Non Stabilized Amboyna Burl - Prediction?

M

MArathonman

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Jul 5, 2009
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Attempted to move here from the General Area :

I made my first pair of non stabilized amboyna burl. They look absolutely gorgeous but notice a small natural crack in the handle.

I've finished in 3 coats of Tung Oil Finish followed by Tom's Military Wax.

Can you give me a prediction on the fate of these handles for collector, general and/or bushcraft use?

Thanks,
Marathonman

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In the first image I couldn't help but notice there are some problems with the handle that have nothing to do with the crack.

My eye got stuck at the bend in the handle above the crack where it was apparent that the cracked piece was smaller than the tang, and the other side was larger than the tang. I'm guessing you already noticed that, which would be why you pushed the cracked side so far off center for the bolts.

I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but my suggestion would be to get another piece of amboyna and do the cracked side over, and trim back the top edge of the other side.

It's a beautiful knife and it deserves your best.

- Greg
 
Thanks guys - I didn't even adjust the scales or tighten the bolts. I was just thinking about the wood itself :) I think I will do that and take another picture tonight.

What about stabilized or non-stabilized? Is it a waste of time due to shrinkage or moisture absorption or color change to use non-stabilized?

Thanks!

Marathonman
 
IMHO Amboyna burl should always be stabilized.It will move,crack, absorb moister,and if they are not glued to the tang will probably split.
I know that not what you wanted to hear but it's my experience with it.Beautiful piece of wood.
Stan
 
SBuzek said:
IMHO Amboyna burl should always be stabilized.It will move,crack, absorb moister,and if they are not glued to the tang will probably split.
I know that not what you wanted to hear but it's my experience with it.Beautiful piece of wood.
Stan
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I've heard that also. Amboyna burl / red narra need to be stabilized.
 
I like to use stabilized wood, but for thousands of years knife handles were made of unstabilized wood. How your handle holds up probably depends a lot on how dry the wood is.
 
Tom Lewis said:
I like to use stabilized wood, but for thousands of years knife handles were made of unstabilized wood. How your handle holds up probably depends a lot on how dry the wood is.
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Burls needs to be stabilized...... Has nothing to do with how dry the wood is right now.
 
Shaunessy is right you need to stabilize burl If you can remove the handles do so and stabilize or fill the crack or crack with ca it may prolong the inevitable. kellyw
 
I have turned lots of bowls out of non stabilized exotic burls. Once they are dry I have never had one crack.
 
I guess i shouldnt post any photos of my burlwood pens (all unstabilized btw)

I've used amboyona burl that's been very dense and dry and non-stabilized and have not had problems yet.
 
OK, Tryppyr, you got me. It is a shame to turn beautiful wood to shavings. I do use a coreing system so I am able to save a lot of good wood that would otherwise be shavings.
 
Sure Justin,
Love to see pics of beautiful burl. The biggest reason why pens and bowls do not suffer as much cracking is that they are not pinned or bolted to a static slab of steel. In addition, almost every turner, including myself uses CA (which is much easier to apply on the lathe) as a finish. Lots of documented benefits to stabilizing. If you don't stabilize your wood that needs it, then you should expect movement, cracking around the pins, and eventual failure or at least reduced durability. Of course, your mileage may vary......

Wasn't there a production company recently who shipped a bushcrafter model from one climate to another and the spalted maple handles cracked around the pins? Thats all it took is a climate change to ruin all those handles. These were not stabilized, and it was not burl, which generally has much wilder grain. I'd like to keep that from happening to my handles, if at all possible.

Granted, there's no guarantees, but something like this soft box elder burl for example, needs to be stabilized before being used......Just my 2 cents :D

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