Thread: Friodur with Mother of Pearl on blue g10 liners

Awesome lookiing MOP and I really like the blue.

Very nice!!!

That is some fine craftsmanship!!

Normally MOP doesn't speak to me. This one does, great job.

Originally Posted by Harvitz81

That looks stunning! How hard is the MOP pieces to work with?

It's not so much as hard as taking time. This Friodur was done in White MOP solid raw shell.
Here is a pic of raw Gold Lip MOP shell I use.

The white is of similar size.

Shell veneer also seems to work well. Veneer is less expensive and many interesting varieties of it. I'll post some images of scales I'm finishing that way later this week. They need final polishing, but I wont be around for a few days. The veneer is thinner, so background color shows through more. It would be more like what Masecraft offers. The veneers do not require sanding to the front like raw shell does. It is also lighter and flexible and better for smaller/lighter blades when use a thinner liner.

I sand the raw shell pieces to 400 on greaseless. Again, veneer doesn't need to do this sanding. Of course wear a respirator. I imagine the shell dust is like glass powder if inhaled. Get ready for a horrible smell. Like an unattended men's room urinal. You'll look forward to the smell of horn, lol.

After sanding on the show side, I cut the panels on a dremmel with thin cut ezlock discs. I'll pay attention to grain direction, and any irregular color. The sides that butt together I bring straight and parallel on the belt sander to my desired angle. The sides/edges I don't much worry about since they will be sanded off during shaping.

You get a feel for that looking here


I'll then rough cut some g10 liners. Solid, raw shell I go a little under 1/16". Shell veneer liners 1/32". Inboard left shinny. Outboard to 220.

Wipe down with acetone, dry in temp/dust control area. Rubber cement liners down to some graph paper to help keep all square when panels placed down and keep epoxy from coating soon to be inboard side of scales. Mix System3 MirrorCoat. Pour clear epoxy resin over the livers. Position panels on top of that layer of clear. Pour some clear over that. Pay attention if panels shift over next half to full hour. The weight of solid shell may be ok to displace any excessive epoxy between liner and shell as panels manipulated. Veneer wont. It needs to be lightly squeegeed down with light pressure and may curl up. You might need to tack the edges down for the veneer use. Few days of drying, coat and dry a few more times. From there shape and finish sand as normal.

I think that about sums it up.

OMG..... can i say it again??? OMG!!!!

simply stunning!! I'd love to see that reflection off a heavy mirror wedge, maybe with a notch also. The blue really gives it depth! Can I put in an order now????

Originally Posted by Str8Shooter

...I'd love to see that reflection off a heavy mirror wedge, maybe with a notch also. The blue really gives it depth!...

I didnt notice the blue on the closed blade until just now. At first I thought it was the blue tape that I used to cover the blade while I was working on it. Forgot it was on there when I first started taking pics of the closed blade.

Just now grabbed the razor and it is a true and natural reflection. Kind of amazed myself since it has the factory striations that is satin, not a mirror finish

I still say one of the hardest parts is taking pictures of the work, lol

Soooo Iceeee ! I reckon frostbite is a real risk
Beautiful work sir.

As the man said "Double U Oh Double U" I am duly impressed!!

Congradulations!!

Walt, i'm amazed...all expectations exceeded! Just thanks for your hard work and creativity that produced this truly beautiful result!