Stabilized Burl

Few quick questions. I got the rest of the burl in that I ordered. I weighed all 7 (sets & blocks) and came out to 1.3 lbs. Now if I doubled that, at $12.50 per pound I wont reach their $36 limit. Can I send a few random scale sets in for stabilizing also or is that a waste? Other than the burl, I currently have birdseye, padauk, curly hard maple, black palm, & leopard wood. Any worth stabilizing just to get up to their limit? Even then I don't know if that will make their limit as I don't know how much weight each set will add. I pretty much estimated a double in weight but. I've never done this before.

Also, should I wait until they are stabilized to cut the blocks? I realize they will be a lot harder but I'm afraid that they will crack or split if I try cutting them dry. As I dont have a high quality bandsaw or anything. Am probably going to use a hack or regular wood saw to cut.

I also thought, because I've been interested in this also, maybe add some dye to a few? That will definitely bring up the price...And suggestions would be great...
 
Cut the blocks a little bit oversized but not too much.
I suggest cutting into scales after getting the wood stabilized because they can move during the curing process.
DEFINITELY get the Black Palm stabilized.
A lot of the guys will get more than they need stabilized and then sell the extras here to pay off their stabilizing bill.
Like these guys said, use one of the professionally stabilizers. It works out to be much more cost effective and there is no comparison in the quality.
Me.....I like K&G the best.
 
I set up home stabilizing as cross border shipping can get crazy, but it's limited to softer woods such as poplar, aspen, big leaf maple, mahogany. For this purpose it works well, but I would never put this wood on a $300.00 knife. There are a few guys who do their own stabilizing here in Canada. It might be a reasonable business to get into up here. Myself, I have cords worth of spalted poplar, rainbow poplar, curly poplar, and some nice willow and big leaf maple. If I had to buy the wood, then stabilize it, no way would it be cost effective. My setup cost about $500.00 with four gallons of juice and dyes. It's not a low cost process by any means.
 
I'm stuck between K&G or WSSI....WSSI is a little cheaper but, I heard a lot of good things about K&G also.
 
carbonsteel928 said:
Go with WSSI, they're the only folks who have never sent me back a piece with which I want happy.
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I would since they were the only one to respond to me. But I'm afraid I wont hit their minimum purchase price because I dont know what weight they will when after stabilizing. I dont have enough "stabilizable" woods to send them. Unless curly maple, and birdseye can be stabilized but that seems pointless.
 
colu41 said:
I would since they were the only one to respond to me. But I'm afraid I wont hit their minimum purchase price because I dont know what weight they will when after stabilizing. I dont have enough "stabilizable" woods to send them. Unless curly maple, and birdseye can be stabilized but that seems pointless.
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Maple stabilizes well. Stabilization also gives better dimensional stability, along with the increased hardness. It does have benefits.
 
Willie71 said:
Maple stabilizes well. Stabilization also gives better dimensional stability, along with the increased hardness. It does have benefits.
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I should have also mentioned that all my non burl woods are 9" x 1/4" pieces..... I think a 1/4" piece wood definitely have problems while stabilizing.
 
Is the burl you ordered going to be dry enough? The wood has to be dry before you have it stabilized. Some of the burl I have bought on ebay needed to dry more before being stabilized.
 
I'm going to test it all at my work tomorrow but I'm pretty sure they are fine. I bought them from AmazonExotics
 
Another question. IF for some reason the woods moisture content is over 9%, (which is the % they say it wont work properly), and say the wood I have is 10,11 or 12%, how long would I have to let them dry for?
 
colu41 said:
Another question. IF for some reason the woods moisture content is over 9%, (which is the % they say it wont work properly), and say the wood I have is 10,11 or 12%, how long would I have to let them dry for?
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Until they are at 9%. It depends on humidity, the type of wood, and how it's stored. It also makes a difference if it's green wood, or previously dry wood that absorbed moisture.
 
Just tested them all. The 3 Blocks of Maple tested at 18%??! And the buckeye was between 10 & 12%...
Not sure what to do with them now.
 
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Colu, best thing to do is space them out and stack them up with stickers between them and forget about them for a while. There are ways to make small driers but it's not worth the trouble for 10 blocks. I have learned that anything bought on eBay is not dry or kiln dried as they say. So I just put it on a shelf in my basement and write the date on a post it and leave it be. I have a dehumidifier going in my basement always, until I start burning wood that is. It's also good to label what they are. It's easy to forget...
 
viral said:
Colu, best thing to do is space them out and stack them up with stickers between them and forget about them for a while. There are ways to make small driers but it's not worth the trouble for 10 blocks. I have learned that anything bought on eBay is not dry or kiln dried as they say. So I just put it on a shelf in my basement and write the date on a post it and leave it be. I have a dehumidifier going in my basement always, until I start burning wood that is. It's also good to label what they are. It's easy to forget...
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I didn't purchase any of the blocks or scales from eBay. 2 scale sets of Thuya burl were from Bell Forestry. And the 5 blocks I bought from Amazon Exotic Hardwoods. The weird thing I noticed though when opening them, the 3 Maple blocks were in a ziplock and the bag had moisture. So I'm not sure if it got moisture from shipping, or if it was already wet and condensing into the ziplock. I dont know.
 
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