Thread: Removing the stench from stabilized wood

I ordered some wood from ebay and one of the pairs of slats is stabilized wood. It stinks of death and I'm curious if there is a way to get the smell out. The wood is buckeye burl and it's attractive, but I can't see myself being happy with having scales made of it if the smell is permanent. Are there ways to get the stink out, or would it be a better choice to use the wood for wedge material?

Weird,
I have never had stinky stabilized wood. The resin penetrates the wood throughout , I do not see how you can get rid of the smell.

My experience with stabilized wood is it smells a little like plastic when working with it, but the smell dissipates quickly and does not linger with the wood. I sounds like your wood may be out gassing some solvents I think that time is your friend I would wait a bit and see if the smell goes away.

Charlie

Thanks for the responses. I'll let it sit a while before I do anything with it. It looks the seller attempted to add some kind of finish to the wood. I don't know the exact details but I know I will need to sand the wood down some before it is consistent across the panels.

Does the seller deal in a lot of stabilized wood and have good feedback?

Originally Posted by HNSB

Does the seller deal in a lot of stabilized wood and have good feedback?

He has incredible feedback, and as far as stabilized wood I can't really say. I bought two pairs of ziricote, the buckeye burl, some white and black ebony, and he threw in some Brazilian lace wood. Out of the four, only the buckeye burl is stabilized. At least I imagine it's stabilized, he didn't say it was or wasn't on the listing. From what I have looked up though, the signs point to stabilized wood.

Here are some pictures


The shine almost makes it look like varnish, but it is so spotty and only on one side. I can't figure it out.

Originally Posted by Jonah

He has incredible feedback, and as far as stabilized wood I can't really say. I bought two pairs of ziricote, the buckeye burl, some white and black ebony, and he threw in some Brazilian lace wood. Out of the four, only the buckeye burl is stabilized. At least I imagine it's stabilized, he didn't say it was or wasn't on the listing. From what I have looked up though, the signs point to stabilized wood.

You should send them a message and ask their pinion.

I asked the guy what he could tell me about it and here is what he said:

"That is not varnish but wood harderner to stabilized the wood, one side may have more than the other, that is becouse it when true to the other side, just need to sand, if I don't stabilized the Buckeye it will be esly to brake. The Ebony is like Rosewood hard, but Buckeye is a soft wood. Buckeye is one of the most colorful wood in the world, it do have a smell, burl been sitting under ground for 100's of years"


When I say it smells of death, I mean it really really smells. I have some shellack and I'm hoping I can sand it down and then put on a few coats to really lock in the flavor. I would hate to throw the wood away. That being said, the smell needs to go or the wood does.

Hey Jonah, I recognise the seller by the wood species and can say I've been buying knife and razor scales
off him for about 3 years now.
Never had a problem with the buckeye burl and I have about a dozen pairs from him.
I do know that the stabilized wood is somethinghe has only recently gotten into.
He also uses shellac quite a bit. Best to finish the shape and thickness of the scales and then seal
them with CA or polyurethane or even danish oil. That should do the trick.

He's a nice guy and I don't feel that he was trying to pull one over on me, he even sent me a sample pair of Brazilian lace wood for free. I'll do as you suggest Bongo and give it some good coverage. I spent $17 on shellac the other day at home depot so I have no problem being liberal with it