Stabilized Burl

colu41

colu41

Joined
Dec 24, 2014
Messages
1,598
So I ordered a few more blocks of burl today, found some at a good price. Now I've been reading a little bit on the forums here, and I just read somewhere that if you're working with burls that they should be stabilized?
Will non stabilized burls work for handles? I'd really be disappointed if that was the case. I purchased 2 blocks last week and have 5 more on the way. All of which are not stabilized. This may have been a $60+ mistake :(
 
Depends on the wood.
I like stabilized wood that's virtually all plastic. It's color will remain and it'll hold up to moisture/oils.

Desert ironwood burl is, maybe, an exception. I have never experienced shrinking or warpage from good, seasoned desert ironwood no matter how intensely figured it was.
The only drawback is that desert ironwood tends to darken with time, and the dramatic figure becomes harder to see. You can delay that by keeping it waxed with a good furniture pastewax (not ren wax!!).
 
Which wood..?

Burls are not much different than their parent wood that way. So....generally, any of them can be stabilized,
and most...if not all will benefit from it...the dry woods, more than the oily woods.
 
I got 3 blocks of Maple Burl, and one of each of CA Buckeye and Redwood...again, all non stabilized.

My 2 prior I purchased were Thuya Burl.
 
Suggest you stabilize all of them to be safe. None of those are oily woods.

Tim
 
tim37a said:
Suggest you stabilize all of them to be safe. None of those are oily woods.

Tim
Click to expand...

Now I've seen "At Home" stabilizing....Can this be done cheaply, but still effectively?

Any one see the "jarring" version of stabilizing? Where you pretty much jar the wood and boil it like you would canned foods? This is probably the only one I would ever try due to the extremely low cost of it. Otherwise I will have to send them out.
 
colu41 said:
Now I've seen "At Home" stabilizing....Can this be done cheaply, but still effectively?

Any one see the "jarring" version of stabilizing? Where you pretty much jar the wood and boil it like you would canned foods? This is probably the only one I would ever try due to the extremely low cost of it. Otherwise I will have to send them out.
Click to expand...

I don't want to speak for anyone, but the advice I typically see is that if you are not having a professional do it, you are not truly stabilizing it. The pros use vacuum pumps on their rigs to completely fill all the voids in the wood and to remove any air pockets and to harden anything that could potentially be punky. Good luck to you!
 
Jemblade said:
I don't want to speak for anyone, but the advice I typically see is that if you are not having a professional do it, you are not truly stabilizing it. The pros use vacuum pumps on their rigs to completely fill all the voids in the wood and to remove any air pockets and to harden anything that could potentially be punky. Good luck to you!
Click to expand...

Understandable. I see this "jarring" method not doing any harm. As wood hardener is used and is soaking into the wood kind of like vinegar would when pickling :) thats how I see it. Its also very time consuming as I believe you let it soak for a few days, then let it dry for a few weeks.
 
colu41 said:
Understandable. I see this "jarring" method not doing any harm. As wood hardener is used and is soaking into the wood kind of like vinegar would when pickling :) thats how I see it. Its also very time consuming as I believe you let it soak for a few days, then let it dry for a few weeks.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that is my understanding on time frame as well. Somebody with more knowledge than myself may have some info as I don't know if by doing a homebrew stabilizing would prevent you from having it professionally stabilized later.
 
IMHO professional stabilization is the way to go. If I spend the money to get some great looking burl I want the the best chance at making the block look good and last a long time.
 
"At home" stabilizing is not EVER going to be the same as professional stabilizing ( especially the jar of wood hardener method).

Send the wood to K&G or WSSI and get it done right.

The burls you have all need to be stabilized to make good knife handles.
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
"At home" stabilizing is not EVER going to be the same as professional stabilizing ( especially the jar of wood hardener method).

Send the wood to K&G or WSSI and get it done right.

The burls you have all need to be stabilized to make good knife handles.
Click to expand...

What's the cost of this? I trust opinions from BF over youtube or random people out there so. I may as well send them out.
 
K&G charges by the pound post stabilization. $14/pound if between 1-5 pounds $12/pound between 5-10 pounds and $10/pound beyond 10
 
I've used three different stabilizing companies in the past, and have been happiest with Mike at WSSI. He charges $12.50 per finished pound with a minimum fee of $36 (So send him 3 pounds of wood). The more you have done, the cheaper it gets per pound. I've looked into the home stabilizing set-ups, but just can't justify the cost and time needed.
 
J. Hoffman said:
I've used three different stabilizing companies in the past, and have been happiest with Mike at WSSI. He charges $12.50 per finished pound with a minimum fee of $36 (So send him 3 pounds of wood). The more you have done, the cheaper it gets per pound. I've looked into the home stabilizing set-ups, but just can't justify the cost and time needed.
Click to expand...

That would be great but, I'm working at such a small scale right now that I dont think that would work out too well. Purchasing more and more materials and not getting a finished product :(.

How does that work then, whats the average weight after stabilization? Say I send in 3 lbs of burl, how much approximately will it weigh after stabilizing?
 
I prefer Mike at WSSI, too. Ken at K&G also does good work. Burl source has K&G do their stabilization. Some wood absorbs more resin than others. Maple is pretty dense, so it gains maybe 20-30% at most. Buckeye burl is soft, and gains about 50-60%. Just a guess, but if your blocks weigh 3#, they will come back around 4-5 pounds, and cost about $50-60. I send several hundred pounds at a time and get the bulk rate, but that isn't practical for most folks.

If you spend $60 for seven blocks of wood and $60 to stabilize it you have $120 in seven blocks of top grade handle material ( assuming the blocks are god quality). That is less than $20 a block, and they normally sell for $30-50, depending on size and pattern quality.
 
If you like doing interesting projects at home then by all means home stabilizing is good fun, if you are selling knives probably not so much

$99 paint pot harbor freight
$20 scrap yard commercial fridge compressor (makes a great vacuum pump)
$40 fittings/hose
$55 cactus juice

vacuum 24 hrs, then pressurize 120psi 24 hrs, and bobs your uncle

I shape my handles to about 80% then stabilize, I've done four now and no complaints other then the black dye didn't go as deep as I would have liked
 
Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith said:
I prefer Mike at WSSI, too. Ken at K&G also does good work. Burl source has K&G do their stabilization. Some wood absorbs more resin than others. Maple is pretty dense, so it gains maybe 20-30% at most. Buckeye burl is soft, and gains about 50-60%. Just a guess, but if your blocks weigh 3#, they will come back around 4-5 pounds, and cost about $50-60. I send several hundred pounds at a time and get the bulk rate, but that isn't practical for most folks.

If you spend $60 for seven blocks of wood and $60 to stabilize it you have $120 in seven blocks of top grade handle material ( assuming the blocks are god quality). That is less than $20 a block, and they normally sell for $30-50, depending on size and pattern quality.
Click to expand...

Thanks Stacy. I'll get the ones I have stabilized and next time I'll try to find some already stabilized blocks and just pay the extra $3-$4 and save the trouble.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top