Hello Everyone, I am hoping to make some new scales for my straight out of some Genuine Lignum Vitae (Guaiacum officinale) that I have gotten a hold of, and I've got some questions about working with a wood as dense, and oily as LV. I know a fair amount about this stuff (it's amazing!) and that's part of the reason I wanted to make something out of it, I just don't know much about working with woods with such extreme properties, besides how to glue i., and being that it's so pricey, something as thin, and small as Straight razor scales seemed like the perfect fit... at first. Then I heard about some of it's "tendencies".

First off, when you were working with wood similar to this, how can I prevent it from warping/cupping after cutting it so thin?

I've heard that dense woods, and LV in particular have a tendency to warp when cut thin, this is my first time working with anything this dense, and I'm worried.

I have a 1 13/16 x 1 13/16 x 6 in blank that I want to make the scales out of.

I can fit both scales on one face of the blank, so I was thinking that I could saw the 2 halves apart right after sawing off a face of it about 3/16"ish deep.

I'm hoping to avoid putting a finish on it, to preserve the smell (it's almost addictive, a sort of mix between vanilla and untreated leather), but if it's the way to go, I'll finish it no questions asked.

Also, I've heard that it is possible, and works very well to put a friction polish on this type of wood, any ideas on how to do so on something so flat and thin as handle scales? This seems to be the best of both worlds, if it's do-able.

Lastly, any other tips or suggestions are greatly appreciated, and I truly enjoy this community, I've been coming here for a long time to get information, but this will be my first post.

all help is greatly appreciated, Thank you.