I have a problem a wood addiction problem

GeneK said:
Beautiful knife, Ty. That koa looks really good. Question, does koa need to be stabilized?
Click to expand...

I have used quite a bit of unstabilized koa, and I use it on kitchen knives that see a lot of use and get soaking wet as a matter of course. Having said that, I apply Tru-Oil generously. The handles are very well sealed when I'm done with them. I have seen no difference between stabilized and unstabilized koa as far as moving or durability.
 
Some ironwood burl.
IMG_20170807_180441.jpg
I have a couple pieces of this African mahogany from John Doyle. You guy's have already seen better pictures of the blocks. This stuff has the most amazing smell. When I walk into the garage I open the wood cabinet and the smell fills the room.
IMG_20170807_180515.jpg
 
DSC01245.JPG DSC01245.JPG DSC01246.JPG

A piece of Cocobolo I've had for about 30 years...a guy came around the shop I was working at with wood rems. So I bought it cause it was nice. Still haven't decided what to do with it. about 2ft by 8" by 3/4 thick. I juiced it for the photo....
 
Cocobolo is a really nice wood but the piece I have is wider grained and is more red and black. It goes nice with ebony bolsters. There are another few pieces in the wood drawer.

ESDx8lJ.jpg
 
years ago a cabinet maker told me that cocobolo was miserable to glue...probably why I didn't do anything with it....I bought it 34 years ago...lol. I like it for its color and the yellow outer wood is just as hard as the heart wood...so you can get great color contrast if you have some yellow in it...
 
it's beautiful wood, that's for sure. but just looking at it gives me the willies.
the last time I used cocobolo was about 20 years ago and it almost sent me to the hospital.
I'm ultra sensitive to it, and the last time I woke up in the middle of the night with burning sinuses and coughing blood.
it felt like I had snorted diesel fuel and barbed wire.I had one other episode before but not nearly that bad. that was wearing a respirator, albeit a cheap one and those were the days when I thought I was impervious to death.
I'm not alone in this, be careful when working with cocobolo.
 
bladegrinder said:
it's beautiful wood, that's for sure. but just looking at it gives me the willies.
the last time I used cocobolo was about 20 years ago and it almost sent me to the hospital.
I'm ultra sensitive to it, and the last time I woke up in the middle of the night with burning sinuses and coughing blood.
it felt like I had snorted diesel fuel and barbed wire.I had one other episode before but not nearly that bad. that was wearing a respirator, albeit a cheap one and those were the days when I thought I was impervious to death.
I'm not alone in this, be careful when working with cocobolo.
Click to expand...


Same here.

Never ever grind that stuff without a respirator. I have a bad reaction to African Blackwood, too. The dust getting on my arms makes me break out. I can't imagine what it would do inside my sinuses and lungs.
 
Gliden07 said:
If you guys need to get rid of some of your extra wood inventory, just want you to know I'm here to help!! :):)
Click to expand...

As soon as I come into a chunk of cash I will be refilling my wood stores. It's been a good year for me and I've used up a lot of my good pieces. I need to get away from buying it two or three blocks at a time. I keep telling my wife that we'd be better off cashing out our 401k and buying all the exotic wood we can while it's available. I'm not kidding.
 
John Wilson said:
As soon as I come into a chunk of cash I will be refilling my wood stores. It's been a good year for me and I've used up a lot of my good pieces. I need to get away from buying it two or three blocks at a time. I keep telling my wife that we'd be better off cashing out our 401k and buying all the exotic wood we can while it's available. I'm not kidding.
Click to expand...
That's funny John. I love beautiful handle material. But I do look at buying all this wood as an investment. I hope to take an early retirement from my job. So as long as I can afford it this thread will continue to grow. In the short time that I have been making knives, blocks have gone up $5 to $15 depending on material. It's not going to get any cheaper. Buy it if you can.
 
John Wilson said:
As soon as I come into a chunk of cash I will be refilling my wood stores. It's been a good year for me and I've used up a lot of my good pieces. I need to get away from buying it two or three blocks at a time. I keep telling my wife that we'd be better off cashing out our 401k and buying all the exotic wood we can while it's available. I'm not kidding.
Click to expand...
My dad told me that YEARS ago when he was stocking up on claro walnut slab gunstock blanks....I was young and stupid...sigh.
 
Thanks Justin. 95% of that batch was from John Doyle. He has always been fair with his pricing, and he does the hard part. Finding all the good wood. And until I can find 30 hours in a day this will be the last batch that I send out to be stabilized.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top