Thread: best types of wood to make scales ?

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

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.

Originally Posted by gssixgun

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

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.

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

might hold up well for scales and brushes

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

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

might hold up well for scales and brushes

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

Is still used today to make bearings for hydroelectric dams.