First set of scales, probably not my last

Hey everyone,

I thought I'd share my scales that I just finished making today. They are made from some left over walnut that I had. I am pretty happy with how they turned out for being my first set! I used some maple as the wedge to give a little contrast, the wedge glued to one side. Stainless steel and brass hardware, I couldn't find any nickle silver rod at either of the 2 hobby stores I tried or the 2 hardware stores. But I think the mixed colors on the hardware do a great job of tying the silver color of the steel and the brown color of the wood all together! I made small nylon washer/spacers for between the blade and the scales as well. I still need to do some minor adjusting to center up the blade, I might even just re-pin the pivot end again for some practice (and I think I flattened out the brass a little too much). But hey, first time, I'm happy, and I can only do a better job in the future! The original scales on my Dovo broke, that's why I made the new ones. Everywhere I checked was out of the original black replacements, and I don't have the money for the more expensive replacements. I did find some wood ones online for $20, but I knew I had some left over wood. So I decided to save $20 and make them myself! Here she is!
Attachment 102950

very good for your first try. yeah it shoudnt be your last you seemed gifted at scale making !

Wow,

Those look a helluvalot better than my first 3 sets...

Excellent job, very clean and even looking lines.
Fit and finish look tops too.

Be proud, keep us posted on your next set.......and there will be a next set.....:rofl2:

I'm not usually a fan of wood scales but those look pretty nice.

That's a first set to be proud of, great job :tu

That looks like a great job to me. A very well done first set.

Bob

Thank you everyone!!
Although I am a little curious as to exactly how to adjust the pivot pin to center the blade better. Its hugging the side facing the picture a little. I have heard people mention centering the blade by adjusting their pin. But am a little lost on that.

Nice lines. I still can't do that..

Very nice work!

Muskie

That is a stellar first run. Pat yourself on the back and get cracking on the next set of scales.

Jerry
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You can make a SMALL adjustment to the blade centering sometimes by tapping the pin on the side that you want to move the blade towards. IE: If you want to blade to move to the left, tap the pivot pin on that side.

You don't usually get too much movement from this, but it may be enough to center up your blade.

If not, do a search for it. There's a ton on info on here that I don't understand how to link to :)

Thanks ironside! It could be my nylon spacer/washers too, I don't know. I mean, I made them by hand. haha. If I decide to repin it I may ask dad to help me out since hes a machinist and I think he could make a pretty flat washer.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MuskieMan33

Thank you everyone!!
Although I am a little curious as to exactly how to adjust the pivot pin to center the blade better. Its hugging the side facing the picture a little. I have heard people mention centering the blade by adjusting their pin. But am a little lost on that.

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Glen (gssixgun) recently posted a video on youtube which goes through the process - he makes it seem simple

That's a great looking first set! Give yourself a big pat on the back for those. Smooth lines, and nice curves.

Thank you Maxi!!

Havachat, I did see this video. The minor adjustments still weren't working for me, so I just repinned it last night (just the pivot end). My original pinning job had the pins mushroomed out quite a bit, I think I may have left a little too much material before I started. Anyhoo, what I did was took out the first pin I had put in there, then drilled away a little material on the scales using a slightly larger drill bit and drilling one side in front of the pivot and the other side behind the pivot. This caused the mini spacers I had in there to fall into these little recessions I had created, effectively turning the blade toward the center. It worked for me, I did what I thought could work with what I did have available to me. I just had to be careful which sides to remove material on so that the blade would move toward the direction I wanted it to go. I almost started drilling on a part I shouldn't have! Here's an illustration as to what I did, I show where my blade needed to move to be centered and where I removed material to allow that to happen. Hopefully this will help someone in the future!
Attachment 103141