Stabilized Wood Comparison

Just a short video to show the differences in stabilized woods from home stabilizers (all of them that I have experience with anyhow), versus woods stabilized professionally at places like K&G. I also want to point out that while I mention Mark at Burl Source many times, that's partly because the piece of wood I'm comparing came from him. I've had just as good an experience with wood from Myron at Dream Burls, Arizona Ironwood LLC, and Craig Stevens on eBay. ANY of these guys will sell you a great piece of solidly stabilized wood, and back it up as well. The point of the video is simply that home stabilization is rarely a viable option when compared to professional stabilization, particularly on a handle subjected to heat, humidity, and acidic food or oils like our knives are. This conclusion has been echoed to me by every single craftsman I've ever met that deals with stabilized wood.

All of that said, I think this handle did turn out beautifully...but the amount of work that I had to go through to make it happen is highly counter productive.

 

The video seems to still be uploading. It should be available shortly.

 

Thanks for the video. Learned my lesson at only a moderate expense.

 

Its a lesson I had to learn as well. And even so it's still difficult not to buy less expensive pieces from eBay sellers, even knowing it may be inferior quality...it's the LOOK of the wood that forces the 'Buy It Now' lol. But honestly, Myron (Dream Burls), Mark (Burl Source), and a very few others are the only ones that I have a 100% success rate with. That's saying something.

 

Nice video Cris, and thanks.

 

Any time Myron...seriously. You, and Mark, and a very few others are the only guys I go to for handle wood, for the specific reasons I pointed out in the video. You care enough to have your offerings stabilized by a professional company, for professional results. I mean, I sometimes buy unstabilized woods myself, and always spend the money to have K&G do the work. I just sent 7lbs of buckeye burl to them two weeks ago, lol.








It looks like some of it's going to have a fair amount of voids...but, that comes with the wood.

 

i love that buckeye burl!

 

Me too . You don't see reds in buckeye burl very often. I spent way too much on this wood (specifically for the black and red patterning...), and will end up spending that money all over again for the stabilization on top of it. Add to that, that a lot of it will be junk due to voids and such. But in the end...I figure if I can get 5 good handles out of it, it will have been a cost effective purchase...and even more so for the coloring.

 

Cris, that Buckeye will really soak up the polymers and probably almost double their weight. That's a good thing not only for the handles, but it gives you a better price per pound from K&G.

 

I was thinking that myself! 7lbs of wood, almost doubled...should put me just over their 10lb price break. I budgeted $140 shipped back to me, so we'll just have to see .

Speaking of K&G...today I gave them a call to see where my wood was in terms of being finished, and Nicole had no clue...to the point where she was telling me she was certain they'd never received it. After THREE WEEKS. That single thing is a shining example of my one an only complaint about them. Communication (or the lack thereof). How hard would it be to drop a call or email saying 'Hey Cris, your package arrived, and we'd like to verify you're wanting 6lbs of buckeye burl, and 1lb of claro walnut clear stabilized?'. The first time I used them...it was a full month, and despite me leaving three messages (I didn't get off work until after they closed), they never called me until it was ready, lol.

Anyhow...the product is worth the confusion for sure, and Nicole is an incredibly sweet girl...so I'm content to just deal with it.

 

I always get tracking information when I send them a box of wood. I insure it too. With the tracking I get emails every step of the way and I know exactly when the box has been delivered. You're right, they never call or send me an email with the status of my order or when it was shipped, but when I call them they always get me an answer. Try the USPS tracking. There's a box to check if you want it when you create the shipping label. It's a lot better than just wondering what's what.

 

Good call, I didn't think about that. Nicole told me next time to add a request on the disclaimer to contact me when the work begins. I'll be doing both from now on.

 

Some gorgeous looking wood you got there Cris!

Don't know how many handles I've done so far, somewhere around 100 or so, and 2/3 of them made from unstabilized wood. I was unable to find anyone who would do stabilization for me here in Russia, so I spend a lot of time reading about stabilization process and looking for chemicals. It's not a rocket science, but doing it in home (small apartment) environment is not fun at all, so I had to stop and save money to buy stabilized wood from Mark.

But I'm pretty sure that it's 100% possible to make a perfect finish on unstabilized wood without any voids, imperfections and so on. It just takes more time. Mark posted somewhere quote by Michael Rader about how he finishes his handles — it's a multi week process! Yes, it takes a hell load of time, but the results are stunning. And I talked to some more knife makers (not kitchen related) who never used stabilized wood and still manages to make gorgeously looking handles.

So for me it's a trade: if you want to save time — get stabilized wood. If you need to save money — you can get away with unstabilized wood. There are some exceptions, as some wood is just too loose to be used unstabilized, but that's more of exception. There are even counter exceptions: I like unstabilized Gidgee much more then stabilized

… in the end of the day I wish we had something like K&G here

 

The thing for me about stabilization, is that for the knives we use here...it's pretty much mandatory. Not for the finish...but for the environment they are used in. Coming into contact with acidic foods, heat, humidity, outright moisture (of varying ph levels), as well as the physical abuse they must endure...well, I'm not comfortable putting unstabilized woods through that. For me, the exceptions are woods that don't require stabilization. Things like rosewood, ironwood, and a few others. Now also, I understand that for the home user, that can be overkill...but I have to make my knives with a 'worst case scenario' frame of mind. If ONE handle on a knife I made comes apart, swells, chips out...whatever, that customer will tell everyone...EVERYONE...literally, and that one negative will weigh heavily against however many didn't. The other thing is that just because I sell a knife to a home user...and might possibly take a shortcut on the wood specifically for him/her with the understanding that they can give it the extra care it requires...well, that doesn't mean they will be the only owner. If they sell it, give it away, whatever...who knows what it will face? And there my name is, right on the side...lol.

But anyhow, those are my reasons for stabilized woods, and I totally understand and respect that yours are probably completely different. I'm very lucky in that K&G is literally a couple hundred miles away...and that shipping from Myron, or Mark isn't cost prohibitive, lol.

By the way! I finally picked up the steel for those tangs! My shop is tore apart right now...but they're on my short list along with a couple knives as soon as it's back up .