Does black walnut need to be stabilized?

[TheEdge01]

Hello guys, I have some black walnut wood that I would like to use for knife scales. I’ll be attaching it with gorilla 2 part epoxy and either stainless steel or copper pins. My concern is the wood eventually deforming from not being stabilized.

 

[Obsessed with Edges]

Walnut generally has a good reputation for dimensional stability. An awful lot of kitchen knife handles have been made with it for decades, simply 'as is' with no stabilizing or even finishing in a lot of cases. In our house, we've been using an old Chicago Cutlery kitchen block set for ~ 40 years or so, those knives being unfinished, unstabilized walnut. They've been oiled very infrequently over the years, with vegetable oil or something like that. But otherwise, they've not needed much extra help at all.

Might not hurt to stabilize it, but I don't think it necessarily needs it. Other types of finishing, such as with tung oil or boiled linseed oil, etc., I think have been used on walnut to help protect it (for gunstocks, furniture, etc.). But I haven't heard of many, if any applications, that specifically needed stabilization for it.

( Quoted from The Wood Database site here --> https://www.wood-database.com/black-walnut/ )

"...It would be hard to overstate Black Walnut’s popularity among woodworkers in the United States. Its cooperative working characteristics, coupled with its rich brown coloration puts the wood in a class by itself among temperate-zone hardwoods. To cap it off, the wood also has good dimensional stability, shock resistance, and strength properties."

 

[REK Knives]

I would... All wood needs to be stabilized if you want maximum durability and longevity imho. It's true that some need it less than others but still