Spalted Tamarind

[Sean Jones]

My wife gave me several pieces of wood for knife scales for my recent birthday. Among them was this Spalted Tamarind.

https://imgur.com/a/Otw718T

I intend to have it stabilized. However I've never worked with Spalted woods before or Tamarind. Any thing I should watch for?

Thanks

 

[EdCaffreyMS]

"Spalted" is basically another word for rotted....really. It's just used when the "rot" looks cool. Stabilizing of anything "spalted" is mandatory IMO.

Without good stabilizing, and even sometime with, "spalted" woods will grind away super fast, and are usually soft and "punky"... and always very light in weight...until stabilized. When sending out for stabilizing....gotta make sure any wood is as dry as possible. Typically, with heat activated stabilizing agents, anything more then 9-10% moisture will usually result in severe/odd warps and twists.

All that being said, with good stabilizing, it should be completely usable for knife handle material.

 

[Sean Jones]

Thanks Ed. I do like the look of it. I'll be sending it out to K&G and go from there.

 

[Chris Railey]

sending it out to K&G and go from there.

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