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No not me i would love to have a table or desk from there they have there own mill in Mexico.
 
Got some black and white ebony that I'm sending to Del to be stabilized. So much amazing stuff. I might buy a cocobolo board for a saya.
 
Let me know how stabilizing that b&w ebony works out. I never know whether to do that or not. I think I remember one piece I saw that then darkened a bit,

Stefan
 
Got some black and white ebony that I'm sending to Del to be stabilized. So much amazing stuff. I might buy a cocobolo board for a saya.

I had some b/w ebony stabilized by K&G. It stabilized very well (complete penetration) but it takes on an amber coloring.
How dark varied from piece to piece.
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Is that a horn ferrule? Whatever it is I like it. Interesting how the B&W ebony is coming out so dark like that. Dense as it is I find it does need something to keep it from swelling on my knife handle (since it's not stabilized).
 
Ram's horn and a mokume ferrule.
The ebony did not look as dark when cut and rough sanded. As it was sanded finer it became several shades darker.
Kind of strange and not what I expected, it turned out looking nice, but different.
My experience with the black and white ebony is that it is prone to a lot of movement if not stabilized. Could be just the batch I got?
 
Let me know how stabilizing that b&w ebony works out. I never know whether to do that or not. I think I remember one piece I saw that then darkened a bit,

Stefan

Stefan, ask Dave about unstabilized b&w ebony. He had to re-do mine twice before it settled down. Since I got on island, it went haywire and now I have two banana shaped pieces of wood tenuously attached to the tang of my knife. I'm super pissed...first because the materials werent cheap; second, because I wasted Dave's time; third, because I either have to spend more money on EMS shipping, or wait a month for it to get to the US via USPS. This time I'm going with Butch's my-carta.
 
Sorry to hear that, Dave. I have not worked with b&w ebony much, but a local source has some nice pieces that I had been looking at. I may reconsider that... Good luck with the micarta scales, they shouldn't give you any issues.

Stefan
 
I would have to say that Box Elder burl, Maple burl and Spalted woods are my favorites.
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Sorry to hear that, Dave. I have not worked with b&w ebony much, but a local source has some nice pieces that I had been looking at. I may reconsider that... Good luck with the micarta scales, they shouldn't give you any issues.

Stefan

Everything else held up just fine. Just the ebony crapped out.
 
I really like all the wood specie. I used to only look for the burly,swirly , and popping stuff ( kinda like the picture below). I think most wood gives its own beauty in the context its set in. At the moment, im into spalted maple,pecan, and sycamore. I just love a could spalt. Below - on top- spalted maple, from left to right, - xylay,masur birch,koa, buckeye burl,juniper burl, and the bottom is desert ironwood burl. I have some cherry burl--its bone dry, when i leave it in the sun for a day, the shade of a deep red covers the piece and really exagerates the burl. The problem is- it only covers the top parts, so when you sand it the deep color is lost. If you stabilize it, it does turn a bit deeper.If I ever get around to feeling comfortable with making kitchen knives, I may use the cherry burl as a non stabilized knife box. Then maybe the sun could do its magic- then i can seal it and capture the color. Yes I write too much--Thanks-Mark

IMG_9138-1.jpg
 
That xylay and juniper are nice! Spalted maple and ironwood are always good, and those look like very nice pieces of koa, masur and buckeye. Good stuff.
 
Mark, those are some good looking blocks, thanks for posting the pics.

I could have sworn I saw some nice looking burl caps on your site this morning, but now they are all gone. (of course I could be crazy too) Do you sell whole caps often?
 
Some of last week's loot from Danny here in Honolulu... A few of them are laquered and others are raw. The pieces from Craig are still in the mail... :whistling:

Redwood lace burl, two-tone amboyna

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Two-tone amboyna and afzelia burl

P1020227.jpg



Gmelia burl - don't ask, I have no idea, never worked with it... - and a rosewood block with sapwood

P1020230.jpg


Gmelia burl again

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Sindora burl

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I think I had shown this last one before - part of that stash is out for stabilizing right now and should be back in about 2 weeks :)


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:jumpy:

Stefan
 
That GML003 piece looks really nice! Kinda buckeye-ish.

Any of this going to Dave? I think I want something spalted for my new suji.
 
Ummmm, need me to dry some of that for you? It will be 100 degrees here shortly with very little humidity. :muahaha:
 
Ummmm, need me to dry some of that for you? It will be 100 degrees here shortly with very little humidity. :muahaha:

Too risky, pieces might just melt away or implode in the heat :D Sometimes I get pieces and have to send them out fast for stabilizing before they suck up moisture again in the Hawaiian climate... But if they are cut into blanks and I keep them well ventilated, they are usually fine.

A few of the current stabilizing stash may go to Dave (including some spalted stuff), also the bigger of the sindora burl pieces above. For the other ones, I have to see how I can cut them up most efficiently, most will be better for wa handles, I assume. I have more to cut up, including some instrument quality madrone burl (wa and yo), quilted and curly maple (quilted only wa, curly for both), a bit more koa, some macademia nut, spalted mango. But this all needs stabilizing, so it won't be ready for use before August.

Stefan
 
Some of last week's loot from Danny here in Honolulu... A few of them are laquered and others are raw. The pieces from Craig are still in the mail... :whistling:

Redwood lace burl, two-tone amboyna

P1020225.jpg


Two-tone amboyna and afzelia burl

P1020227.jpg



Gmelia burl - don't ask, I have no idea, never worked with it... - and a rosewood block with sapwood

P1020230.jpg


Gmelia burl again

P1020232.jpg


Sindora burl

P1020238.jpg



I think I had shown this last one before - part of that stash is out for stabilizing right now and should be back in about 2 weeks :)


P1040268.jpg



:jumpy:

Stefan


Oh crap! I'm seeing some stuff that I'm liking here - very much liking here! :D
 
Oh crap! I'm seeing some stuff that I'm liking here - very much liking here! :D

Yes sir. There is some amazing burl in this thread!! Makes me want to do a photo shoot of some of the burls in my stash.. But I have so much work to do that Im gona hold off for today! :) maybe. lolol gota fight the temptation..

I should stop looking at this thread, but I cant.. Im drawn in by the beauty of these awesome pieces of wood!!!!!
 
Hello, I juist wanted to add some more pieces. This is a great thread-Thanks-Mark
I cant seem to make the photos smaller , unless they become thumb nails. I purchased a Mac and im still trying to work it...

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So, here is a question about stabilizing: I have this rosewood block that you can see a few pictures above.

Looks like Honduran but supposedly comes from Asia, so I am not 100% what variety it is. I usually don't have rosewoods stabilized because of their oil content. Now, depending on how I cut this, I could have blanks with only or mostly sapwood. Should I have that stabilized or not? Any experiences? I'll also check with Brad at K&G but thought maybe someone has had similar experiences here.

Stefan
 
:dazed: Wow, I got to get some of that beautiful Aussie Burls. I havnt tried to much of the wood from Down Under. Wait, I just remebered, I did score some Tasmainian myrtal burl and some Huon pine!! :happy1: Still havnt done much with it.. So much wood, so little time.... .... ... ...

Great thread. Im lovin it.. :D
 
So, here is a question about stabilizing: I have this rosewood block that you can see a few pictures above.

Looks like Honduran but supposedly comes from Asia, so I am not 100% what variety it is. I usually don't have rosewoods stabilized because of their oil content. Now, depending on how I cut this, I could have blanks with only or mostly sapwood. Should I have that stabilized or not? Any experiences? I'll also check with Brad at K&G but thought maybe someone has had similar experiences here.

Stefan

Honduran rosewood doesn't have to be stabilized? I have a few blocks of that that I was going to try and make some handles with, but it is unstabilized and I thought I would have to have it sent out first. It's a little burly if that matters.
 
I thought these look pretty good.
iw001.jpg

Somebody else on this forum had them in their personal stash.
I had to trade some of my best ringed gidgee for these.
He has more but he won't sell any (what's up with that?) so I won't mention his name.
 
Honduran rosewood doesn't have to be stabilized? I have a few blocks of that that I was going to try and make some handles with, but it is unstabilized and I thought I would have to have it sent out first. It's a little burly if that matters.

Many of the rosewoods are not only very dense, they are also very oily. Many of them don't get stabilized as a rule - for example, I don't think I have ever seen stabilized cocobolo. Same with African blackwood. Overall, this seems to be similar to a number of woods from the 'dalbergia' family http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalbergia and I have usually worked with the two I mentioned unstabilized, same with Honduran rosewood (burl) and Madagascar rosewood. Others, like tulip wood and king wood I had stabilized, but honestly did not notice much of a difference after I got them back. There are a few where I am not sure, like East Indian rosewood which seems to be a little less dense than the others, I may send that in and see what happens.

I also heard back from K&G in the meantime. They told me that stabilizing Honduran rosewood should not be a problem since they use different solutions and the thinnest one should penetrate even into the dense cells of that wood. What seems to happen is that the stabilization process or the resin forces the oil out of the wood, and this process can continue for some time. The blanks may 'seep' oil for a few weeks or months after stabilizing and the only thing you can do is wait until they are done.

This is all my interpretation from the bit of experience I have and things I read, so if any wood people know more, please let us know. I would love to hear which woods people stabilize on principle and which they never stabilize.

Stefan

P.S. Nice scales, Mark.
 
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I use ebony and cocobolo (rosewood) unstabilized, even though I have heard that K&G can stabilize even these woods. I use lumber that is kiln dried and well seasoned, and even though a movement will occur, the handle will not shrink drastically or crack. Movement is the characteristic of natural materials, and I leave it at that. If people want stabilized wood, I direct them to burls and highly figured woods that are not tropical hardwoods (oily and dense).

M
 
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