Just how stable is stablized wood? Comparisons.

[shavethebadger]

I've been working with stabilized wood and other materials for about a year now and the process seems to be getting more and more common. The prices have dropped a bit and the wood looks just as good if not better.

The main reason for stabilizing is well, to make unstable materials stable. This includes horn and ivory which can crack over time and spalted, soft or burled woods.

Some woods shouldn't or can't be stabilized. Most are rosewoods which are very oily and to preven the resin from curing in the wood. Some very dense wood don't really need to be stabilized either.

So, I figured I'd see how wood stabilizing works in regards to water protection. This experiment isn't lab grade. The wood samples are different sizes and shapes or weight. The untreated materials are 100% raw. This is a comparison between untreated and stabilized woods and does not consider any other finishing process.

I selected four materials I work with on a regular basis. Asian Water Buffalo Horn, Walrus Ivory, Curly Maple and Amboyna Burl. I gethered up a sample of each material in both stabilized and unstabilized form.

Each piece was weighed on a gram scale (28.3grams to an ounce) and left in a bowl of room temp. water for about 15hours.

Here are the results...


. Stabilized materials...

...................................Before......... .After.............Gain??

Amboyna Burl..............21grams......22 grams.....about 4.5%.........sinks
Walrus Ivory...............17 grams......17 grams.......0%...................sinks
Buffalo Horn................46 grams......46 grams.......0%...................sinks
Curly Maple................ 17 grams......17 grams.......0%....................sinks

Untreated Materials......Before.........After............... ....Gain?

Amboyna Burl...............21 grams......24 grams...........14%...........floats
Walrus Ivory ...............6 grams........6.5 grams..........10%...........sinks
Buffalo Horn .................9.5 grams.....10.5 grams........10%...........sinks
Curly Maple...................9 grams........13 grams...........45%............floats

Clearly, curly maple, a fairly soft and light wood sees the most benefit from stabilized in regards to moisture, but all materials seem to increase in moisture resistance.

I know there were a few questions about how stabilized materials would be for razor scales and brush handles, so hopefully this helps to answer a few questions.

Keep in mind that none of the above samples were treated with any "finish" like a poly urethane, tung oil, wax etc. The one set has been professionally stabilized by WSSI and the untreated samples are 100% raw, untreated.

Any ideas on how to make a future comparison more accurate would be helpful. I know that using identical size pieces of wood and using several pieces of each material might help. I might also try with hot water to start, to mimic the evnironment of the typical razor/brush.

Thanks,