what makes wood "stabilized"

R

rupsty

Joined
Mar 14, 2013
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I've been considering using wood for scales...

I have no idea what stabilized wood is. Can someone explain?

thank you!
 
Stabilized means wood saturated with some kind of resin.
It allows to use soft wood - it will become as hard as resin.
 
Stabilisation fills the natural cavities and pores in wood or bone with a resin, making it much stronger and almost completely resistant to deformations due to temperature and humidity changes, sort if turning it into a plastic. Apparently it also slows down the colour changes due to exposure to UV, but I'm not sure about this.

It's quite difficult to do on your own, as to my knowledge the process requires conditions (high pressure and temperature?) difficult to replicate without special equipment. You'll need to send it out to be stabilised; K&G is a recognised provider of this service.

There are products such as pentacryl that will strengthen wood, but it won't achieve this to the same effect as professional stabilisation.
 
ok this may sound dumb but will a few coats of polyurethane be passable for scales?
 
I wouldn't use poly for scales. Use a good Danish oil, such as Watco. Rub it in daily until it no longer absorbs- can be up to 10 days. Wet sand using the danish oil with 400, then 600, then 800 grit. Hand rub, and apply bees wax.
 
You might also give Mark at Burl Source a call. He was very helpful to me in providing some good suggestions for finish work with woods. It pays to get professionally stabilized wood for handles, once you get your skills to a point where it's worth it. Micarta and G10 are cheaper alternatives while you're working on improving said skills, however.

Bocote is probably my favorite wood that I use without stabilization, and cheaper than other woods like desert ironwood that don't really need it.
 
If you would like a piece of free stabilized wood to try out, drop me a line and send me a mailing address. I think you'll figure it out after the first use. Adding superficial treatments just isn't the same. Stabilization is a through treatment (resin permeates the entire piece). Once you've sanded to shape and finish sanded, you can buff the handle with no additional superficial treatment.
 
Greg has hit upon a very attractive feature of stabilized woods, the ability to buff to a high shine with no need for finishes of any kind.
 
thanks trapper and salem, that's a good point - not having to apply extra treatment after sanding would be nice.
 
Kind of off-topic, but there are oily hardwoods that don't really need stabilizing...purpleheart and cocobolo come to mind.
 
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