# Wood



## kalaeb (Apr 15, 2011)

Just out of curiosity for those of you who like to re-handle knives. What is a good and reliable wood purveyor to use? I have been through many and have chosen two that I like, but I am not finding anything on those sites that really strikes a cord with me yet. 

As much as I like the trial and error method, right now is not the time and I have a new knife that is in need of some decent wood.


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## mainaman (Apr 15, 2011)

I use those guys 
http://www.bellforestproducts.com/

the wood is not stabilized though


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## Michael Rader (Apr 16, 2011)

I get quite a bit of stabilize woods from www.alphaknifesupply.com and I get my very high-end stabilized Koa from Steve Hughes (no website yet, e-mail: [email protected]) I can get you his phone number if he doesn't get back to ya. Check out this Koa from steve and the copper + G10 + Box Elder Burl (end-cap) is from AKS:







-M


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## oivind_dahle (Apr 16, 2011)

Insane cool western handle!!!!

Damn!!


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## apicius9 (Apr 16, 2011)

I am thinking sometimes that you guys on the mainland seem to get better koa than I do right here at the source...  Oh well, I get other nice local woods instead. I buy most of my wood raw and send it out for stabilizing. In the beginning I had sources all over the place, but I have narrowed it down and try to get more and more wood locally or at least from the neighbor islands, so that may not help you all that much. But I hear that www.alphaknifesupply.com is well-respected and many knifemakers buy there. I also like to deal with Robert at www.arizonaironwood.com . His stabilized wood is also top quality (don't remember whom he uses but it's either K&G or WSSI).

Stefan


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## Marko Tsourkan (Apr 16, 2011)

I tend to find high quality wood locally. Sometimes I have to buy a whole board to get a section of it suitable for handles, but I use the rest for sayas or save it for other projects that I have in a pipeline. 

Ironwood I buy by block and Koa I buy by a board foot so I resaw it and send for stabilizing to K&G. 
M


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## CalleNAK (Apr 16, 2011)

I bought from these guys. Have many different burls to choose from. Good pictures and web layout which is nice when you can't pick them up in your hand and also want to look through a lot of different scales.
http://shop.arizonaironwood.com/main.sc


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## Dave Martell (Apr 16, 2011)

My favorite source is Stefan.


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## kalaeb (Apr 17, 2011)

:woot:Thank you for your help all, looks like I am going to take a stab at some black ash burl 






Now if I can only find some time to do it.


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## mhenry (Apr 18, 2011)

Very nice! Where did you find it?


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## kalaeb (Apr 18, 2011)

mhenry said:


> Very nice! Where did you find it?


 
Arizonaironwood.com

That was the first time I had been to the site, pretty neat stuff. I just hope it is stabilized well. Scales seem to shrink on my alot.


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## mhenry (Apr 18, 2011)

I have bought from them also, I totally screwed-up and had to trash the piece of wood but I didnt uncover any suprises like inclusions or knots it seemed to be very high quality. I know it is kinda late but I would also highly recommend ankromexotics.com you might try them in the future.


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## Andy777 (Apr 19, 2011)

kalaeb said:


> Arizonaironwood.com
> 
> That was the first time I had been to the site, pretty neat stuff. I just hope it is stabilized well. Scales seem to shrink on my alot.



Tell me about it, I honestly think the Utah climate is one of the worst on wood. We have huge temprature and humidity swings. I even have stabilized wood move on me. I try to let all wood sit for a good 6 months or so before I use it, that really helps. Let me add another plug for ariozonaironwood, everything I've bought from there has been great. :thumbsup:


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## Dave Martell (Apr 23, 2011)

*Do Not Use Woodstabilizer.com!!!!!!!!!!!!!!* :angry1:

I've been keeping quiet on this for months and after the last few days I can't keep it in any longer. I've been once again screwed by a piece of crap. This one was a complete mess to work with and here I am ready to box up the so-so results and find that the wood has shrunk significantly on me - overnight! 

This adds up to more than 20 blocks I've had bad from them to date and I will NEVER touch their stuff again!

To be fair to them I brought this to their attention many months ago and they issued a refund for the bad wood and I am pleased about this level of customer service but this does nothing to help with the re-do work that I've had to perform as a result. I've lost a huge amount of time and money over using their products and I'm disgusted enough to now speak in public about it.

Dave


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## SpikeC (Apr 23, 2011)

Did you send them wood to stabilize or buy the wood from them?


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## Dave Martell (Apr 23, 2011)

SpikeC said:


> Did you send them wood to stabilize or buy the wood from them?



It was their wood, purchased from them.


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## SpikeC (Apr 23, 2011)

So they didn't let the wood dry properly before stabilizing it. Not good.


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## Dave Martell (Apr 23, 2011)

It's weird because there's lots of people who have used them and rave about their products yet I have nothing but bad experiences with their stuff.


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## SpikeC (Apr 23, 2011)

If you were to let the wood acclimate to you shop for a month or two it might make a difference, butt with other sources available why bother?


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## Dave Martell (Apr 23, 2011)

This last block has been here since September or October of last year.


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## SpikeC (Apr 23, 2011)

:eek2:


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## Marko Tsourkan (Apr 23, 2011)

Dave Martell said:


> *Do Not Use Woodstabilizer.com!!!!!!!!!!!!!!* :angry1:
> 
> I've been keeping quiet on this for months and after the last few days I can't keep it in any longer. I've been once again screwed by a piece of crap. This one was a complete mess to work with and here I am ready to box up the so-so results and find that the wood has shrunk significantly on me - overnight!
> 
> ...


 
I second that. I would not touch a block stabilized by them ever again. I spent more time cleaning my bits, than drilling. Stuff they use gunks up your bits and belts like crazy. I never have this issue with blocks I get from Knife and Gun. Plus, the block was full of voids, which normally should be filled with stabilizing. 

I think it has to do with acrylic stuff they use. 
M


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## Eamon Burke (Apr 23, 2011)

Yikes. They've gotta take care of that one. Thanks for the heads up.


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