Thread: First Crack at Making Scales

Those all look great. Love the figuring on your horn scales Doc. I've been trying a similar method with wood and kirinite for my two sets of scales made so far. I have some horn ordered so ill be giving that a try soon. How thin do you try to get it before shaping? Some horn blanks seem quite thick and I'm not sure how far to take it down.

Originally Posted by MikeB

Those all look great. Love the figuring on your horn scales Doc. I've been trying a similar method with wood and kirinite for my two sets of scales made so far. I have some horn ordered so ill be giving that a try soon. How thin do you try to get it before shaping? Some horn blanks seem quite thick and I'm not sure how far to take it down.

I get scale blanks in 3/8" thick & sometimes in 3/16". I use my belt sander to take it down until slightly thicker than what I want my thickness to be because once I roughly make my radius on the scales to make them rounded, I have to sand them in progressions which takes a little more material off. Foe 3/16" scale blanks I won't take off too much. I'm thinking about using some Kirinite for some custom scales.