Woodinlay care

Hmmm...sounds like CRK needs to decide which it is for Cocobolo. Personally I doubt very much that it is stabilized. Because of its natural properties it is notoriously difficult to get it to take any stain or finish other than natural. It has been a wood of choice for many, many years for knife handles due to its durability. I doubt very much any of the many makers using it a hundred years ago stabilized it.
 
That’s why I asked them because I read up on it’s oily naturally stable properties. I wasn’t sure you could use common methods to stabilize it further.
 
With Cocobolo's natural oiliness, and especially with it's high hardness ratings I wouldn't be surprised if it's unstabilized. I don't have one here to check and see, though. It's also possible that they've used some of both over the years.
 
I would be surprised if they actually stabilize cocobolo. The stabilization process involves using pressure to fill the wood cells with resin. Since cocobolo is already filled with a lot of natural oils, stabilization would not work well. The same would be true for some of the other popular hard, dense woods, such as african blackwood, desert ironwood, and the various ebony species. Wood like maple, oak, buckeye burl, and similar species needs to be stabilized, especially if it is spalted.
 
I don't think the cocobolo are stabilized just from the feel, it feels like wood. The only other inlay I've handled is a Box Elder Burl which felt almost like a plastic. Also mine was born in 2014 but I purchased it new from dealer in 2017 so it sat on a shelf for 3 years. When I removed the knife from the microfiber, the cloth was stained from the inlays. Here's a picture from when it arrived, notice the bottom of the cloth. Forgive the bad photo, old camera and bad photographer.
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just picked up a mnandi bog oak. Question for you guys who carry the oak inlays in your pocket, hows the wear the wood? Is it pretty minimal, nothing to worry about? Such a nice, refined knife, kind of fear putting it in the pocket...
 
Roikyou said:
just picked up a mnandi bog oak. Question for you guys who carry the oak inlays in your pocket, hows the wear the wood? Is it pretty minimal, nothing to worry about? Such a nice, refined knife, kind of fear putting it in the pocket...
Click to expand...

I have one and carried it for a short time (two months) but I almost always used the Chris Reeve leather slip sheath. Zero signs of wear in that situation.
 
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