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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 11-29-2014, 11:14 AM
Rasmus Kristens Rasmus Kristens is offline
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Lilac wood broken - how to treat?

Hi all!

Today i went to look at me Lilac pieces, unfortunatly the all looked like this:

I even sealed the ends of the wood to slow down the evaporation.

It makes me pretty sad, since the it was cut from our own tree. I was so looking forward to using it for some hidden tang knives.

I'm not giving up on the wood, as it it still possible to cut some scales from the pieces, even though it limits the posibilities for cutting.

Here one of the scales i cut:


My questions are.
How do i make sure this splitting of the wood doesnt happen agian? I kept it in a chilled basement with sealed ends.

What should i do the scales before using them? Should i do some kind of DIY stabalizing, og are Lilac resistent enough on it's own?
I read about using 50/50 Mineral Spirits /linseedoil to stabalize the wood? Could that work?

I'm super nowbie, so bear with me ;-)

Looking forward to hear from you.

Rasmus
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Old 11-29-2014, 01:53 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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I would not consider the mineral spirits and linseed oil to be stabilization. It might improve the shrinkage and expansion of the wood some gut it will add not strength to it. For that you need to pump the resin into the grain of the wood. If sending it out to a professional treater is out of the question then you might try getting the resin yourself. Look up a product called Cactus Juice. I've not used it myself but I have read some good reviews.

There is anther product called Nelsonite. I would avoid it. I don't know what it does but it does not stabilize the wood. I've had wood treated with it to warp badly.

Doug


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Old 11-29-2014, 02:40 PM
jmccustomknives jmccustomknives is offline
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If you might have noticed, the cracking starts from the center and radiates out. You need to split the wood into pieces before letting it season and dry.
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Old 11-30-2014, 07:36 AM
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Crex Crex is offline
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Go ahead finish the split, remove the bark, cut to oversize blanks - all dimensions - and reseal the end grains by dipping in melted wax.
Storing in cool or chilled basement won't do you much good. Weigh and record the pieces then store in a warm dry place (not hot or humid). Rack so that there is plenty of air flow around each piece. check on them again in about 6 months, re-weigh and record. There should be an appreciable drop in weight. Re-rack and weigh again in 2 - 3 months. If weight has stabilized (no change) you should be at the point of ambient balanced moisture. Unless you use a kiln that's going to be the moisture content you are stuck with. As mentioned you can send it out for stabilization if you like.
Each specie is different and will dry and balance at it's own rate. Not familiar with lilac on this basis, but it appears to be similar to redbud in grain characteristics so it most likely be a very slow dry process. If you are impatient, stabilization might be the way to go.
In the future, cut your blanks, bolts, cants with about 2"s of extra on each end if possible. This will give you some leeway in cutting out your blanks once dry as you will most likely get some minor checking in the ends no matter what.
Pretty piece of wood, by the way.


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Old 12-02-2014, 08:28 AM
Rasmus Kristens Rasmus Kristens is offline
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Thank you very much.

It has already lost a lot of weight and the weight loos rate has slowed down significantly since i put it in the basement. I will try to do as you describe Crex and hope for the best.

I dont really have the money to send the wood to be professionally stabilized, so I hoped to do some DIY stabalizing. I hoped it was possible to do this with household remedies.

i really love the wood, so i hope it will end up usable!

Again, thank you all.

Rasmus
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blanks, diy, fixed blade, hidden, hidden tang, hot, how to, knives, linseed oil, resin, scales, stabilization, store, tang, wax, wood


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