Thread: best types of wood to make scales ?

Jamaican Blue Mahoe, anybody heard of this stuff?

I feel the best wood to make scales from is horn. OH! that's not wood! Anyone wonder why wood scales on a stock razor is a fairly recent phenomenon? Techniques to dry and seal wood in the old days were not as good as today's wood scales. Old scales made from wood absorbed moisture. Made the blades rust. Wood is nice, but few can make them thin and proper, treat them to last. Many wooden scales I see are too bulky. Won't bend, too stiff. Spacers instead of wedges. JMO.

Originally Posted by sharptonn

I feel the best wood to make scales from is horn. OH! that's not wood! Anyone wonder why wood scales on a stock razor is a fairly recent phenomenon? Techniques to dry and seal wood in the old days were not as good as today's wood scales. Old scales made from wood absorbed moisture. Made the blades rust. Wood is nice, but few can make them thin and proper, treat them to last. Many wooden scales I see are too bulky. JMO.

Taking it a step further, horn & bone are also natural materials which includes a certain amount of moisture albeit small, maybe.

Indeed, anytime wood was bent in the old days (boats,etc), Moisture, amongst other things, was prevalent. Attempting to dry it out and asking it to bend does not seem to work, IMO.
Not good for razors.
Bone, ivory won't bend much, but horn will. Not much on wood scales. I know some are and some are very nice.
An alternative is to custom fit scales of wood so the look is there, but the stress is not.
It can be done.

Check these out, might give you some ideas.

The Ten Best Woods You've Never Heard Of | The Wood Database


Top Ten Most Overrated Woods | The Wood Database


All I can say is KINGWOOD! That's the stuff you want!

I agree that today we have better sealing/waterproofing products to use plus stabilizing. Then we also have thin sheets of brass to reinforce the wood although that is not an absolute guarantee when using the much softer burl woods. I much prefer exotic or tightly figured woods over plain acrylic/horn but both can be very attractive.
I venture a guess that a razor with maple scales that has never been used will look as good as a black horn or black acrylic razor that has never been used.
My point is that ALL of the materials will show the effects of use over a period of time and almost all will need to be restored, repaired or replaced eventually. So ......use the material that you like.
It can all be changed later.

Blue Mahoe | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwoods)

Interesting on the Blue Mahoe...

Originally Posted by randydance062449

I have been trying to grow one of them for years but could never find the nuts. Seem like you have! Send me some, OK ?

see if you can get these Acrylic nuts to grow Randolph LOL

The historical choice of horn may come about for some of the same reasons as the choice of stag, MOP and ivory. Animal of that type parts are "luxury materials" whereas wood not so much unless you are talking about a breakfront desk or dining room table. I know that razor scales are different that say knife handles, but if you want a stable knife handle material that doesn't "move" keratin animal horn (as opposed to antler/bone type substances) is probably one of the last natural materials you want to use. Some of the most beautiful horn around, musk ox boss, is fairly notorious for being dimensionally unstable if not handled with extreme care and even then, there are no guarantees. Obviously razor scales are designed to "move" but I am not sure that horn was the absolute best scale material available. We know from application like the Mongol bows that horn has some crazy mechanical properties, but we also know that those composite bows really didn't like water very much. With that said< it is some darn pretty stuff and I would love it is someone figured out a way to make musk ox horn more usable without messing up its looks.

Originally Posted by JDM61

We know from application like the Mongol bows that horn has some crazy mechanical properties, but we also know that those composite bows really didn't like water very much.

It's not the horn in bows that suffered so much but the water based glues & the bowstrings. Even the glues were not a problem if mixed with alum or fish based glues were used rather than animal hide glues.