Newbe Question

[jd99]

I've just recently joined and I gotta say this is a great site, a lot of information here.

I have a question, and if this is the wrong place to ask please move to the right place.

I noticed in the browsing that there is a lot of mention of stalibilized blanks, and I have a lot of scraps of exotics from some of the band saw boxes I've made that would be plenty big enough to mak a few pens.

Do I need to stabilize these scraps before I could use them to make pens?

Or can I use them like they are?

Thanks In advance
Danny

 

[keithkarl2007]

Only blanks which may be soft or too brittle to turn need to be stabilised. Some burls such as maple and buckeye occasionally need to be stabilised along with spalted blanks which may have gone too far.

 

[Padre]

As Keith said, only blanks that are really soft, have a lot of spalting, rot, etc. need to be sabilized.

If you have exotic cutoffs that are the right size, say 3/4 x 3/4 x 2.25 (or larger for one piece pens like Sierras) you are all set.

If the exotics are too small for that, you can do the "worthless wood" route and pour the wood with resin and make a very beautiful blank.

HTH.