Warped Stabilized Scales??

W

Will Leavitt

Joined
Jul 28, 2006
Messages
3,953
Last year I bought some "Stabilized Eucalyptus Burl) scales from a seller on eBay (NOT STABURL!!!! to make that perfectly clear). They've been on the shelf since February next to some stabilized scales by Staburl, WSSI and some similar scales from the same seller. Was going to use them and they're freaking warped! :mad: :mad: :mad:

Sent the seller an email but in the meantime do you guys have any suggestions? I'm pretty sure they're not fully stabilized or they're uncured or something. I've got some Nelsonite here.
 
You could try steaming and pressing to straighten, unless there's enough material to just flatten them on the mill / sander. Other than that, I'm not sure....
 
I got some a little while ago, definitely not flat on either side and not 'pressure injected' or whatever he was advertising. Nothing but a coat on the outside. Sanded the ones I used flat, shelved the rest of them.
 
Here's part of his reply to me.

"Second, what do you expect us to do when you have left them sitting on your shelf for almost a year before you decide to use them
We always gaurantee our items, but not almost a year later!"

I asked him were my customers to expect their handles to stay flat for a year? Freaking idiot. I'm going to see what he says in reply, after that I'm going to post his name all over the knifemaking world.
 
Will there are tricks to get em flat but you're right, probably shouldn't. I stopped buying off of ebay altogether (aside from Staburl) for that reason. If you got em straight they'd just warp again. :( If there is something I have to have and can't live without, I'd much rather buy it before someone did any backyard mechanics to it. Then I just save em up and send a whole batch out to be PROFESSIONALLY stabilized. It may not be too late to send it to WSSI, but then again it may....
Matt Doyle
 
It is just a simple fact that far to many folks are overly liberal with the word stabilized. I think you should tell us who it was you got the wood from.

One question You didnt over heat the wood somehow did you? Even wood from WSSI will warp if over heated.
 
i actually have a beautiful set of box elder burl scales a customer sent to me, the heve the ebay purchased look to them, i recieved them about a week ago (flat) . just read this post and went and looked at them and there warped!! i cant believe this, i agree with the word stabilized being throw arroung way to freely. i also have 5 other sets of handle material from the same customer, witch were obviously done buy a reputable individaul, the qualitity is obviously better, and there still flat as can be weeks later.

andrew
 
William
They've been in the shop with other stabilized scales on the same shelf. I'm hazarding a guess that if one set would've warped the others (done by STABURL) would have warped. I'm never using anyone off of eBay other than Staburl.

I'm going to see if and what his reply is before I post his name.
 
Hello, I hope I’m not changing the subject too much, but do you feel its necessary to use Stabilized scales? Would a quality hardwood with a finish such as Waterlox be suitable? Or would that be a bad idea? Thank you
 
Coedse,
There are woods that do not require stabilization, some hardwoods included. A lot of burls are softer than a normally grained portion of the same wood. If I'm not sure it's going to get stabilized.

There's a also a difference in stabilizing wood and finishing it. Stabilizing is a process where polymers are distributed THROUGHOUT (unless you get it from that jackass I bought it from) the block of wood. A finish for the most part sits just under the surface. A quality stabilized block for all intents and purposes is a wood colored block of resin that requires just buffing as a finish to look great.
 
Will Leavitt said:
Coedse,
There are woods that do not require stabilization, some hardwoods included. A lot of burls are softer than a normally grained portion of the same wood. If I'm not sure it's going to get stabilized.

There's a also a difference in stabilizing wood and finishing it. Stabilizing is a process where polymers are distributed THROUGHOUT (unless you get it from that jackass I bought it from) the block of wood. A finish for the most part sits just under the surface. A quality stabilized block for all intents and purposes is a wood colored block of resin that requires just buffing as a finish to look great.
Click to expand...

I see. Thank you so much for your time.
 
Going to play devil's advocate for a moment for both the OP and atakach - did you make sure the scales/block were straight from the start? The wood won't come out of stabilization any straighter than it goes in and will sometimes come out shifted. If they never got trued up, you could be seeing wood that's been stabilized properly and just overlooked the dimensions.

Not saying this is surely the case, just throwing a possibility out there.
 
There's no way that these scales went in to the polymer looking like this. There's literally 45 degree angles in this stuff. It's not racked or bowed it looks corrugated.
 
Translation: "we guarantee our products, but only if you use them in the time period before they fail."

Did you cut one open and see how far it's penetrated? It seems pretty ridiculous for them to not get it right on a scale. Let's see some pictures and get a name.

Because they've been 'stabilized' and only scales, I don't think there is much you can do to save them.
 
Will Leavitt said:
William
They've been in the shop with other stabilized scales on the same shelf. I'm hazarding a guess that if one set would've warped the others (done by STABURL) would have warped. I'm never using anyone off of eBay other than Staburl.

I'm going to see if and what his reply is before I post his name.
Click to expand...

Ok just thought I would ask. I didnt think that you had over heated them but That is the only reason I can think of that would cause stabilized wood to warp.

To be honest I dont even like Staburl. I got a bunch of stuff from them and couldnt use any of it. Oh I tried but thats another story. I dont believe that telling you I dont like Staburl's wood is going to make you stop using it. I guess that is why I dont think its a big deal to say who it is you got this wood from. But I do understand that you want to try and resolve this issue first.

Now about a year ago I talked to a guy who was starting a wood stabilizing buisiness. I told him up front that I liked WSSI. He told me that allot of knife makers had told him they did not like wood from WSSI because it was to heavy and to much like plastic. So he was trying to stabilize wood and make it still act like wood. I have a hard time understanding this. I mean wood is prone to warp, shrink, grow, crack, check, and all manner of horible things. It seems to me the less like wood you can make wood the better.

I will keep trying out wood form unknown wood stabilizers but I never count on it to be good. I am just a little guy trying to help out other little guys. When I do buy "stabilized" wood from some one on ebay I never spend a bunch on it. After all there is no sense wasting money on somethng so iffy. Any wood I send out to be stabilized though is going to WSSI.
 
AcridSaint said:
Going to play devil's advocate for a moment for both the OP and atakach - did you make sure the scales/block were straight from the start? The wood won't come out of stabilization any straighter than it goes in and will sometimes come out shifted. If they never got trued up, you could be seeing wood that's been stabilized properly and just overlooked the dimensions.

Not saying this is surely the case, just throwing a possibility out there.
Click to expand...

now mine were done w/out dye just as clear wood, and when they arrived, they were as flat as any other scales iv'e recieved.
 
anyone every heard of wild woods, i saw them somewhere, but cant find a web site for them.

andrew
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top