Stabilized wood source?

Black Oak Bladeworks

Black Oak Bladeworks

Joined
Jun 5, 2019
Messages
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I am looking for a source of stabilized wood. I have checked all the sticky's and did several searches and was not able to find an updated list of suggested manufactures. I would prefer to buy scales already stabilized rather than buy the wood and send it to be stabilized. (I am just a hobby maker)

K and G and WSSI came up as the places to send scales to have stabilized, Neither has much of a selection of inventory currently. There are a lot of websites on the internet that sell stabilized scales I am just not sure how many are of quality. Any advice or recommendations? Would I be better off to just buy wood and send it out?
Thanks.
 
K and G is always worth a phone call. Often they have stock that is not on their site. I have bought from Az Ironwood in the past too and was pleased with it. Check Ben Greenberg's site as well.
 
Mark at Burlsource

Ben Greenberg

The Timber Joint

Kim Garbutt (@kghardwood on Instagram)

Kiran Abrams (@kiranskoa on Instagram) - Jaw dropping stuff and very expensive.
 
Horsewright said:
K and G is always worth a phone call. Often they have stock that is not on their site. I have bought from Az Ironwood in the past too and was pleased with it. Check Ben Greenberg's site as well.
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Thanks, I will have to check them out.

I have bought a lot of iron wood over the last few months from them. They heave been some of the best people I have worked with! I have recommended them highly to several people.

Willie71 said:
Greenberg and burlsource are the two I have used in the past.
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Thanks! I will check them out.

Thank you all for the help!
 
I just ordered a few pieces off Etsy. A search for "stabilized wood knife scales" turned up way more results than I expected. There are quite a few small family-owned shops there that would probably love your business. Thanks for asking the question, it's nice to hear where other people are getting their stuff and I'll definitely be checking out some of the sources others have mentioned.
 
KOTJMF said:
I just ordered a few pieces off Etsy. A search for "stabilized wood knife scales" turned up way more results than I expected. There are quite a few small family-owned shops there that would probably love your business. Thanks for asking the question, it's nice to hear where other people are getting their stuff and I'll definitely be checking out some of the sources others have mentioned.
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Be careful when buying from places like Etsy or eBay as the "stabilized" wood may just be cactus juice "stabilized" and not professionally stabilized. Greenburg and Burlsource are both on here and you know they had their wood stabilized professionally.
 
Jrmysell said:
Be careful when buying from places like Etsy or eBay as the "stabilized" wood may just be cactus juice "stabilized" and not professionally stabilized. Greenburg and Burlsource are both on here and you know they had their wood stabilized professionally.
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I do agree that you have to be careful buying from a seller on eBay, Etsy, or social media but there are some sellers there that use K&G or WSSI for stabilizing their wares. And they'll often advertise that's who they use.

There's nothing wrong with stabilizing with Cactus Juice or the other commercially available stabilizing resins depending on how it's done and the wood being stabilized. Some woods like maple and koa will take up a lot of Cactus Juice/stabilizing resin and stabilize easily, whereas others like redwood and amboyna don't stabilize as well.
 
milkbaby said:
I do agree that you have to be careful buying from a seller on eBay, Etsy, or social media but there are some sellers there that use K&G or WSSI for stabilizing their wares. And they'll often advertise that's who they use.

There's nothing wrong with stabilizing with Cactus Juice or the other commercially available stabilizing resins depending on how it's done and the wood being stabilized. Some woods like maple and koa will take up a lot of Cactus Juice/stabilizing resin and stabilize easily, whereas others like redwood and amboyna don't stabilize as well.
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Yes, if they say thats who they had them stabilized by. But just stuff that says stabilized, be careful especially if using for customers. Cactus juice vs K&G stuff is very different.
 
Jrmysell said:
Yes, if they say thats who they had them stabilized by. But just stuff that says stabilized, be careful especially if using for customers. Cactus juice vs K&G stuff is very different.
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I am curious: i understand that process can make a huge difference, BUT, with equivalently “good” processes with K&G versus, say, cactus juice, just what differences have been seen in the result (ex. Machinability, sandability, finish, dimensional stability over time, robustness against damage, etc). Just what does “professionally stabilized” buy you?
 
All depends on the wood and how it was done. Using an open pore wood that readily takes resin the Cactus Juice blocks I've done will sink in water, or at most float level with water showing it's taken up plenty of resin. That is the same with the K&G blocks I have, either sink or float level in water. Either K&G or Cactus Juice blocks seem to finish about the same and work about the same.

With that said, if I'm ordering stabilized blocks I want K&G or WSSI stabilization because I won't know until I get the block how well it was done, and when ordering there usually isn't enough difference in price of "home stabilized" vs K&G stabilized for me to take the chance. K&G I KNOW I'm getting good stabilization.

I've seen what's called "stabilized" blocks that when asked the seller will say they were "properly soaked" in some type of stabilizing liquid. Nope, that don't work - got to be under a good vacuum, and NOT a hand vac pump for bleeding brakes.
 
Professionally stabilized buys you name brand recognition. I can stabilize my own, and I have the right equipment and process, but the name recognition on the K&G quality is what I use in my higher end knives. User basic knives can be cactus juice.
 
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