Someone who is an accomplished finisher of wood and cork on the lathe suggested that colored burl is "stabilized" and therefore you could use a plastic polish to finish them out with a nice gloss.

My only understanding of "stabilized" is that it means the color won't bleed and you can hit with water and salt. The colored burl I use is the same stuff I see everywhere in Brown, Blue, Red, and Green.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks.

Stabilized wood has generally been impregnated with an acrylic resin. Coloring alone won't do that, but if the acrylic resin has been colored, then you have both at the same time.

When you buff or polish a stabilized piece, it is the acrylic resin that is actually providing the luster.

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I knew there had to be some ingredient like that. Thank you.

Does colored burl contain an acrylic?

Ask the place you obtained it from. Some does, some does not.

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You can impregnate woods and I assume burl corks by putting them in an acrylic solution (plexiglas chips "melted" in acetone) and drawing a vaccum on them. Many bamboo makers who also make reelseats and use this technique to stabilize the wood inserts.

I am dubious that you can "stabilize" cork as it is a closed cell material. Putting it in acrylic solutions will only give it a surface treatment.

I believe the original post related to wood burl, not cork. If so, "colored" is not the same as "stabilized", however most times colored burl is also stabilized, the vendor usually uses the term "stabilized" in their description.

If it is stabilized, it can be polished even without a polishing substance if one uses very fine grit micro mesh and water.

If it is cork he is referring to, it cannot be "stabilized" and/or polished without applying some type of finish beforehand.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2009 10:53PM by Phil Erickson.

I think that he was referring to colored burl WOOD, not cork

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Nope, he means coloured burl cork, at least that's how I read it. Wood grip with coloured burl accents or pieces.
A lot of the coloured burl you see is actually composite cork. The binding matrix takes the dye quite well, and this is usually some sort of resin, so yes possibly it could be polished to a shine. However, the cork particles and chunks only take the dye on their surface, so when you turn/sand it down, you do open up some of the cork. These bits wouldn't take polish. Without a finish over it like Tru-Oil or cork seal you'd quite possibly get a bit more contrast to the particles and binder, a bit like rubberized cork with larger particulate.

Colored burl cork is not resin impregnated. You can't buff or polish it.

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Yes, I was talking about cork and thanks for all who replied. I did not think it was "polishable" like plastic but the person who raised the question knows what he is doing so I thought I'd ask.

Cheers.