Thread: Cutting scales in half

I split a 5/16" (8 mm) slab of horn into two functional 1/8" (~3mm) slabs, meaning I lost roughly 1/16" (~2mm) in the cut. I made a jig, which was a pain to do, but a requirement as I have no access to any sort of mechanical saw. As said above, with anything thinner you'd probably lose too much in the cut for scales, unless (as Earcutter suggested) you line them with something relatively sturdy.

Pick up an old Smoothing hand plane, I see them in flea markets all the time for 5-10 dollars, may be a bit rusty. A No. 3 or 4 or even a block plane will work in a pinch for the width of wood you will be working with.

Hone up the iron, you can plane them to the thickness you need in a couple of minutes.

Before there was machinery, folks used hand tools… some still do.

It's hard to get the right size wood for scales. It's either too short or too narrow or too fat or too thing. The best solution I've found (before I had a bandsaw) is to get 1x1 turning blanks. They'll pretty much accommodate any scale shape. You can rip them by hand with a Japanese hand saw and cut out the shape with a coping saw. Together, the saws are about 40$ on the high end.

To the O.P,If you have a woodcrafters store near you,Take the blanks in,they will run them thru a bandsaw for nothing.