Woods that don't respond well to stabilizing

Jarrett Fleming

Jarrett Fleming

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I've read just about every thread I can find on this subject going back nearly 20 years here on the forum. Some of the threads seem to contradict each other a bit on certain wood species, I'm not sure if that is because of personal opinions, or advances in the process. My main interest is which woods should not be sent in for stabilizing.
Here is a list I found put together by Chuck from alpha knife supply. Should any additions or changes be made to any of the categories?
Are all of the woods in the categories "woods with limitations" and "woods where stabilizing didn't work" ok to use in their natural state or should some of them be avoided all together?

Woods Than Responded Well To Stabilizing:
- Acacia
- Afzelia
- Alder
- Amboyna
- Black Ash
- Bamboo
- Beech
- Beefwood
- Birch
- African Blackwood
- Box Elder
- Bubinga
- Buckeye
- Canary Wood
- Carob
- Chechen
- Cherry
- Coolibah
- Cottonwood
- Carpathian Elm
- Elm
- Eucalyptus
- Gum
- Jarrah
- Koa
- Locust
- Madrone
- Santos Mahogany
- Maidou
- Brown Mallee
- Red Mallee
- Mango
- Maple
- Masur Birch
- Mesquite
- Mulberry
- Oregon Myrtle
- Tasmanian Myrtle
- Needlewood
- Australian Oak
- Oak
- Olive
- Tasmanian Olive
- Osage Orange
- Paduak
- Black Palm
- Red Palm
- Pecan
- Pink Ivory
- Pistachio
- Purpleheart
- Redwood
- Russian Olive
- Sandalwood
- Sapele
- Sheoak
- Sycamore
- Tambootie
- Teak
- Tulipwood
- Vitex
- Black Walnut
- English Walnut
- Wenge
- Woody Pear
- York Gum
- Zebrawood

Woods With Limitations:
- Bocote - May Weep Stabilant
- Ebony - Scales Only
- Asian Ebony - Scales Only
- Striped Ebony - Scales Only
- Juniper - May Weep Stabilant
- Snakewood - Scales Only
- Thuya - May Weep Stabilant
- Claro Walnut - May Turn Black
- Pacific Yew - May Weep Stabilant
- Ziricote - May Weep Stabilant

Woods Where Stabilizing Did Not Work:
- Cedar - Stabilant Did Not Polymerize
- Curly Ipe - Stabilant Did Not Penetrate
- Lacewood - Wood Turned Black
- Limba - Wood Turned Ugly
- Merbau - Stabilant Did Not Penetrate

Woods We Have Not Tested:
- Cocobolo
- Desert Ironwood
- Kingwood
- Lignum Vitae
- Bolivian Rosewood
- Honduran Rosewood
- Indian Rosewood
- Verawood
 
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Jarrett, I would say that any really oily wood like the rosewoods should be used in a natural state. I have used stabilized blackwood and was unimpressed. On your haven't' tried list, the rosewoods would also include cocobolo, kingwood and African blackwood. With amboyna, I have used it both ways with good results, but given the choice, I would prefer a hard, dense unstabilized piece. I had one of those that was 2x2x18 when I first started off. Beautiful stuff. The Argentine lignum vitae wont even take BLO. In the case of redwood burl, it can have soft "punky" spots even when stabilized properly.
 
That list seems questionable at least in part to me. African Blackwood is listed as responding well to stabilizing, but as far as I know most use that wood unstabilized. Lacewood is listed as not working for turning black. I’ve home stabilized lacewood with cactus juice. It worked well and certainly didn’t turn black.
gJgbrhC.jpg
 
My experience is based on stabilizing more than 200,000 blocks of wood.

jdm61 said:
In the case of redwood burl, it can have soft "punky" spots even when stabilized properly.
Click to expand...
Why would anyone buy stabilized punky redwood burl? Any wood dealer who sells punky wood should go out of business.

Stabilized African Blackwood far outsold natural Blackwood. I gave knifemakers what they wanted.

All the woods listed above were professionally stabilized by WSSI and K&G. I personally will never buy a knife with a stabilized wood handle that was not professionally stabilized.

I miss working with wood. However, the political climate regarding natural materials is bad. As a result we stopped selling all natural materials. I still have a few thousand pounds of select burls in storage. I also have my natural materials private stash boxes for knives I commission.

Chuck
 
I’ve had several pieces of cypress stabilized. Turned out well. The kicker was it was carbon dated at slightly over 50,000 years old. Unique handle material for sure
 
I wondered why y9ou had gotten out of the natural materials biz. I figured that the titnium stuff was taking up all of your time. You did have some nice stuff back in the day. I still one of two rpieces of he stag that I bought from you years ago . for me, the blackwood thing is a preference. The one of two stabilized pieces the i had may have come from you. it works very well, but, as with amboyna, i like the fact that I can "control the color" with the unstabilized stuff. with the use of a little bit of oil.
As for the redwood, I was told this by Claude Bouchonviolle after we fpound a small spot in these handle. It didn't show up until I ground into the wood and we "stabilized" the spot with super glue. You can kind of see the spot right to the rear of the palm swell on the lower side of the handle.
Joe Mandt2.jpg
 
Thanks everyone for the responses and thank you Chuck for putting this list together back in 08. It's a great resource.
 
Alpha Knife Supply said:
My experience is based on stabilizing more than 200,000 blocks of wood.

Why would anyone buy stabilized punky redwood burl? Any wood dealer who sells punky wood should go out of business.

Stabilized African Blackwood far outsold natural Blackwood. I gave knifemakers what they wanted.

All the woods listed above were professionally stabilized by WSSI and K&G. I personally will never buy a knife with a stabilized wood handle that was not professionally stabilized.

I miss working with wood. However, the political climate regarding natural materials is bad. As a result we stopped selling all natural materials. I still have a few thousand pounds of select burls in storage. I also have my natural materials private stash boxes for knives I commission.

Chuck
Click to expand...
You really shouldn't have all that wood taking up space in your business and possibly causing a fire or infestation problem. For a minimal fee, I'll you dispose of all those burls safely. If your willing to ship, I may even help you out for free;)
 
My guess is that the list is based on how the listed woods react to professional stabilisation?
 
scott kozub said:
You really shouldn't have all that wood taking up space in your business and possibly causing a fire or infestation problem. For a minimal fee, I'll you dispose of all those burls safely. If your willing to ship, I may even help you out for free;)
Click to expand...

*laughing*
 
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