stabilized

H

heatheninthehills

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Apr 14, 2009
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I'm curious as to what the term stabilized means when talking about wood blocks? and are all wood blocks stabilized from knife making suppliers ?
 
Stabilized - vacuum impregnated with acrylic for the most part.Some very dense woods can't be treated, some must be like spalted wood.Don't assume it is unless stated .Stay away from ebay for a source. Stabilizing eliminates warping, cracking ,shrinking, eliminates the need for finishes. Worth the cost !
 
Stabilizing is not necessary for a lot of woods, harder ones, like around the hardness of oak, some maples, hickory, etc. Also, oily woods do not stabilize well either (cedar)
 
the stabilized separate from the unstabilized and the stabilized generally costs a bit more, i used an oily wood, Bloodwood on my 2 re-handles because i read on here that it didnt need to be stabilized... worked great for me. hasnt done anything funky and it been well over a year.:)
good luck
ivan
 
bloodwood is over twice as hard as oak, and when oak does not NEED to be stabilized... Most of your exotics from rain forests or near the equator are very hard and do not need stabilizing.
 
go mike said:
bloodwood is over twice as hard as oak, and when oak does not NEED to be stabilized... Most of your exotics from rain forests or near the equator are very hard and do not need stabilizing.
Click to expand...

i know i cussed alot working with it, even hand drilling it was a pain cause its so waxy, looked like red crayon scrap all over:D turned out alright for me
ivan
 
Mike, It has to do with density, the type of resinous (oily) materials in the wood, and the condition of the wood. There are some chermicals in certain woods that prevent the acrylic from polymerizing. It is not just a hardness issue. I have never seen any maple that couldn't benefit from stabilization ,unless it was curly maple. Oak and hicory stabilize well,too.
Stacy
 
Ok so that pretty much takes care of that. I thank you all for answering. The offer doesnt "say" stabilized but now I know to see if I can get more infor from them before buying. Thanks again for the replys.
 
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