Question about stabilized wood

D

dgw

Guest
I have a quick question. I have never had any experience with stabilized stocks before. I have a handle on a 5 “ skinner that I am working on that is stabilized redwood burl. All my shaping and sanding work is done except putting the finish on the handle. Can you use superglue and debonder on a stabilized stock or would the superglue not penetrate into the wood due to the stock already being stabilized? Would it be better just to wax it?
 
I used to just fine sand and wax. The results are good. "Fine" means 400-600 grit for a user up to 12000 Micro Mesh to make it really shine.

Recently a couple of people, notably BurlSource, have convinced me to try oil finishes on stabilized woods to bring out the grain better. I like the results and plan to keep trying that approach. Currently I've been doing 400, oil coat, sand in or 0000 steel wool, maybe another oil coat, then wax.

Lots of folks here have more experience at finishing than me. I'm thinking of switching from the 0000 steel wool to fake steel wool pads because of warning about little bits of steel getting trapped in the handle and rusting. Trouble is I like the results of steel wool much better than sandpaper.

Mark (BurlSource) follows the oil finish with a single coat of a spray lacquer finish, but I really dislike sprays.
 
I take my stabilized woods to 800 grit and them polish on the buffer. I buff it lightly to bring out the luster then quit.
 
I take my stabilized woods to 800 grit and them polish on the buffer. I buff it lightly to bring out the luster then quit.

Same here. I don't use a finish on stabilized woods but it does get a coat of wax with the rest of the knife when it's complete. Not having to apply a finish is one of the main reasons I use stabilized wood. Not all stabilized wood is equal. I have heard of people buying "stabilized" wood from ebay only to find that the seller has a different definition of "stabilized" than most knife makers do. I would recommend that you use stabilized wood from one of the knife supply sites that you see on knife dawgs. I use Gallery Hardwoods stabilized burls and never had a problem.
 
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