Honeycombing wood still useable???

[Bones&Arrows]

Im in the process of making a handle for my blade. i realized that the block of wood I'm using has honeycombing on the end grains and I'm not sure how far they go. the cracks are very small and i  only discovered them after accidentally burning the end grains while sanding them flat.

the question i have is: can i still use this piece? or do i have to get a whole new piece of wood?

[Bladepeek]

If you have the time and the wood is worth it, I'd send it out to have it stabilized. That pretty well fills all gaps and open pores. Makes it a lot heavier, though.

Alternatively, you could soak the end grain with super glue and then fill any remaining openings with super glue after shaping the handle. That's worked for my the few times I've tried it.

[Bones&Arrows]

Thanks bladepeek. Ill probably take a whack at the super glue idea. the piece i have is apple so its already pretty dense as it. I've hit it with polyurethane a couple times at the start just after squaring it up. I was hoping that would be enough to seal it so any present damage might be stopped seeing as how it was sitting in a wood pile for a couple months this winter.