Thread: Brian's First Blade

Update time!
I PM'ed Mr. Blue and inquired about the status of my razor. Got this back:

Originally Posted by Mike Blue

Hi Brian,

Blade's done, straight edge, straight spine, Rc 59. In the mail in the morning.

Mike

Woot woot! No warp! I'm a happy, relieved guy. Now, to figure out a scale material. No G-10. Wood? Black horn? I'm not sure. Any suggestions?

Congratulations Brian. I'm happy that it has all well with the HT. I got my first two back this week from HT with straight edges also, it's a great feeling after putting in so much work.
If you haven't worked with horn before, it can present problems that a synthetic material will not, that being said buffalo horn comes up great. Robsbits is a fleaBay seller that has some nice natural materials.
Carbon Fibre looks great too.

Stu

I can't find any of Robsbits listings. I'm thinking about bone with a wooden or pewter wedge actually.

Or maybe black with white swirled buffalo horn and a pewter wedge, because I can't seem to find any camel bone in the appropriate sizes?

Originally Posted by medicevans

I can't find any of Robsbits listings. I'm thinking about bone with a wooden or pewter wedge actually.

Helpful link to robsbits Ebay shop - I'm not affiliated, just watching some nice bone bits on there myself
Bone and Horn Flat Pieces, Guitar Bits n Bobs items in Pietra Dura Etcetera store on eBay!

Thanks Paddy. I actually found the store after I posted that. I still can't find any bone the appropriate size, but I may have something up my sleeve. Pictures to come......

Still, if anyone knows where to find bone, let me know.

Go to a Pet Store. They will have boiled bone already cleaned up and ready to slice up on the bandsaw.

Weeeeelllllll.......this is what I was going to show you, but I doubt it will turn out. I couldn't get the stinking paper to stay stacked while I tightened the clamps. It kept sliding everywhere, and finally I just clamped it down and gave up.


I have this as my backup though. I wasn't going to go with wood, but I picked up this piece and it just cried out to be used. $5 worth of labor later:


Front and back scales transferred to the choice pieces.


Hopefully I can get them rough cut tonight. They told me at the wood shop that sanding them up to 4000+ would make them really come alive. I'm not a big fan of plain wood, so I will have to find a nice stain color. Something in the red family of Minwax. Then either epoxy or CA finish. Ebony wedge I think, and brass pins. I have brass to make a lined wedge, but I will have to see how it all looks together.

Is the wood burled ash? If so, then the wood is fragile. I had that wood for scales and lined them with brass to make them stronger.

It is burled eucalyptus. I figured it would be very fragile as well, but it seems fairly strong so far. I don't see the need to line it right now, but I'm open to the idea if it seems like I need to later. The wood is very springy and not crack prone/falling apart like I've heard burls are.

Got the scales done and sanded to 2000. I guess I don't have 4000 or 8000 on hand like I thought I did. Still looking for a good stain. I'll probably have to wait until I get the blade back to see where I'm at on how everything looks together. PM'ed Brian Brown to ask about a pinless wedge he did back in October. I'm still thinking about doing that too. It really looked cool and it lets the burl be uninterrupted.

Thinking very hard about a CA finish. Very hard. Any ideas?