Shelton Pacific Wood

Steve Hughes

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Shelton Pacific Wood specializes in highly figured stabilized koa, stabilized figured maple (curly, tiger stripe, burl and spalted), stabilized figured mango, and Shokwood (hybrid combination of wood and colored polymer). We occasionally have other stabilized figured domestic woods that we come across in our area.  

What is stabilized wood?

Knife handle materials (wood, bone or antler to name a few) are stabilized to make them more durable than their natural counterparts. The stabilization process nearly eliminates movement due to fluctuations in ambient temperature and humidity. It also helps to prevent the handle material from warping of cracking after gluing and pinning. This process will make a soft wood harder and a hard wood even harder. 

Wood that is stabilized for knife handle material is impregnated with liquid polymers that penetrates the wood grain and fibers and then catalyzed so that it becomes solid.

Of the stabilized wood species that are offered on the Shelton Pacific Wood website all, except for occasional highly dense woods like ringed gidgee, are professionally stabilized by either WSSI (Wood Stabilizing Specialists, Int’l) or K&G (Knife & Gun Finishing Supply).