Using natural materials such as Ivory,horn. bone. What do you pros think is best? what thickness do you shoot for?Am thinking around .080/.090. just curious.Have worked on some Ivory scales that were .050 and almost translucent,scary stuff.
Printable View
Using natural materials such as Ivory,horn. bone. What do you pros think is best? what thickness do you shoot for?Am thinking around .080/.090. just curious.Have worked on some Ivory scales that were .050 and almost translucent,scary stuff.
I'm not quite sure what it is in inches, but I usually make scales about 3mm thick.
Thx for the response, thats about.125 or approx 1/8 in. I work mostly with Ivory,that would make for some really heavy scales.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zephyr
Yep really depends on the material
Ivory I tend to go pretty thin on, as it is a really good material to work with, but right around .100
Horn I end up at about .110
Acrylics about the same .110
Micarta/G-10 again a very good material so .100
Wood varies the most for me it really depends on the wood, but never more then .120 but I rarely get near the .100 except on Ebonies and Lignum
Bone much like Ivory .100
Always however Weight, Density, & Flexibility has to Balance out with the razor too... But those are my general targets for thickness...
Glen, do you take into acct the blade wgt? say a thick spined,8/8 at about 70/75 gms,(blade only)
Like Glen, I usually go for .100 to .125 depending on scale material. Also I try to avoid making the scales heavy, even with a heavy blade because I don't like it when I notice "weight" in the scales while shaving. I find it distracting.
Bob @ OCD
All sort of falls in line with the old scales i have measured,.100/.120ish thx guys.Quote:
Originally Posted by boballman
Yes and No :)Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
The actual Thickness is more about the Flexibity of the scales, and how it all feels in the hand, the actual Balance can be adjusted for weight with the type of wedge and the design of the scales way easier then the Thickness of the scales..
Did that make sense ??? I don't know if I am explaining it right
ps: Yep I just learned from measuring and checking Vintage scales, please don't think any of the "Ideas" I talk about with scale making are mine, I studied what they did in the old days, and figured they were smarter then I was...
pps: This is exactly the same with Vintage scales your don't see hardly any variation in the thickness on them, but the design and wedge type and weight does change with the weight of the blades :) to circle back to the question
Makes perfect sense,you rareley see old ivory scales more than about .080,but most have lead wedges.Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
was there perhaps a science to balancing a razor?
OMG don't get that started again hehehe that is a long story to say the least I will pm ya the details when I get a sec.. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
I will say this much, If you check the Vintage razors you will find that by a large majority they will balance to the tang when opened fully, is that correct ???? well like I said above I think those old farts were pretty smart :p
That, I want to know more about!Quote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
The scales are at say aprox 90 degs to the blade when in use,so you have some counter balance of sorts,is it of any import?
I do not think scales can be to thin within reason,but overly thick scales just look bad IMO.
Overly thick and overly high, can also get in the way while stropping..
Look at the Vintage razors at the pivot point, open the razor to strop, note how it all flows together ??? and is comfortable to the fingers??? see the way they made the fit work ???
This is a spot that can really make or break a scale set for function...
Balance... Try stropping a Wapi or TI with SS scales and then ask me about balance hehehe
Was just to say that when stropping I really want them well balanced.
Some tangs also feel totally wrong when stropping, hard to turn around easily.
I tend to go ~ .1 on most , the G10 I go thinner because G10 is very stiff and I want more flex.
On smaller razors I go thinner as well, thicker scales on such blades feel a bit awkward in hand.
Thx all,ran my material to about .105,after hand sanding I figure will be about .095 ish,well within the realm of what others use.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../scales001.jpg
Don't ask me how thick, I dunno. The one that is celluloid is obvious. (2nd from top in case it is not) They sure made the ivory scales thinner than the custom guys do nowadays. These are old Heljes and a J. Rodgers & Sons .....
Attachment 126608
I was thinking of ordering wood scales to make my own for restoratons and took carving or widdling or w/e you call making pictures in the scales and scale thickness into account. So I imagine depending on what your doing it could vary a good bit.
i just start sanding until it looks right :)
best post yet on the subject.thx gooserQuote:
Originally Posted by gooser
I haven't made bone or ivory scales so far, but I usually try to keep them about 2.5mm. It will depend on the material used since the main thing I look for is the flex and stability. As posted before you can change the balance in the scales really easy with the type of material used for the wedge. How far the scales stick out past the point will affect the balance also. I have seen some vintage razors with thin light scales, but were quite long. Almost an inch past the point. For how thin the vintage ivory scales are it still amazes me just how durable they really are. I would still rather have a razor blade heavy over scale heavy.
I go quite thin with my scales, I can't stand scales over .12, they drive me nuts. Some of my early work was like that and I just look at it in disgust now. I shoot for .080-.100. It is amazing how much more professional work looks when it is thinned out properly. I guess a lot of this is personal preference... ;D
Ok was out in the shop and had hands on my Calipers so I did some measuring for ya..
All Vintage scales, all pretty darn close on the measurments :)
Ivory checked about 15 sets range from .055 - .075 but most were at .065
Bone two sets both .075
Celluloid all over the place from some really small thin ones at .75 - .130
Horn Ranged quite a bit too from .090 - .142 (W&B) the thicker ones were the rounded type
The other thing that really makes or breaks the look for me is the wedge, it needs to be a wedge and it needs to be thin, big thick spacers IMHO just look off..
I measured a box of them too, at the outside end, they range from a small .030 to a large .065 most were at about .045 and not one of them was a spacer :D they were all wedged
Anyway hope that helps... I remember reading in the archives back when I first joined, somebody had asked about thickness and the answer was "If you start them at 1/8 and end them at 1/10 they should look good" when I measured back then it seemed to bear out, except for the Vintage Ivory :shrug:
Great info,Thank you.
Great information. This thread was like getting hit in the head with a brick for me. I now am very conscious of the scale thicknesses. I had always went with a standard 1/8 in. Thanks for the great information
Is a fine line between scales being klunky VS elegant,I settled on around .080 for mine,most of all I want them to be historicaly correct to the blade. JMO
I was packing up razors just now and another test for checking ones work occured to me :)
If the razor fits back into the original coffin there is a good chance you are on the right track :)
All I can do is agree. Anything over 1/8 thickness just looks and feels weird. A bit of rounding can help, but not much. I try to cut my woods somewhere in the ballpark of 1/8, and than sand it to size.
I applaud the efforts of new members starting out making scales,Is all for the better,but note very few use a true wedge.They use a spacer so flex is not an issue with the thick scales.granted they look klunky,but hey,gotta start somewhere.
I think thickness is all dependant on the material,horn is pretty flexable so the big FBUs and such were pretty thick,bone and Ivory is not very flexable,thus the thiness. I made a Replacement Ivory scale for a member a couple mos. back, the orig was .050.thats really thin,almost to the point of being translucent,scary stuff:( when pinning. Is all good,whatever floats the boat.
I recently took apart a couple razors and remembered this thread when I seen the wedge. I noticed that the wedge wasn't really a wedge, but a spacer. The scales were still in a v-shape and flexed when placed with the spacer because the scales were tapered near the wedge end on the inside of the scales so that they sat in the v-shape and still forced the scales to flex. Not sure if they were originally designed like that or were modified later on, but seems to be a way around the flex issue when using spacers. I don't know if it would cause stability issues with natural materials, but seems to work with plastics.
