Looking for thermally treated wood handle material

D

D-Yager

Active Member
Hey Dogs
I have been reading about thermally treated lumber and would like to get a bit for knife handles. As we all know there's not much real estate involved with a handle so I’m looking for something with character like curly/burly/squirrelly stuff. I have bandsaw, etc. so I could make my own scales out of a larger piece. Anyone in this friendly Dog Club recommend commercial sources for this material? Cheers, Yager
 
Last edited:
Are you talking about stabilized wood? Or something like dymondwood? You can find both at knife maker supply companies. Hope that helps!
 
Alden Cole said:
Are you talking about stabilized wood? Or something like dymondwood? You can find both at knife maker supply companies. Hope that helps!
Click to expand...
The word "stabilized " is getting used a lot lately in various forms. I have the vacuum chamber, acrylic infusion rig sold by TurnTex which uses Cactus Juice so that’s where my bell rings when we’re talkin' stabilized. Diamondwood is a different critter, basically a thin layered plywood that exposes pretty cool patterns when shaped, kinda like micarta. Not that, either. The thermally modified stuff wood is cooked at high temp. in a no-oxygen environment and becomes "aged" by the process. Harder, darker, denser, etc. Seems to be used a lot as decking or siding because of these new properties. Sounds like it would be good for knife work?
 
Interesting. If it is mostly used for lumber sounds like you'll have a hard time finding much burly stuff, but what do I know! You could contact some of the companies and see if they would treat some of your wood
 
The pro stabilizers are specifically stabilizing wood for high end stuff. At 3000ksi you cannot approach what they achieve with home stabilizing. easy to prove to yourself...buy a block of stabilized wood and then take that same type of wood... and cactus juice it...then weigh them. The pro stabilized stuff will be heavier. Some of it is so dense the surface will feel almost plastic...and you can buff it for a finish.

I do think cactus juice is an improvement but not in the same league as the pro stuff. If you feel you home attempts are not quite what you are looking for why not buy an already stabilized chunk and try it?
 
OK, further looking has led me to a place near L.A. that has the cooked, figured wood I’ve been seeking. They seem to cater to the instrument makers so prices are high but the stock's beautiful. Heck, one board foot for a hundred bucks? Probably last a year or more making folders. The owner seems like an interesting chap, doing forestry down east, supporting musicians, etc. Maybe he’d be a good member of this here Dog Show?
commercialforestproducts.com

Roasted Wood: What Is It? 2023 - COMMERCIAL FOREST PRODUCTS 2022

Roasted hardwood lumber is stable in challenging environments. Tempered, torrified or thermally treated hardwood reduces moisture issues.
commercialforestproducts.com commercialforestproducts.com
 
Smallshop said:
The pro stabilizers are specifically stabilizing wood for high end stuff. At 3000ksi you cannot approach what they achieve with home stabilizing. easy to prove to yourself...buy a block of stabilized wood and then take that same type of wood... and cactus juice it...then weigh them. The pro stabilized stuff will be heavier. Some of it is so dense the surface will feel almost plastic...and you can buff it for a finish.

I do think cactus juice is an improvement but not in the same league as the pro stuff. If you feel you home attempts are not quite what you are looking for why not buy an already stabilized chunk and try it?
Click to expand...
Absolutely right! I started out by sending a mix & match pack of woods to a pro stabilizer and it’s excellent. After a couple-three years of tinkering with my homey set I've gotten good at it and can make some quality material. But it’s taken a while to learn how to make the beauty stuff that’s dense enough to sink in water. More expensive in the long run but for me it’s not just about the money.
 

Attachments

  • D2C2070E-E8AD-4F98-9BA4-4BE0A6DA2471.jpeg
    D2C2070E-E8AD-4F98-9BA4-4BE0A6DA2471.jpeg
    269.4 KB · Views: 6
Bruce - Secret way to.......? Make pretty wood? Here's what I know about vacuum chamber/acrylic stabilization but I'm just a trial & error type learner. Lots of stuff published by TurnTex.Com.

1) Forget about drying wood as you've known it. The stuff you process must be SUPER dry and must be dried in an oven 'till it no longer looses weight. This happens either overnight or in several 2 hour sessions. Do NOT use wifey's stove. Get a swap meet toaster oven, $15.
2) Best stuff to use is punky or ancient stuff with some visible figure. Spalting is an good candidate 'cause the wood's very happy to receive moisture, or in this case the acrylic goop. Of course burl, curly, quilted material is good. I especially love Bay Laurel or Myrtle (same thing). Because I'm usually making knife scales I'll pre-cut the wood to about 3/4" thick X 2" wide X 6" long. This I will later resaw to produce at least one set of scales, 2 sets for folders.
3) Submerge wood blanks in goop and apply vacuum. Don't stop 'till the bubbles stop coming up, often several days. The little vacuum pumps that do this work are designed to run 24/7 so that's OK.
4) When bubbles are gone take blanks out of chamber but continue to soak under normal household pressure. Several days, generally.
5) Cook the blanks in your little working oven for a couple of hours. This sets off the penetrated acrylic.
6) Remove from oven, sand 'em up and rock out!

That's a very abbreviated and non-detailed look at the procedure. If you want to dye stuff there's a few more easy steps. There's a lot of things to learn and FaceBook has tons of material. Look up "wood stabilization" and TurnTex.

Cheers
 
I'm not sure I buy into this thermally treated/roasted wood. It seems like more snake oil and hype. But to each, their own.

From a practical standpoint, it seems like way more time and effort invested than its worth.

I have to ask, why not just source some suitable knife handle material and be done with it?

Sure there are a few "popular" suppliers asking ridiculous prices but there are many, many places and options for quality, durable handle materials at reasonable prices with not much effort.
 
D-Yager said:
That's a very abbreviated and non-detailed look at the procedure.
Click to expand...
and the procedure is spot on to work just fine. There are 4 points to really consider you spelled out, dry the wood, good vacuum, soak long time in resin, and perhaps just as important pick the right wood. Something with large open pores that will soak up the resin good. There are many woods that simply won't work with home stabilization but K&G, WSSI, etc do a GREAT job with their equip. With your procedure the finish product will sink in water just fine.
 
D-Yager....I experimented for a couple years with the cactus juice. My experience/method is exactly what you have described....I did begin adding dye for the purpose of gaging penetration...which worked great to tell if it really made it to the center of the block.

One thing I want to ask...did orientation of the block seem to affect the resin getting into the wood for you? I fought and fought with getting penetration...I was laying my blocks with the grain running in a horizontal direction. I finally started standing them up with the grain running vertical...and the juice seemed to penetrate better!

I still never achieved the weight of a block from the pro guys....and have since kind of steered away from woods that need stabilizing. No spalted or burl or distressed with air-pockets...No to say I won't revisit but I'm pretty old school...if it wouldn't be used for a exhibition grade gunstock...I tend to be leery.
 
So, I happen to have a lumber professional in the family. I asked him about this heat treated wood. The claims made by the linked IG appear to be in line. Strength is increased at the expense of flexibility, moisture fluctuation is decreased and maintained at a lower level. It sounds like it would improve the longevity of a knife handle and mitigate climate impact. I think I might just try some.
 
OK, with all this discussion about vacuum/acrylic stabilization I seem to have lost focus on this: IS ANYBODY USING THERMALLY MODIFIED WOOD IN YOUR KNIFE MAKING? If so, what's it like? I'm with tkroenlein <above> about maybe it's worth a try but it's danged expensive. Another problem is that I have 4-5 lifetimes of cool wood waiting to be used and so what the Sam Hill am I doing looking to buy a 3 foot 1X6 for $100 ?

Per SmallShop's comment about orientation in the vcacuum/acrylic process, I understand that the acrylic liquid enters mostly via ENDGRAIN, so I always try to sand that then blow it off to make a clear path for the goop. Lot of guys coat their endgrain with a sealer while drying but that needs to be cut off prior to stabilizing.

Cheers
-Yager
PS, I totally love this Dog Board. Nobody's on their high horse telling you how you're and asshole and you're wrong. Thanks for letting me join and take part.
 
Doug Lester said:
I obtained some roasted birds eye maple from Ebay. Beautiful stuff, just waiting to get set back up so that I can make a blade worth wearing it.

Doug
Click to expand...
Doug, we’d all like to hear how this turns out. Especially, how does it seem in comparison to un-roasted wood? And, if you've used stabilized woods in the past, how does your new stuff compare?

Hauler - Yes, the roasting process darkens maple and makes the curl stand out in sharper contrast. Beauty, but I think it’s way high-tech with expensive equipment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top