Thread: Complimenting Wedge Material for Cocobolo and Desert Ironwood

Hi folks,

I'm in the midst of making two sets of scales and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for a material to make the wedge out of. In the past I've always just used the same material, which can look pretty great, but I was thinking this time around it might be nice to have a wedge that contrasts with the scales and pops a bit.

I'm using cocobolo for one pair of scales and desert ironwood for another. My initial though was to maybe use a piece of 1/8" thick white resin. I'd also considered using white holly but it isn't stabilized and I'm a bit worried about how well it will hold up. If anyone has any thoughts or ideas I would be most appreciative.

Thanks!

Possibilities, bone, light color horn, Aluminum, brass, basic wood with metal either side of the wedge and part of it.
All will do the job. It is up to you to see what is bes with your scale design. If modern, then a colored plastic could be cool. You might look back along the thread "Gallery."
Custom Builts and Restorations.

Enjoy your choices!
~Richard

well said Richard.

You mentioned the 1/8 thick white resin.
My guess is that you might have some handy. If you do, I think that it would be a nice contrasting material with the darker wood. Why not try it if you have some?
Other than that, the possibilities are endless and it is very much a matter of personal preference.
Post some pictures and give us a look when you're done.
Good luck.

Pete <:-}

Some really great ideas, thank you guys! I actually don't have any white resin hanging around but I know I could get a hold of some; if nothing else I could also make a pair of white resin scales and use the remainder for wedges.

For one of them, at least, I'm going to try and go with a brass wedge made from and old solid brass key that I have laying around. After Richard mentioned using metal liners on the wedge I tried to find a few examples of it online and boy does that look amazing! I'm curious for anyone who has done this before, what thickness of metal are you using? Something like 0.1mm seems easiest but would it be too think to really notice? Obviously that's pretty subjective but I certainly welcome whatever thoughts people might have.

I'll definitely post pictures when I have this done, but this is a few hours every couple weekend and entirely done with handtools, so it'll likely be a while. Thanks again!

Originally Posted by ppetresen

Some really great ideas, thank you guys! I actually don't have any white resin hanging around but I know I could get a hold of some; if nothing else I could also make a pair of white resin scales and use the remainder for wedges.

For one of them, at least, I'm going to try and go with a brass wedge made from and old solid brass key that I have laying around. After Richard mentioned using metal liners on the wedge I tried to find a few examples of it online and boy does that look amazing! I'm curious for anyone who has done this before, what thickness of metal are you using? Something like 0.1mm seems easiest but would it be too think to really notice? Obviously that's pretty subjective but I certainly welcome whatever thoughts people might have.

I'll definitely post pictures when I have this done, but this is a few hours every couple weekend and entirely done with handtools, so it'll likely be a while. Thanks again!

I've done a few laminated wedges. I typically favor lead with wood scales, for balancing purposes.

This one has .016 on each side of the wedge.


This one with .003 on each side.

I'm in awe, thank you for posting those pictures. I was actually almost going to go with 0.032 but seeing this making me think no thicker than 0.016. Super helpful!

I’ve done quite a few but only had this pic handy. Brass on black horn wedge, faux ivory and pink ivory scale.

One other thing I’ll do is inlay the brass (silver too) right into the scale itself where the wedge will be instead of sandwiching the wedge with metal. Sometimes depending on the razor/blade the wedge itself gets too thin with the addition of the metals. A little more work but a nice subtle detail many don’t notice.

I agree, those little details make a big difference in looks.

Nice work, BTW

Thanks.
Looking forward to seeing your solution. Cocobolo is very pretty.