[jimmontg]

I don't see the need to set up my own stabilizing setup. I would have to make a lot of knives and have unusual woods like burls for the trouble as most hardwoods do not really need to be stabilized. I use exotic woods like cocobolo, a fave of mine, purple heart, desert ironwood, african blackwood, mesquite and others like marble wood. What do all those woods have in common? They can't be stabilized because they're too oily or already too hard to bother. I mostly use exotic hardwoods, but I also use good well figured walnut or bird's eye maple and mesquite. The mesquite cannot be stabilized very well, but the walnut and maple can, but is it really necessary?

I went to a Farmers and Cowboy Museum near here and saw a cap & ball Gambler's pistol and dagger with handles made of bird's eye maple that obviously were sold as a set that were made around 1867. The handles were well taken care of and except for some time darkening were just as good as when made. Most gun and knife handles were made of North American hardwoods and were in good shape considering some were 200+ years old on some of the muzzle loading pistols. The camp/kitchen knives had blades that were wearing out faster than the oiled handles. There were rusty decayed guns/knives with the handles in better condition. So unless I get a piece of nice burl I will use some gifted to me bird's eye maple for a full tang handle on some Damascus, file or O1 knives. I believe well sealed handles will last as long as the blades judging by what I saw in the museum. Just take care of your knife, and use a good wood stock wax like Birchwood Casey Gunstock Wax, p.s. it works good on your high carbon blades too to prevent rust.