Warped Stabilized Maple Scales - Is this common?

Mudbug007

Mudbug007

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Nov 29, 2010
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I had a thick piece of stablized spalted Maple so I resawed it to make two scales. It turned out nice except for the fact that it warped badly!

Anyone else have stabilized wood warp after resawing it on a bandsaw? I'm thinking I may have gotten it hot while sawing, but I didn't think I was feeding it fast.

Any ideas on how to "repair" the scales?
 
No idea of how to fix it but stabilized wood can and will warp. If its got any moisture above 6 or 7% roughly when it gets stabilized and its not thick enough it will warp pretty bad just from the process. Once you get it back gotta give it some time to sit for a while, then cut the scales and let them sit for a while. I send my own wood off to get stabilized and make sure its very dry. Even then I am careful about how thin it is.
 
I stabilize my own. I make sure it's air dry first. Then I warm it in the oven @ 200 degrees for 24 hours to get the rest of the moisture out. If I don't use it right away it goes directly into a zip lock bag to keep moisture from seeping back in. Usually it goes right into the stabilizing tank. I have had scales warp a bit after stabilizing. The blocks not so much.....yet. I try to re-saw with enough meat left on the bone to sand flat again if warping does happen. Can you warm your scales up in the oven and then clamp them flat in a vise or put them under weights? Don't know if it will work. Might be worth a try?
 
Stabilized, un-stabilized, crystallized, fossilized, doesn't matter, it'll warp or crack if you get it hot.. How hot depends on the material, and can vary widely.
 
The above advice, plus, when a larger block of wood is stabilized, it may have stresses built up in the fibers. When you cut the block up, these stresses may ( and usually will) warp the scales. Cut with the thought to have enough extra thickness to sand the cupped side flat. Sand gently with new belts and don't get the wood hot. Cutting the blocks with a sharp and fine toothed blade on the table saw will help avoid warping. The Freud "Diablo" is a good choice for cutting up handle wood on the table saw. Carbide tipped band saw blades, like the Lenox "Wood Master" are great for the band saw.

To reiterate the major point - DON'T LET IT GET HOT WHILE CUTTING.
 
Stabilized wood is resists warp due to wetness better than natural wood, but it warps worse than regular wood when exposed to heat. Ironically, when it is wet, especially with blood, it is slippery as an ice cube. So its basically worthless wet, which is what it is good at.

I'm not a fan. I use it because of demand. I won't carry it.

Re-flatten it. Thats going to suck, btw.
 
The local humidity difference between you and the place your block was shipped from (if it was shipped) can be enough to do it, too. The spalted hackberry (unstabilized) block I ordered two weeks ago was ram-rod straight in the pictures and took on a slight arc a day after I received it. It should be settled by now, I hope.
 
Fiddleback said:
Stabilized wood is resists warp due to wetness better than natural wood, but it warps worse than regular wood when exposed to heat. Ironically, when it is wet, especially with blood, it is slippery as an ice cube. So its basically worthless wet, which is what it is good at.

I'm not a fan. I use it because of demand. I won't carry it.

Re-flatten it. Thats going to suck, btw.
Click to expand...

Andy have you ever tried buffing your stabilized handles with white compound? I've found that it makes them very grippy even when wet. My old personal hunting knife had stabilized mango finished to 1500 sealed with linseed oil and buffed. I processed several deer with it and never had a problem with the grip.
 
As someone who does this professionally, there are several reasons why your wood , when cut from a block would warp. 1st it is end grain cut, 2nd the wood was not cooked long enough , 3rd too much heat was applied when cutting/sanding . There should not be a ( rest period ) needed , if done right ,the wood ,as soon as it cools down , should be ready for service.
 
I believe I got it too hot while resawing it. Here's a couple pics. These were originally a set of stabilized spalted Maple scales but they were so thick, I decided to cut them into and end up with 4 scales. It worked, almost ;) The first picture is the other half of the original set. The second to is the scale I cut into. I'm gonna try and heat it up and press it flat, but I have a feeling that I'll end up using it for something other than a knife scale!

IMG_1777.jpgIMG_1778.jpgIMG_1779.jpg
 
Thanks for the pics, that helps . end grain cut try putting them in between two metal plates , close to the same size , clamp them together ( tight ) put them in the oven @ 200 for an hour and let them cool completely down and there you go. good luck
 
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