So I read the thread https://woodbarter.com/threads/the-good-bad-and-ugly-woods-to-stabilize.25943/page-3 related to this topic and many wrote that hard, dense woods don't require stabilizing. To me burls are a different matter. So I have a couple of burls for wood turning projects. Sindora burl (rare) and Honduran Rosewood burl (fairly common). Both are hard and very dense and probably won't take much stabilizing resin up anyway. Therefore I presume they don't need stabilizing, but please correct me if I'm wrong. I'm interested in other hard, dense burls like the Eucalyptus burls from Australia. I imagine they may not get much out of stabilization either. So since I'm mostly interested in burls that may not need stabilizing, are there other burls out there that fit the bill?
Do some burls not require stabilizing?
- Thread starter TurkeyWood
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If it's hard, heavy, and/or oily, I don't have it stabilized. Doesn't mean it won't go to pieces, but stabilization wouldn't solve that problem anyway. IMO, the place for stabilization is with low density and/or porous woods or those that are punky/rotting.
I have plenty of sindora. Hard dense. I doubt it takes on much resin, unless it is high pressure 3500 psi and even then not much
Loaded question with loaded answer. Many woods have natural oils in them. If stabilizing these woods, you need to use a product that mixes and bonds with the oils and the wood. Some woods are very dense, and also very brittle. You can look at the grain presented but likely better to look up each and every wood by species and study them one at a time and act on results from others. You are asking for blanket answers when there is a quilt of possibilities. Stabilizing everything gives a sense of security, whether real or fake. Some "soft" woods for sure work easier when stabilized. SENC has some great rule of thumb points.
This is exactly how I have also approached the decision on what to or what not to stabilize.
list of what I have that I doubt stab would do any good- burl- sindora - afzealia- phillipine ebony burl- very hard and heavy, The aussie burls. woods coco-kingwood-mun ebony- african blackwood-black and white ebony others.
Does not mean they do not get stabbed but they take on very little juice.
Does not mean they do not get stabbed but they take on very little juice.
Most of what you mentioned doesn’t “need” stabilized but can still benifit from it. I’ve noticed that I’ll still stabilize and wood that has sapwood as well on it. Like DIW. The heart wood takes no resin but the sapwood still sucks it up and makes a difference.
Good point. Sap on ebony would take stab and is very cool looking.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #11
I don’t use wood that has sapwood. It’s a quirk of mine.
Sapwood can be very cool stuff. JMO
Two-tone is my favorite--and on a 2 barrel pen, getting the grain match RIGHT (instead of close enough that nobody notices) gives me a grin every time i look at it.
i like it in boxes- I gave the damn kid choice and that meant I am stuck with oak one.... sheesh
It really depends on the intended use I’d say more than anything a pen blank may not need to be stabilized made from a given wood but if being used for call blanks or knife handles I would stabilize anything I could. HRB probably pointless because of its oil content Aussie burls although it is going to take a very long time can be stabilized and depending on its intended purpose will benefit from it. I typically stick with easier wood to stabilize for casting but in my opinion anything you plan to cast should be and if it’s something too oily of for some reason you don’t want to do it I’d suggest not casting it. An example of that would be some red mallee I casted You wouldn’t think that the minimal amount of resin I got it to take would make any difference (total weight gain 8%after 6 months). However I casted two call blanks then tested them by throwing them into a bucket of water. One had been stabilized the other hadn’t. I let them sit for a day before pulling them out. I didn’t notice much at first but the non stabilized piece had just enough movement that it had begun to separate from the resin the other didn’t. So any ability to reduce movement for casting is pretty important. Also I didn’t run it under vacuum for six months I just threw it in the chamber I use for stabilizing in clear and forgot about it I used it for stabilizing other woods and just never pulled it out. So basically what should or shouldn’t be stabilized is really more dependent on the intended use rather than most other factors
