Does wood need stabilized?

[Josh Crutchley]

I got some wood a while back, teek and padauk, that's not stabilized. Does anyone have experience with either of these? Will they hold up without stabilization?

[Xplorer]

Padauk is a medium hardness, medium density wood. With most wood species ranging from about 500 to 4500 on a wood hardness scale Padauk is 1970. Teak is quite a bit softer than Padauk unless it's Brazilian Teak, in which case it's very hard. Whether or not to stabilize is a personal choice because any wood will last some time and provide some degree of durability no matter what. You have the option to treat non-stabilized wood with boiled linseed oil, coconut oil or other products to give it some water and chemical resistance to extend its' life. If you want it to last as long as possible without worry, stabilize it. If I were to use Padauk or Teak for a knife handle I would personally choose to stabilize them, but stabilizing isn't necessarily required.

[Alexander135]

Teak would be one of the few woods that I wouldn't worry about stabilizing. It tends to turn whiteish with UV exposure and time, not sure if stabilizing will stop that. It's very weather resistant and has been used in boat building for centuries. Additionally, it is a tricky wood to stabilize because of it's oil. It can be stabilized but it's not very friendly to the process.

[Larry_Mott]

Mopane, which i chose for my latest scale swap is widely used for flutes. It's a hard, resinous wood akin to African blackwood and keeps up well in flutes that constantly gets dripping wet with condensation from the player's breath.
I don't worry much about using it as is and just oil it from time to time, but there's huge differences between timbers..

[Bolster]

Mopane! Cool...was unaware of this wood.

https://www.wood-database.com/mopane/

[TomAiello]

I'd never heard of it either. I think I'm going to have to order some and play with it.

Now I just need more time...