Man, I could listen to these presentations endlessly, but, alas I must eat some dinner and retire for the evening! Just too interesting, i never thought that knife making could get so deep...

Still can't believe u go to such lengths to make sure all your knives r as good as they can be . The very reason I have ordered a knife from you , not to mention they also look great . Cheers. Scott

Thank you for the informative and easy to follow video. I just got a vacuum chamber for knife scales and am currently gathering info before I try my first batch.

i have to say your method of infusing the timber looks top notch !

So much Love you put into your "work". Honored to be carrying one of your creations!!

Didnt realize the wood had to be next to no moisture content , and sealed that is amazing Sandy ! Congrats on all you do ! Jerry K9UT Very Nice looking knives you produce ! Got to be a Collectors item !

Hi Jack, A real expert and I have never seen a better more careful knife maker in every way through the various stages of knife making, thank you. It took me several years to find you, I though for a long time all the knife makers were in Americar, I am so pleased we have a true Englishman who can centre a blade, and all done by hand!

Sandy, each time I look at one of these 'how I do it' videos of yours I get a deeper understanding of how much work you put in to your knives. Great video. Thanks for sharing!

Your oven method of dehydrating is very smart. Thanks for the explanation. They look great.

Hey Sandy, you're giving away all your secrets! Awesome explanation. Great details, excellent steps you take. You're lucky to be allowed to use the microwave and oven for non store-bought food items. (I've ruined one microwave oven...and my wife says, "never again"). Great demonstration on moisture in "dry wood." Thumbs up, my friend. Peace, Ken

Very Cool. I am doing a batch of Bird's Eye Maple Scales while I watch you..... Thanks for the demo.... Be well....

Great demonstration Sandy, very informative thank you sir.

Brilliant video Sandy - clear, concise and interesting all the way through. A first class guide for any aspiring knife maker and a hugely reassuring one for anyone thinking of purchasing a Jacklore. As you say, it doesn't get any better than this. Best wishes to all the Jacklore clan, Noel

Sir, you are remarkable. I just found this vid . You do a great job of explaining wood moisture content and your entire process . Thank you so much for sharing .

Often wondered how that was done. Thanks for the step by step.

Thank you so much for outiing this out there. It has been really helpful

Thank You Sandy, excellent tutorial on best practice use of the Cactus Juice Professional, wood hardener...

i have never seen this before you put so much work into your knives Sandy well done mate,your a Master Craftsman.

Sandy you are an artist in every aspect of your knife making.

Thx for all the info Jack.

Brilliant enjoyable video Sandy. Many thanks.

The amount of work and craftsmanship you put into your knives is inspirational. I am honored to watch your videos and attempt to be the professional you are!!

100'/. Commitment to what you do so well. Very in depth explanation on how you achieve your very high standard, the quality of your commentary makes the time fly. Thanks for taking the time to show us how you produce such a brilliant hand made Tool. All The Very Best to you. Spenny.

I’m constantly amazed at your vast knowledge, and I can’t imagine that there’s a knife anywhere of higher quality than a Jacklore.

THANKS. great video I'm just starting out and learned a lot. i watched a lot of video on vacuum scales and i was doing it all wrong i was vacuum to 30 bar and thought while i was vacuuming the air out the catus juice was gone in the wood. then i watched your video where you showed you had to let it set for 2 days thanks for the help. there is a lot of people out there doing it wrong. i hooped to get on your list for you to make me a knife done right. THANKS AGAIN

your attention and persistence to refine every detail is one of the traits I admire in you

Nice work, Sandy! Looking forward to getting the knife your making for me!! Martin

Another very informative video Sandy, it's great to see all the hard work and the dedication that you put into each and every single knife you make, each one has a little bit of you running through it. Can't wait for mine now :0) Take care. Atb Dean.

Great video Sandy, loved every second of it! Could watch you all day mate. Thanks for sharing. ATB Shaun

19:00 Off I go to get a two liter bottle LOL. Thank you I have learned a lot from you.

really enjoyed this Sandy. A long process to make the perfect scale.You wouldn't credit it that air still comes out some 8 hrs later. Cheers, Richie.

Thanks Sandy. Your videos really show how much work goes into making a good quality Knife. Thanks for sharing

Nice video. Thanks!

Great video Sandy it shows just a small part of the work that goes into making one of your knives,atb John

Great video I do enjoy watching you work and seeing the effort and pride you put into it

I would love to watch you do a knife build series if you had the time. Great video and hopefully one day I will be lucky enough to pick up one of your fine blades.

Thank you sir. Very good! Wonderful video!

Just a note of caution regarding the fumes from curing stabilising methacrylates - they can cause irritation and sensitisation over time which crosses over with cyanoacrylate curing fumes - I can now use neither without getting 'the glue flu' unless I use a fume mask. 'Superglue allergy' is pretty well documented. Anyway, stay safe - it's horrendous getting 3 or more days of bad cold/mild flu symptoms every time you get caught out by fumes from either! Love your work ',;~}~

Thanks for the great video.

HI Sandy just got to this grate very informative and riveting video thanks fore sharing ATB Keith

thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!

my set is on the way. u vid is a great help to me. greets from the netherlands and keep it up (y)

Nice process Sandy, pleasure to see.

Fantastic. Thanks!

that's an amazing process sandy, "the knife making alchemist"

great info and thanks for sharing what is a hard earned body of knowledge, though it is always only a start, but that is normally the hardest step to find!! thanks mate.

Wow! I had no idea. Thanks for showing this Sandy, it's very interesting. I have a couple of pacific yew scales and a couple of hickory I salvaged from a broken antique axe handle. Not sure how I'm going to do this to them though. I have a product called "wood hardener" I was going to try and use as an experimental stabilizer, but I can't think of a way to put them in a vacuum yet.

Very nicely done.

Sandy, that was really interesting to see whole process for stabilization. I have studied it a bit but never seen it done whole through. How badly do they smell in the oven/kitchen? How do you clean the cactus resin off from the tube or is it necessary before next project? I think it's more important to have wood that doesn't swing, crack or anything, with full tang knifes than hidden tang knife due to way you attach them different ways. Yes, I have used stab wood and it sure is great to turn! Thank you for this fine video!

Your dedication to make a Truly home made, custom knife is Fantastic. I just hope that I get a chance to purchase one of your knifes soon PEACE :-)

Hi Sandy, have you thought of getting a cheap toaster oven? They do a surprisingly good job at this sort of thing. You can even go on ebay or a home brewing site and get a PID controller with a SSR for relatively low cost, bypass the rudimental toaster oven temperature controller with the PID and thermocouple and in doing so create yourself a multipurpose oven much like your heat treat oven (only much lower temps) that is far more accurate than the kitchen oven and don't have to wait till the wife is out shopping! The other bonus is this is all very cheap, particularly if you find a second hand toaster oven.

spot on Sandy thats the way to go Thanks

I am blown away with attention to detail that continues, finding ways of improving an already awesome product thanks for sharing this Sandy. atvb t ..

Great video and thanks for sharing more of your knowledge. I was wondering after you do this how do you stain them of oil them? Or does this process eliminate the need for that. Thanks again for sharing with us!

Wow, what a craftsman, you take such care through each process, from blank to finished sheath. Works of art, each one, I should think your knives will become highly collectable. I've got to have one, walnut scales me thinks, I know your taking orders at the moment, but would you bear me in mind when you do, thank you Sandy. A.t.b shane.

Thanks for sharing.

great video as usual, i would really like to know all the pertinent information on your vacume chamber and pump such as manufacturers and model#s

Really interesting and well presented vid....gj

If the vacuum chamber had another valve on the left (hose/vacuum side) to effectively seal the chamber, would you be able to keep the vacuum pressure where it needs to be without having to keep the pump running?

Thank you for the video, I watch a few and yours was the best. Nobody mentioned that you could reuse the cactus juice.One question, can you over cure the wood when you have it in the oven or longer is better..Thanks

Nice demo Sandy. I have been using the Ronseal hardener with a vac chamber. Though it may penetrate quicker than your resin, I suspect that it still needs a good few hours of vac to get the air out. But I'm getting the acetone condensing out of the pump. Which I think you mentioned suffering. Also a friend reported that his system boiled off the solvent so much that the hardener ended up yellow and the chamber froze to the floor! So I will try and rig up something to allow me to run the vac chamber dry for hours, then introduce the hardener, just before releasing the vac.

Thanks for taking the time to put together a good video. I have looked at all the vacuum pots on the market and I think the one you have looks like the best. I am thinking getting about the 4 x 16" , Is that the size you have? Or is yours larger?

A lot more work than people think Sandy😄

Hello Sandy, You are an awesome craftsman. I linke your work and also your Ideas. What vaccum pump are you using for stablizing? Regards from Germany Holger

Excellent video! You surely put to rest any notion that one can remove the scales just after you remove the vacuum! Curious, does the stabilized wood float in water now? Thank you!

You are an artist !!...joe in ny

Hi, great video, many thanks.Just a couple of question...cactus j. waterproofs the wood ? did you try with hard wood (ebony or maple) ? ty

I been trying to get one made with Bodark, aka Osage orange wood for a few years. As the stuff is literally growing everywhere on my sisters 80 acres in Texas. We cut then down for fence post. Maybe I will send some to Sandy if his books ever open up for the classic again.

Just a thought regarding the dehydration process. I've recently bought a Bielmeier 601127 Food Dehydrator for making my own dried pineapple chunks. I was thinking you could probably use it as a more cost efficient way of dehydrating wooden scales. You can get them on Amazon for about 50 Quid. Its got a 12 hour timer with a fan supplying three heat settings: 250 / 500 / 700 W giving 20/40/60 degrees above ambient temperature respectively. It has 4 dehydration trays each with a diameter of 34cm. You can do the maths but I would imagine you could fit 5 or 6 scales on each tray. The other benefit is that it makes great lightweight snacking food for camping and hiking. I've tried dried pineapple chunks and beef Jerky so far and it rocks! Just thought I would mention it in case it turns out to be useful. Really enjoying the videos. atb Ian. Note: The same model is distributed by ABC and Rommelsbacher in case you have trouble finding one.

There is a huge amount of work to make your beautiful knives

I wonder if you can shape the wood before stabilizing it and finetune the shaping after it has been baked in the resin? I imagine the stabilized wood may be much harder than the non stabilized wood. Therefore doing at least rough shaping in advance may save some time/tools?

I enjoy all the video's. My reasons are twofold: in part because the content is informative and, in part, because I do not have the chance to, "sit-in-along", with really decent folks at all, or ever, anymore.. Thanks for it all.

Wow, that was fascinating, do you find that the scales are appreciably heavier at the end of your treatment process? Had you ever considered treating something silly like balsa just to see what the end product was like?

Sandy. amazing video. An utter joy. Question would like to no what problems could arise from untreated knife scales? Could one of your videos develope from this? Cheers Sandy.

Thank you for all!

Thats a lot of time and effort and thats just the wood be safe steve

Hi Sandy, Great video, very informative. Have you tried the vacuum pump to dehydrate the wood? That is the method to remove moisture from a refrigeration system, pull a deep vacuum and you can boil water at 40 deg F (aprox 4 deg C). I think it would use less energy, but I don't know that for fact. Thanks, Stefan

how long do you bake the scales? ps. i got the same sweater lol, got it at tesco's wen i was in the uk :0

In the micro owen in the beginning to dry, what effect and for how long ? Where do you buy it from ? How many blanks do you think one bottle will cover, e.g. what will the cost be / blank ?

Thanks a lot for sharing. When i see your process, who seems to be to the top, i can't help wondering what is the cheapest way to have stabilised wood handles, by this method ? or simply buying stabilised wood ? Could you please bring it to light to me ? Thanks in advance. (Please excuse my english. Ain't my mothertongue.)

amazing I am mesmerized

I wonder what would happen if you let the wood alone sit in the chamber with Little, Stabilization juice, I imagine it wouldn't foam as much. slowly adding it perhaps?

is stabilising a wooden step will increase the strength of it? Any idea? Cheers P.S.: What finish do you use for stabilised wood?

Hi Sir, how are you? I am from Iraq and I love the American people and I hope that you will accept me as your student and that I will learn the work that you are doing. I love this work and wish you and your family the best of health and happiness.

May I ask what your pre-stabilized block dimensions are? It looks like 1.5" X 2" X 6" (38mm X 50mm X 150mm).

Hey Sandy, first of all: thanks for sharing your work on youtube, it´s absolutely beautiful! But i have a question since your doing your stabilization by yourself and you mentioned in another video you also use linseed oil as wood protection. Do you see linseed oil as a serious humidity protection with woods like birch, walnut or cherry, or would you say it´s absolutely worth investing in a vakuumchamber for a hobby knive maker who uses his knives regulary for fishing and stuff? Thanks in advance and greetings from germany :)

you could vacuum kiln the wood too.

what vaccum chamber was it again?

Great vid r kid

I still don't understand why these chambers have to be so tall where you have to stick you whole arm in there to place in and remove the material. A square or rectangular box made of the same material here would be more efficient.

Hi Sandy, i did ask about my contacts in the GRP industry about "Cactus Juice" but no one has heard of it, i see from this vid it is a thermo activated resin but all the resins i deal with we need to mix our own catalist or it can be activated by UV lightb but that takes weeks / months depending on the amount, i am still loving your vids though

Sandy, I noticed in an older video you were using ronseal wood hardener to stabilise your scales, would be interested to get your thoughts on how that compares to your newer method. I'm about to add some scales to my first knife, a 'lore clone' from a farriers rasp and have bought some ronseal hardener, planning to stabilise using the 'putting a lid on a hot jam jar' method.

Great video as always. Very informative. As I'm new to knife making, I would like to know what you used previously as a wood stabilizer.

Excuse me, Sir, for the benefit of me in the field of decoration of houses, and I liked the turning of pieces of wood, and if it was Marmara, would you accept my master to teach me to benefit the society and my country in this beautiful work?

I'm not saying it's not seaming, but hot but how air hitting a cool surface can cause condensation.

Why cool the wood after the oven, and before being put in the vacuum? Would the heat of the wood "cook" the resin and prevent the wood from being stabilized?

Hi Sandy. Have you found a source for cactus juice in the uk? Or if you import from the U.S. do you get stung much on import duty/vat? Thanks for your great vids.

Great philosophy of continual improvement. Cost benefit considerations must presumably play a part though so will customers get a choice of stabilised scales or not with a price difference? There are millions of knives out there with non stabilised scales so they can't be that bad.

When you said "a lot of work to get out flat", I expect you mean sanding? After curing you can't hope to straighten it, right?

Great video! At what temperature do you cure the resin? Cheers