Thread: Wostenholm Pipe in Paua Abalone

Hi All-It's been awhile since I had time to do a rescale, but I was so inspired by whale and dolphin-watching in Byron Bay, Australia this summer, as well as by the paua abalone we saw all over New Zealand, that I decided to rescale a beautiful Wosty Pipe I got in a restoration lot from Onimaru in Green Select Paua from Masecraft. He hails from Sydney, so it seems fitting-plus, both AUS and NZ are British Commonwealth countries that still have the Queen on their bills, so it seemed fitting to use a Sheffield blade that I had been saving for a special project. I was going for sort of a "whale" theme if you use your imagination on the head and tail. I used a black acrylic wedge, stainless dome collars, and NiAg pins.

This was my 1st rescale that wasn't horn or some sort of tropical hardwood. But once I got over my fear of burning/melting the material (and got some hand-holding from Max via pm-he IS the master of paua acrylic!), it went surprisingly fast. It just takes a light touch on the belts!

Anyway, I have enough from the one sheet for 3 more blades, so I've already started a couple more-to be continued...Aaron/SHD