Thread: Suggestions for sourcing scale blanks?

Hello everyone!

I'm looking to makes scales for a couple of awesome razors that Bruno made for me, as well as a couple others. I have decided to go with hardwood burl for the material but haven't found any local sources and ebay isn't working out for me. Does anyone have some suggestions for alternate sources online?

Cheers,

Julian

eBay
Lots of internet sellers of hardwoods

Try searching for "hardwood scale blanks."

If you are going to use burl for scales, you should consider some sort of structural backing (I have use very thin carbon sheet) or stabilized products. Due to the crazy grain in burls, they can be brittle when thinned down to scale thickness.

Thank you for the advice!
I'll be sure to get some stabilized burl if I go that route.

Bad Dogs Burl Source - Home Page

Burl Source Stabilized Wood

There may not be much for 6" blocks listed, just email them, I found them both very easy to deal with.

I'd go for oily wood such as Rose wood, Cocbolo etc.
Stable with no need of stabilization, easy to work with, and inexpensive.
You can get pre-cut blanks from ebay.

I've been hearing/reading Cocobolo and a few other exotic woods are about to go on the endangered species list so you might look ahead a bit and buy some to put back for future projects.

Just pulled the trigger and purchased some beautiful looking material from burl source

Still messing around with the shape of the scales and I'm sure it will change when the wood arrives. But heres a rough draft.

In my opinion too much curve on those scales, that may lead to uncomfortable grip when stropping.
Also the front side should be wider than the back. In general the back side should be the width of the tang of the razor.
My advise is to draw the scale design on top of an outline of your razor, then you will get the right scale shape and proportion.

What kind of wood did you get?
Depending on the type of wood you got you may have to back it with a thin sheet of acrylic. Figured burls can be pretty brittle, the stabilization is not making the wood harder to break, just more water resistant.

This is Oregon maple burl from oregon. I will definitely reinforce it as I would hate to see anything happen to it. Though I have no prior experience with acrylic I do have epoxy and fiberglass on hand, would this work just as well.

I did draw this with the blade in mind, though I will take your advice into account redesigning it. I mostly tried to emphasize the figuring.

Perhaps this would be better?