Recommendation? Where to get wood stabilized nowadays?

Fletch Helical

Fletch Helical

Joined
Sep 29, 2009
Messages
1,614
I've been out of the making scene for a while and once my grinder arrives I'm planning to get sparks flying again. I realized I have quite a bit of wood that still needs to be stabilized. I remember WSSI and later on K&G being the cool kids on the playground. I'm just trying to see if they are still the go to places or if there are others that have proven themselves viable options too, be it because of price and/or quality.

I'm not looking to go overly crazy with adding dyes to much of them. Maybe a few pieces of Box elder and curly maple. For the majority of it though I'm just looking for stabilized blocks that I bought mostly through people/suppliers on here many moons ago to finally be put to use.
 
I've been using K&G regularly for the past 5-6 years. I usually send them a full medium flat rate box and IIRC it ends up being about $4-5/a block. IMO they are the go-to place.
 
K&G is who I just used. I want to say I heard WSSI isn't stabilizing anymore. Or at least they weren't taking orders when I was looking
 
A.McPherson said:
In the forest.

Really, for most of us it's more economical to just buy what you want already stabilized, or buy material that doesn't need it.
Click to expand...

Thats pretty much what I'm seeing so far. Aint worth the money in equiptment to stabilize yourself, and time... for prices of raw material ive seen.
 
Its not the K&G delays that have me concerned but the delays at the USPS , I have several boxes I want to send to K&G but I have several packages thats been sitting in post offices for weeks now, makes me hesitant to send anything right now.
 
Sniper338 said:
Where do you find good woods to start with...?
Click to expand...

I am in the bush a lot. We also have a small cabin on forested property. I keep any eye on trees that have burls(hoping they might fall one day) and also look for downed trees that are gnarly and have been sitting for a couple years. I cut off the burls, cut out crotches and pieces that will have fiddleback grain or interesting spalting. I paint the fresh cut ends and put them under my porch to dry. A year or two later when I need handle material or blanks for flutes I cut them up. Send the handle blocks off to K&G. Costs me around $6 cdn each.
Other people buy raw wood that they like and get it stabilized....costs a bit more, but when you are paying $25-$45usd for stabilized handle blocks you can still save a lot.
In the past I have watched craigs for "burl" and bought some awesome burl clocks and wall hangings for peanuts and then cut them up into blocks for knives or flutes. Usually shot for under $50 for the clock/wall hanging and would get about 20-35 knife blocks out of it. Be choosy though. Lots of people advertise "burl" but it is just a round cut off a log. Not a burl.

This flute is made from maple I found. Mouth piece is a few left over pieces of stabilized burl from knife making. Main body maple from my neighbour's firewood pile! I have included an example of a craigs find I might have bought a few years ago. Third photo is stabilized knife blocks....all reclaimed fro the bush. fullsizeoutput_2b0.jpeg Image 2021-01-10 at 10.38 AM.jpg fullsizeoutput_2b0.jpeg Image 2021-01-10 at 10.38 AM.jpg IMG_2184.jpg
 
Sniper338 said:
Where do you find good woods to start with...?
Click to expand...

There used to be some suppliers on here that sold wood fairly regularly. No idea where they went as I've been on a hiatus for a quite a while. Most of it is stuff I bought back then. Sometimes it was already stabilized and other blocks for whatever reason were not. I have quite a few pieces of various blocks that have not been.
 
Sniper338 said:
Where do you find good woods to start with...?
Click to expand...
If you heat with wood, and don't mind splitting your own, you can usually find some curly figuring on the pieces that aren't fun to split where branches come off the trunk. The curly figure will be above and below the branch on older trees.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top