What are your experiences with different woods for making scales? What is the best stuff for not breaking, cracking or splitting?
What do you treat your wood with, if anything?
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What are your experiences with different woods for making scales? What is the best stuff for not breaking, cracking or splitting?
What do you treat your wood with, if anything?
I have used Cocobolo, Zebra wood, Purple heart wood and Lacewood. I soak my wood in Danish Oil.
IME/IMO
#1 Lignum Vitae
#2 Cocobolo or of the same Rosewood family
#3 Ebony
Danish or Teak oil on these 3 is more then enough to keep them waterproof really just wax would probably do it :)
Any Hardwood can be used but the tighter the grain the better and the less "Finish" you need to apply..
The are dozen of exotics that work and personally I like these guys
Short Exotic Wood Blanks | Exotic Wood, Birdseye Maple, Curly Maple, Tiger Maple
Great CS, Fast shipping, Great selection and products, and most important they like us SR guys :p
Olive wood is also good and I recently bought some Pear that I'm looking forward to trying. As I'm in Australia I have used some of our native timbers like Huon Pine and Red Cedar - they are softish but a few coats of Danish oil and wax gives them a more durable finish. Stabilization with "Cactus Juice" or other proprietary resins can also be of use.
I like Ebony.
Rosewood is nice but it irritates me.
FULL PPE when I work with it.
Never used Lignum Vitae ... Might have to try that one!
Cocobolo/Rosewood/Ebony are the easiest for me.
I liked the harder oily woods for handles like mainaman said.. But...I found that most of them were a bit too aromatic to use in a small shop. I started to have some unpleasant reactions to them even with a respirator
I hope you guys have better luck.
The best wood comes from the acrylic tree. :rolleyes:
I know :OT
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 ? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by onimaru55
Another vote for the extended rosewood family which also includes African blackwood. Very easy to live with if you don't have the allergies/sensitivity.
Jamaican Blue Mahoe, anybody heard of this stuff?
I feel the best wood to make scales from is horn. OH! that's not wood! :D 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.
Taking it a step further, horn & bone are also natural materials which includes a certain amount of moisture albeit small, maybe.Quote:
Originally Posted by sharptonn
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...
see if you can get these Acrylic nuts to grow Randolph LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by randydance062449
Attachment 198572
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by JDM61
Interesting about the fish glue. Of course, fish was kind on thin on the ground out there on the steppes. I think that it is safe to say that the Mongols likely used horse glue as they had a lot of those critters hanging about the yurt. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by onimaru55
I agree. Some look like branches without the bark.Quote:
Originally Posted by sharptonn
My wood scales are between 0.065 in (1.65mm) and 0.09 in (2.286mm). I block sand the entire blank to within .0015in (.038mm) before cutting out the scale.
The first time I tried acacia, solid wood and well handled. Do not want to say that this is the best wood, but working with him a pleasure.
Yes it's likely they used alum for waterproofing but other nations used the fish glue. The Mongols didn't have monopoly on compsite bows. India, China,Korea, & Turkey are but a few of the countries that made them.Quote:
Originally Posted by JDM61
From what I read, the Huns were the first to show up in the West with the "modern" composite bow with the lath stiffened tips and center, but the earlier models with the "working" tips are a couple of thousand years older than that,Quote:
Originally Posted by onimaru55
I am glad to see that Glen has Lignum Vitae as his #1. Glen did a beautiful restore of a Wade and Butcher Anchor in Lignum for me, and it is easily my favourite razor, both aesthetically and for its shave :) Plus he made a matching brush. Even my non-straight shaving friends who are scared to put a sharp edge to their face, often comment that if they were to shave with a straight, it would have to be with my razor in Lignum.Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
Lignum
Honestly one of the if not the most naturally water-resistant woods known
The stuff was actually used at one time as Propeller Shaft Bushings for where the shaft went through the hull both for it's wear resistant denseness and water resistant qualities
:hmmm: might hold up well for scales and brushes :p
Is also flexible and strong at the .075 - .125 thickness's we target for scales well those of us that don't like the Tree branch look target :rofl2:
Is still used today to make bearings for hydroelectric dams.Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
Glen are you ab;le to find real lignum as opposed to the Argentine stuff?Quote:
Originally Posted by gssixgun
BillQuote:
Originally Posted by pixelfixed
How big are these bearings?
Everything I've seen about hydroelectric dams is BIG.
Are not used as a solid pce.Same with Boat driveshaft bearings,They cut slats about 1X2 in.and rivet them inside a bronze or Monel casing thru which th shaft go's,Friend of mine just sold about two tons of lignum for use at Bonnivile dam in ore.
Is incredible material.
I've only made one set of wood scales so far, but I'm addicted to buckeye burl. The amount of uniqueness and character just isn't there in so many others. Lignam vitae wedge. Enjoy ;)
Attachment 198725
Attachment 198726
Attachment 198728
Has anyone tried stabilized wood? Acrylic applied to wood under pressure is a very stabile plastic/wood mix. Woodcrafters has many types. Theses are normally used for making ink pens but might work for scales.
Has been done by many people on this site.Quote:
Originally Posted by Frederickdav
