Thread: Two More in Paua Abalone

I just finished two more rescales in Paua Abalone ALVS (acrylic laminated veneer sheets):

Wade and Butcher FBU: I put this one in Austin's brass bullseye collars, with brass pins and wedge. I had hoped to use NiAg pins for contrast, but the ones I have are a tad over-size for those collars. I'm not sure, but this one might be a re-grind, as it seems like a very thin grind. In any event, I treated myself on this one and got the blade basically restored and scale-ready from Steve on Ebay-I don't know if he's a member here.


Henckels Platinum 401: This one got SS collars, brass pins and wedge. Another easy clean-up that I got in a blade lot from Onimaru.


Together on my SB Arkie:

Back side:

Brass wedge end:

I am enjoying learning how to work this material. I feel that I have a pretty good handle now on how to contour, sand and polish it without tearing it up, melting it, etc. I've got enough for one more set of scales; I'm just debating whether to use it on a Dubl Duck or a Krupp I've got in the que. Thanks for looking! Aaron/SHD

I've always admired Max's Paua scales, and these are just beautiful. Very nicely done.

Thanks, Richard-Obviously I'm nowhere near Max's league (and don't ever expect to be-the man is an artist!), but I did get a little coaching on the material from him via PM.

A handle on it indeed.

The scales are beautiful and so are the detailed wedges.
Those came out awesome.
Congratulations and enjoy!

Pete <:-}

They look super!! You can be proud of those for sure.

Very nice work for sure. Love the looks of that stuff. I will need to try and get some of it someday for some scales. And your wedges are top notch. Nice job. I still haven't tried the brass for wedges. Keep thinking about it, but have not gotten around to it.
You got a wonderful looking set there!

Originally Posted by Gasman

Very nice work for sure. Love the looks of that stuff. I will need to try and get some of it someday for some scales. And your wedges are top notch. Nice job. I still haven't tried the brass for wedges. Keep thinking about it, but have not gotten around to it.
You got a wonderful looking set there!

Thanks, Guys-The cool thing about brass for wedges is that it looks classy, especially with black or honey horn, or the darker tropical hardwoods, but it is versatile. Because it's soft, it's easy to cut, contour, sand and polish as long as you keep it dipped in or sprayed with water if you use belts on a grinder as I do.

As for the ALVS Paua, Max told me to rough cut it on a band saw (just like every other material) and contour/shape it on just a regular 60-grit hogging belt left over from my son's brief knife-making career. I then go up the grits with 240, then 400 or 600 on the flex belts. I finish it on 1k and 2k belts. I also keep the belts sprayed with water once I start contouring on that 2nd step. I don't know anyone else who does this, but for me at least, it prevents the gouging and melting that acrylic is prone to (and which was a problem on my 1st set until I got a feel for it). I'm sure Max or any whiz with acrylic has a far better method, but that's my current approach.

I finish sand on a 3k wet-pad, then polish with Fabuluster (white rouge) on the 1750 rpm buffer with a loose cotton wheel.

There is a minimum amount you have to write in a SRP post, but all I had to say was wow!

Yes, that FBU is a regrind! The ones which have FBU on the tang were wedges.
The factory hollow-ground ones have it in the blade-etch.
A hot-rod razor in Abalone scales.....Nice!