Stabilized wood scales?

schmittie

schmittie

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I'm not too experienced with different hard and soft wood for handles. I understand that if a wood is naturally too soft, then it will have to be stabilized. Is it just very soft material that needs extra hardening? Or do most wood scales have to be hardened? Does it mainly depend on the humidity of the environment? Is stabilizing needed mostly in extremely dry conditions?

(what would you recommend for a good source for knife scales? I'd like to do something somewhat nice, like a burl/micarta combo.)

Thanks!! I appreciate your help!!
 
Regardless of species or locale, any wood should be fully dried before use, whether it's going to be stabilized or not.

Stabilized wood is a good thing in either humid or dry environments for the same reason: it's not affected by the ambient temp/humidity nearly as much as most natural woods. It can be as stable as micarta or G10.

Burls, spalted woods, and many crotch woods need to be stabilized because they are just too soft, weak and unstable to use as-is. They can also be dyed as part of the process if desired. When properly stabilized, in my opinion they make the most beautiful and highly durable handles available.

Some very dense and/or oily woods do not need stabilization, arizona desert ironwood is a prime example.

Some fairly hard woods like maple don't necessarily NEED to be stabilized, but it's an option that adds durability and reduces maintenance. Again, they can also be dyed at the same time, and that way the color goes all the way through the piece, not like a stain that only soaks in a little way.

There are several reputable sources for good stabilized wood on this forum, browse around in the Knifemakers Supplies section.
 
Stabilized wood should last longer, be less prone to warp and shrink. A guitar's wood will change with conditions, humidity, and temp, but be left indoors and/or in a case. So guitars and furniture will last a long time. But, a knife will be outdoors, camping, getting wet, bloody, muddy, left in a car, etc..
Go with stabilized wood, it's worth it!
 
There are a lot of suppliers providing what is called stabilized wood. Be sure when buying stabilized wood that it comes from a reliable source of stabilized wood for knifemakers. Wood turners will use wood that is stabilized green using different chemicals that does not harden the wood but just helps to prevent cracking as it dries. Quite a few people will stabilize wood themselves using off the shelf products such as Minwax Wood Hardener or Protective Coatings Wood Petrifier. These 2 mentioned were made for use by carpenters to surface harden rotted wood. Some will even call well seasoned wood stabilized.

For the stabilized woods for knife handles it is best to stick with a supplier who provides stabilized woods for knifemakers. A couple well known names of knife handle wood stabilizers are K&G (knife and gun finishing supply) and WSSI. There are several other good stabilizing companies out there as well.

Be careful buying stabilized wood on ebay. Remember, you get what you pay for. Professionally stabilized knife handle wood will normally sell for from about $20 at the lowest end of the spectrum and go up in accordance to the quality of the piece of wood. If you see stabilized wood selling for less there is usually a good reason.
 
Burl Source said:
There are a lot of suppliers providing what is called stabilized wood. Be sure when buying stabilized wood that it comes from a reliable source of stabilized wood for knifemakers. Wood turners will use wood that is stabilized green using different chemicals that does not harden the wood but just helps to prevent cracking as it dries. Quite a few people will stabilize wood themselves using off the shelf products such as Minwax Wood Hardener or Protective Coatings Wood Petrifier. These 2 mentioned were made for use by carpenters to surface harden rotted wood. Some will even call well seasoned wood stabilized.

For the stabilized woods for knife handles it is best to stick with a supplier who provides stabilized woods for knifemakers. A couple well known names of knife handle wood stabilizers are K&G (knife and gun finishing supply) and WSSI. There are several other good stabilizing companies out there as well.

Be careful buying stabilized wood on ebay. Remember, you get what you pay for. Professionally stabilized knife handle wood will normally sell for from about $20 at the lowest end of the spectrum and go up in accordance to the quality of the piece of wood. If you see stabilized wood selling for less there is usually a good reason.
Click to expand...

I assume by your handle you sell burl(?) Do you have a website?
 
jaymeister99 said:
I assume by your handle you sell burl(?) Do you have a website?
Click to expand...

That wasn't the reason for my response. I debated with myself before I posted because I did not want to look like spam. Depending what is needed a couple good sources of stabilized knife handle wood are Knife and Gun Finishing Supplies, and Alpha Knife Supply.

Both of these companies have very good quality material, reasonable prices and are very friendly to deal with. I hope this helps.
 
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Burl Source said:
That wasn't the reason for my response. I debated with myself before I posted because I did not want to look like spam. My website is closed down right now because I am restocking. Depending what is needed a couple good sources of stabilized knife handle wood are Knife and Gun Finishing Supplies, and Alpha Knife Supply.

Both of these companies have very good quality material, reasonable prices and are very friendly to deal with. I hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Oh. Let me know when its back up. Ive been buying on ebay and quite a bit from Alpha. I haven't used Knife and Gun Supply but Alpha is great.
 
Look over in the makers supplies forum for frequent offerings from Mark. He does have some really good stuff!
These days he farms stabilization out to K&G (I've used both K&G and WSSI and been happy with both of them).
 
If you don't mind another question, what would be some nice hardwood that would not need stabilized? Do you have any suggestions other than the normal elm, oak, walnut, maple etc?
 
I've actually got a chunk of curly maple that I've never cut up. Its at least a few years old. A buddy got a bunch of it for firewood and didn't know what it was. Since maple is a hardwood, would this curly maple be good for knife handles??
 
Curly maple is rather famous as a knife handle wood and can certainly be used with or without stabilization.
 
I have used Lignum Vitae in natural knife scales and have found it an absolute pleasure to work with. Just be sure you use an adhesive designed for oily exotic woods if you work with one of the super hard natural woods.
 
A 1+ for Burl Source's efforts to avoid selling on the Shop Talk forum.

In all fairness, he sells great wood,too.

His goods can be found in the For Sale Knifemaking Supplies forum.
He is a good guy and tries hard to follow the rules.
 
schmittie said:
I've actually got a chunk of curly maple that I've never cut up. Its at least a few years old. A buddy got a bunch of it for firewood and didn't know what it was. Since maple is a hardwood, would this curly maple be good for knife handles??
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There are several species of Maple. Northeast grows both hard & soft. West coast Big Leaf Maple is kinda in-between. Northeast hard is HARD and the soft is about like Walnut in durability. I can leave a good mark in soft maple with my thumbnail but the hard shows little to no mark at all. Your piece, being firewood, can be anywhere in that range. [I have pieces of all three]
 
hkpokes_you said:
I have used Lignum Vitae in natural knife scales and have found it an absolute pleasure to work with. Just be sure you use an adhesive designed for oily exotic woods if you work with one of the super hard natural woods.
Click to expand...

What glues can be used with these types of wood? I got a box of misc exotic wood from my cousin and though some of them look spectacular their oils also cause problems using normal oil-based finishes.

LonePine
AKA Paul Meske, Wisconsin
 
lonepine said:
What glues can be used with these types of wood? I got a box of misc exotic wood from my cousin and though some of them look spectacular their oils also cause problems using normal oil-based finishes.

LonePine
AKA Paul Meske, Wisconsin
Click to expand...

Paul,
When you to glue up some oily wood the best thing you can do is to wipe the surface with acetone and then apply your epoxy to that area. The acetone cleans away the oil long enough for the epoxy to grab hold and give you a solid glue up.

Good luck, Larry
 
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