10-14-2019, 10:24 AM
That's an outstanding piece of work, Mike!
I can't think of a more popular natural material for knife handles. I must have about 40 blocks, and I can get at least two handles out of a block.
Almost all burl is dyed as it's being "stabilized" with cyanoacrylate type resin. Often times it's double dyed or even triple dyed. All light colored burl takes dye beautifully, and comes out rock hard, so it's very difficult to know what kind of wood you're working with.
When you buy a block of burl there will usually be some sort of indication as to what type of wood it is, but if I've taken a slice of it off, chances are that information would be removed.
I was at a Bark River hammer-in many years ago. They had a ton of every sort of burl you could imagine. I picked up a nice piece and asked Mike what it was. I've been calling any unidentified burl "Milton" since then. After all, it very rarely matters if it's been dyed.
I can't think of a more popular natural material for knife handles. I must have about 40 blocks, and I can get at least two handles out of a block.
Almost all burl is dyed as it's being "stabilized" with cyanoacrylate type resin. Often times it's double dyed or even triple dyed. All light colored burl takes dye beautifully, and comes out rock hard, so it's very difficult to know what kind of wood you're working with.
When you buy a block of burl there will usually be some sort of indication as to what type of wood it is, but if I've taken a slice of it off, chances are that information would be removed.
I was at a Bark River hammer-in many years ago. They had a ton of every sort of burl you could imagine. I picked up a nice piece and asked Mike what it was. I've been calling any unidentified burl "Milton" since then. After all, it very rarely matters if it's been dyed.