Stabilizing your own wood pictures and ideas

[milesofalaska]

I’ve been having fun dying and stabilizing wood for knife handles. We talk a lot about the steel and how we handle it. So thought it might be different to talk about and show off other aspects of the knife making trade. I encourage knife makers to try their hand at working their own wood.

There has been negative talk about trying to stabilize and dye wood yourself and not getting good results, how inferior it is to a professional job. There have been recent leaps forward in the industry, with new products coming out that make the job a lot easier, more fool proof, deeper penetration and all around better satisfaction.

The above is 'birds eye birch' who ever eve heard of that and where would you get it? A fluke of nature? Without treating it is not much good and one piece is hard to justify sending out to have done.

I have tried peg, acetate, super glue, epoxy, fiberglass resin, mini wax, and settled on ‘cactus juice’ a non toxic heat cure resin.

Above is the block of wood and rough blade - below put together

A vacuum pump is handy, but some softer woods can be done with just a long soak of a few days to a week.

The burl source has got this down to a science, no question about that! But sometimes a person might want their own piece of wood, or something out of mainstream , an unusual color or one of a kind hunk of wood few have ever heard of.

I’m having fun with multiple dyes, dye resin blockers in random patterns, dying first resin after, masking, layering. Now if I can only get paid to have all this fun! Ha! Anyhow take a look and comment, maybe share some thoughts on the subject, things you tried, or ask me a question.

 

[Burl Source]

For the last few years I have been having K&G do all my dying and stabilizing.
But this year I am going to do some experimenting with the dying and then the ones that look good will go to K&G to get stabilized.

I like the bold vivid colors. To get the really dark coloring can take weeks in the dye tank. So I plan to set up an area in my work area with different batches that can soak for months. Who knows, It might flop but then it might work out. Won't know until I try.

 

[Alan Warren Knives]

Thanks for that Miles, Very good to know.

 

[milesofalaska]

I agree K& G is doing a top notch job that is in among the best in the industry. But as you say, there are situations we knife makers and suppliers may choose to try something on our own and get something interesting as a result.

My comments were just to encourage others to ‘go for it’ and as I say it is not so difficult as it used to be. I have had success with rit dye, especially good if the wood is still damp, to dye it before the drying process. Even boil it in the dye. One tip is to set the wood on end only partially in a dye and the capillary action of the wood sucks the dye up along a path of least resistance. Often following the patterns of the grain. Eventually flip it over and put the other end in another dye . There will be a random overlap of color along with partial blend of the two. An advantage of boiling is to get the sap out of the wood which help resin get into the wood after wood dries. Sealing end grain if wet wood crucial. I use something like Elmer’s glue (any what they call ‘white glue&#8217 while it is wet.

No, the colors have not been so vivid as with higher end dyes added to the resin, but easy, not spendy, it works, it’s great for wood you just want to enhance the grain pattern with. My cost ends up being $1.50 per block average for the total dye stable process. Compared to $5 sending out. (doing about 20 sets at a time). Just for ballpark price ideas for those who have no idea of costs. Doing yourself also saves shipping costs and time waiting.

Pulling a vacuum helps, but not followed by pressure. (Vacuum turns days or weeks into hours) . Pulling the vacuum, then letting it rest a day and pulling a vacuum again works well. This is the same with the dye or resin.

This should be enough to help anyone get started. If you have more knowledge, send me a message with your findings. If questions, email and I can see if I can help you out if you have less experience then I do. .