stabilized blocks: how deep does the resin penetrate?

John Wilson

John Wilson

Well-Known Member
How deep does the resin go into a block of wood when it gets stabilized? I know this sounds like an academic question, but it's not really. I have yet to use stabilized wood that didn't soak up whatever stain or oil I put on it.

This is going to get wordy, but I'm trying to paint a picture. Let's say you start with a typical stabilized block. It's about an inch thick, and from that you cut two 3/8inch thick scales from it. Then to bookmatch the figure, the cut between the two scales becomes the outside scale face on each side of the knife. So it begs the question: Isn't the part of the scale which we really want stabilized the most, made from the most unstabilized portion of the wood? (the inside center of the block becomes the outside face of each scale).

If my handles (before finishing) didn't readily soak up whatever liquid I put on them, I wouldn't be worried about it. But that tells me that by the time I'm done making a handle, very little of the remaining wood was stabilized, unless I'm mistaken.
 
Properly stabilized wood is 100% thru and thru with resin. That's what makes it so difficult to home stabilize wood is getting that 100% penetration completely thru the wood. Properly stabilized wood should sink in fresh water - that is my experience anyway. Maybe Mark (or other experts) will chime in here with confirmation..... or denial that ALL stabilized wood will sink in fresh water.

Ken H>
 
When I spoke with the proprieter of cactus juice he said the number one mostake that is made when home stabilizing is that the wood is not kept under vacuum long enough. If it takes an hour for the bubbles to disappear then it needs to stay under vacuum for another hr. In order to properly ensure it stays at 27 to 29 lbs vac,the pump should run the whole 2hrs. Will be putting it to the test soon.
 
What are use using to stabilize with? If the wood is properly stabilized it shouldn't be able to take up any stains or finishing oils. Also, not all woods are capable of being stabilized. Most of the Rosewood family, Lignum vitae, and I think Desert Ironwood are too dense and oily to take it up.

Doug
 
I'm buying the wood stabilized. The only stabilized wood I dye is curly maple, which I stain with leather dye and then with trans tint, so it's a surface stain. But it always takes the dye.

I've used curly maple stabilized as well as natural, and they act pretty much the same.
 
I second Ken's words. Generally whether or not a given material can be stained/dyed after stabilizing is based on they type of wood/material. Its not a perfect science, even at the "professional" level. Some do a better job then others. Ideally, if a material is completely stabilized, it would accept a very minimal amount of stain/dye. More often then not, the best stabilized materials will give "splotchy" or "streaky" results if stains or dyes are applied. If you getting good acceptance of stains or dyes, thats an indicator that the stabilizing was marginal.

Actual "stabilizing" isn't as simply or easy as it might sound. While I'm certainly no expert on the entire field, I worked for about 3 years attempting to stabilize my own handle materials. Beyond the fact that pulling/maintaining the required vacuum is difficult, I found the biggest hurdle to be the stabilizing agent used. Until I got to the level of spending hundreds of dollars for a stablizing agent, the results were totally unsatisfactory. All of the "less expensive" stabilizing agents would solidify "punky" materials, but they were not waterproof. Others that were waterproof had severe pentration issues.

The conclusion I came to is that unless you either build, or spend the money on industrial grade equipment, AND get the "high end" stabilizing agents (the stuff I'm thinking of is approx. $900 for 5 gallons), your just spinning your wheels.

Personally, I came to realize, that it is far more economical, and a better quality product is realize by send material to a "professional" stablilizing outfit. That being said, it was a grand learning experience for me, and the only regret I have is the realization that I spent a lot of time and money that could have been far better spent just sending my materials out, and letting the "professionals" do it. :)

While nothing we can do will ever totally eliminate the "movement" of natural handle materials, the idea behind stabilizing is the MINIMIZE that movement, and to make materials that would otherwise be unsuitable for knife handles, usable.
 
Thanks for the response. At least I know I'm not crazy. What it points to is that the wood I'm buying as stabilized isn't stabilized with 100% penetration. In actual use, every handle I make that will take TruOil gets it, and the ones that won't take it get wax. The ones in my kitchen have shown no sign of swelling or movement with daily hand washing, which is comforting.
 
John, did you ever mention who did the stabilizing and what process or how they did it? There is a WORLD of difference in stabilized wood - all depending on who did it. If purchased off ebay as stabilized, that could be as little as just soaked in a liquid and called stabilized.

Ken H>
 
My understanding is that the stabilizing was done by K&G. I wear a respirator when shaping my handles, but when I take off the respirator the smell of resin is unmistakable.

The more I think about it, the more I believe it makes sense that the wood will take oil and dye (at least on the surface). While the voids may become resin-filled, the actual wood fibers do not. Obviously when you sand the wood you sand into the wood fibers and will have thousands of fresh wood fibers exposed and they will take oil or dye. I would imagine that the species of wood will determine whether the wood fibers themselves becomes impregnated with resin or not, based on density.
 
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John Wilson said:
My understanding is that the stabilizing was done by K&G. I wear a respirator when shaping my handles, but when I take off the respirator the smell of resin is unmistakable.

The more I think about it, the more I believe it makes sense that the wood will take oil and dye (at least on the surface). While the voids may become resin-filled, the actual wood fibers do not. Obviously when you sand the wood you sand into the wood fibers and will have thousands of fresh wood fibers exposed and they will take oil or dye. I would imagine that the species of wood will determine whether the wood fibers themselves becomes impregnated with resin or not, based on density.
Click to expand...

I think this^^^ is totally correct.

LightningSharp said:
K&G test several pieces in each batch to check the depth of penetration...
Click to expand...

Would you mind sharing how they do that or where you got your information on that? I can't see how that's possible without them cutting or drilling into the blocks and I highly doubt guys are sending sacrificial blocks for them to test. I know I don't. And I send a fair amount of wood to them.
 
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