Yet another newbie question about wood

[Hurley]

I won 2 different kinds of wood from ebay last week. Box Elder and Lebanese Cedar

Cedar



Has anyone worked with these? The cedar seems to be very dense, not real sure if it needed stabilizing or not. The elder, not so much.

[Ray Rogers]

I've worked with lots of Box Elder, always stabilized, and I love it. Never tried cedar but it should be similar to Spruce - I say that because guitar tops are made from both Spruce and Cedar. For knives, my preference would be for both woods to be stabilized if for no other reason than it makes them dead simple to finish on top of all the durability it adds to the handle ...

[Hurley]

Now I read somewhere that you can stabilize it by putting a 1/4 inch hole in top of a mason jar and use a harbor freight brake bleeder to suck the air out. Sound about right?

[jmccustomknives]

I recently had a project where the customer wanted a knife with the handle made from slabs cut from a tree that fell and totalled his car one day. It was a pecan and been dead for a while. I used a marine grade epoxy for stabilizing dry rot in wooden boats. Man, that stuff just sucked right in the wood and turned to plastic. I had a gentleman share that a 50/50 xylene epoxy mixture does about the same thing. It did make the wood a lot darker. As far as those woods you bought, idk. The box elder is interesting but will that translate into the knife handle. The cedar might have oils that would interfere with the stabilizing process. I can't say, I've got red cedar I've used once or twice but didn't much care for it.

[Hurley]

The guy I buy these blanks from coats the whole thing in wax, I guess to keep it from absorbing I haven't the foggiest! I just sand it all of with 40 grit. xylene/epoxy, guess I better read up on stabilizing, I thought you used hardener.

[Ray Rogers]

Keith,

There are lots of home grown stabilizing processes, most are crap but some actually do a very good job. In most cases, though, it's cheaper, easier, and definitely more certain if you just send the wood to K&G Finishing (knife supply place in AZ). The equipment and chemistry they use is far beyond anything you're likely to have. I've sent a ton of wood, bone, ivory, and horn to them and never had a problem. The overall costs come out about half what I would expect to pay if I had purchased the same block of wood already stabilized but without me having to build equipment and mess with chemicals ...

[jmccustomknives]

Originally Posted by 3xSharp

The guy I buy these blanks from coats the whole thing in wax, I guess to keep it from absorbing I haven't the foggiest! I just sand it all of with 40 grit. xylene/epoxy, guess I better read up on stabilizing, I thought you used hardener.

According to his instructions mix the epoxy then mix in the xylene at a 50/50. He says it's as thin a gasoline. I looked into purchasing some xylene but the store only had it by the gallon. It would take me years to use that stuff. Better I guess to buy the stabilized stuff, but I never do anything right.

[Ray Rogers]

QUOTE: It would take me years to use that stuff.

Yes, unless you intend to do a huge amount of stabilizing it probably isn't worth all the trouble - and it is a good bit of effort if you really do it right. If it seems easy, you're probably not using a very effective method.

Most good suppliers of wood will wax the ends of a piece of wood to keep the wood from losing it's moisture too fast which leads to cracking. Leave the wax on it until you're ready to use it or stabilize it ...

[Doug Lester]

I would not work with xylene except under a vented hood. That stuff is not good on the lungs. As far as a home brewed recipe; I wouldn't go near it. Ray gave you the best advise and that is to send it out to have it stabilized.

Doug

[Naboyle]

Ray I traded NorCalNate for some slabs of redwood burl. They're 11"x7"x1 3/4" thick. When I get them I want to send them to K&G to get stabilized. Nate is sending them shellacked. Do I need to cut everything to the sizes I want to use or can I just send the slabs?

[racjarrett88]

the hand vacuum works a little with more porous materials such as bone and antler but it is a real workout. I'm gonna send all my future wood to be stabilized because it will be cheaper and a whole lot easier that way. A real vacuum pump would work a lot better but still probably not worth it in the long run. The hand pump will wear you out way before getting a very good vacuum. I figured it would help sell knives if I can say professionally stabilized wood handle but who knows.

[Ray Rogers]

According to their catalog (what, you don't have one? Why not?) the largest piece they can handle is 12x4x2" so you would need to at least split your boards lengthwise. I would suggest cutting the boards into over sized knife handle blocks, say, 5.5" x 1.5" x 1.75" That will make 8 blocks from one of those boards with a 1" strip left over. The stabilizing process is really necessary for redwood but the blocks will warp under the extreme forces that K&G will apply to them which is why I suggest you make them slightly large. You can square them up after you get them back and bring them down to a more normal size (although I find the bigger blocks very useful). Of course, the blocks can be cut into slabs if you wish but try not to send slabs already cut as they can warp more than a block will.

Be sure to read their catalog or website or give them a call so you understand how to mark your wood and what paperwork they want you to send with it (an inventory of your wood and a disclaimer). After you see what happens to your Rosewood I doubt you will ever want to use unstabilized rosewood ever again ...

[Naboyle]

Ray I haven't used ANY redwood ever! What happens to it? That handle is gorgeous. Redwood burl?

[racjarrett88]

What is their website Ray? I need a catalog

Austin

[Ray Rogers]

Ya, that's Redwood Burl, stabilized by K&G. The piece you have is very soft and impossible to polish. The handle in the picture is hard, solid, and polishes easily. Huge improvement!

http://www.knifeandgun.com/