About Stabilized Wood
What is stabilized wood?
Stabilized (US spelling. Stabilised UK spelling) wood has many advantages over an untreated wood. It is moisture resistant, durable and much less prone to warping, chips or cracking. This makes it the ideal material for mods as it's hard wearing yet tactile and visually unique.
The process of stabilizing wood involves drying the wood to get rid of any moisture that it holds. The wood and a stabilizing agent are then placed in a chamber under a vacuum. This removes any air from the pores of the wood and fills any voids. It is then treated to a period of high pressure which forces the stabilizing agent to completely penetrate the wood. The wood and stabilizing agent are then heat treated which turns the liquid stabilizer in to a solid. This adds weight and hardens the wood.
The stabilizing chemical used is resin based and this is where the variety of colours come from as different dyes can be added. The process gives each piece of wood a different finish and this, combined with the woods graining, means that no two stab wood mods will ever be exactly the same. This is one of the many attractions of stab wood, even if the mod is produced in large numbers each and every one will be distinctive and different.
Any variety of wood can be stabilized but the most commonly used are maple, oak, elm and burl (not a variety of tree but where a tree forms a growth and the grain develops in a deformed manner).
