Tom , I see you're working on a super accurate "clock" :p
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I got my scales finished up today and have been cleaning up a blade to go with them.
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Sharptonn, your straight razor room is the coolest!:cool: And Mike that Morley is sweet with the bone/brass combo. There's always some nice working going on here, I get a lot of inspiration and motivation from this thread. Hats off to all the fine craftsmen posting here! :chapeau
Those scales look great xiaotuzi! What kind of blade are you making them for?
Not much for today, been a little lazy, being its my only day off from work. But I did manage to tear down the Celebrated W&B, organized all the pieces into medicine bottles, and flatten the scales.
Which are now soaking in a zip lock bag of neatfoot oil, inside a small tackle box on top of the furnace duct. A little heat should help the oil penetrate quicker.
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B52- Mike I like that wedge. I have to get a grinder wheel for my buffer so I can shape some metal wedges too. Looks nice with that bone.
Tuzi, Looking good.
Outback Mike, what did you do to straighten that horn so nicely?
I used my trusty heat lamp, and corian countertop pieces
I spray a bit of water on, heat them with the lamp (1-2" off the scales) until hot and flexible, then bend and flex them to break the memory from the fibers until they lay flat, then move them to a cold flat surface, cover with another hard,flat, surface ,( corian ) and weight it down till cool. Sometimes I've had to repeat this a few times, before they stay flat.
I've done it with plastic too.
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I started with this Wade & Butcher blade looking pretty ugly but I saw some potential there and been wanting to get it fixed up for a while. It's a 7/8 blade and I just match up a scale from my spare scales bin that I thought fit it nicely and used it for a template for the new ones.
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Here it is in a test fit early on before I polished the scales. I made an aluminum wedge here but haven't trimmed the edges so it's still a wedge-shaped little rectangle at this point. The angle is good though and I like the level the blade sits at when closed so it's a keeper. I still have some work to do on the blade but it's already much improved. I forget to take pictures along the way because I get in a groove and time flies when you're having fun.
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I must confess that I completely destroyed a set of horn scales recently when heating them in the oven to straighten them. You turn your back for a few minutes and they are a twisted smoking mess. Apparently it does not take a lot of heat nor a lot of time.
That's what I like about the lamp, I can constantly keep tabs on the heat, and how pliable they become. Especially plastics.
Horn takes a lot more heat, and have had them start curling up, but they can still be straightened out. Did it to the first set of horns I ever flattened. So I keep the lamp in one hand, and the other on the scales, and only one at a time. So far I've only screwed up one set. They were plastic.
Took a few moments this evening before sandman gets here, and cleaned the blade with some 3M metal restorer.
I just love this stuff. It cleans and restores the natural luster and finish to whatever metal its used on, and doesn't harm satin, or brush finishes either.
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