should I keep the rest of the blocks in the 9-10" lengths?

From what I've read, K&G is the way to go.
 
Most knife blocks or scales are about 1.75 inch x 5" long. Many handles can be made from 1.50" wide scales or blocks. A 6" length is good for handles on larger knives. This is general rule of thumb.

Mike L.
 
logem said:
Most knife blocks or scales are about 1.75 inch x 5" long. Many handles can be made from 1.50" wide scales or blocks. A 6" length is good for handles on larger knives. This is general rule of thumb.

Mike L.
Click to expand...
The standard 1.5 wide by 5 long handle block is good for say up to a medium sized knife with not much in the way of drop to the butt. If you vary from that formula, you are going to need something definitely wider and maybe longer. if you want to do say a wa style kitchen knife handle, you will need longer if you are talking about a full sized gyuto or sujihiki.
 
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Since we can't discuss sales and such here, send me an email and I will try and give you some ideas.
 
I apologize if I broke any forum rules. I just hate seeing resources go to waste, especially if someone has a use for them. I'm planning on donating some to my Blacksmith organization for their auction, but don't think they need that many.
 
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