Thread: First Amber Acrylic scales! Material Ramble lol and suggestions.

Prior to the last couple weeks the only real material i have been playing around with is a lot of horn. I actually found this dude in India who I get the horn from for pennies to the dollar and has always been great. So that's why I've been learning scale making with horn is because if I messed the scales up it wouldn't be a big deal.

now I have been playing with acrylics and it's a way easier material to work with IMO and I've seen people do cool stuff with it like having two tone scales with stripes as well and I have no idea how it was done. I've also seen another acrylic called mirrored which sounds interesting and I was wondering if someone has worked with that material and if it's worth digging into that. Sorry this is me rambling my random thoughts that came to mind hahaha. But none the less I think I'm going to be doing more acrylic and maybe even start casting it myself.

I think I'm also wanting to try out another material and I think I'm going to try wood next, does anyone else have a favorite material they like using? Maybe some pictures of the material in action?

Well here is the razor I just did for someone, personally I would have done a different color wedge, I was showing him some yellow recon but he wasn't taking it.

As always suggestion and criticism is welcome!

Thanks,
Fonz

Orange translucent acrylic, recon wedge,





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So far I have used wood, acrylic, Ivory, laminated wood vanear over fiberglass to make scales but not horn. I have repaired horn scales but have not made sales out of horn. That is a good looking razor.

That's a good one ivory! I was thinking about getting some mammoth tooth inlays I thought that would be an interesting touch but I would have to find the right material to put it in for sure....

Only thing about horn is it stinks lol, after a long day of making horn scales I'll look like there is a much of ash in my hair or like a bad stinky slow storm Br my garage hahaha


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Make the wedge with more taper. Yours is more like a spacer. Assemble the wedge and scales and finish the wedge close to size. Then pin it and remove the last of the material and polish. This will keep all your edges sharp so the 3 pieces look like they grew together. Your wedge and scales all have the edges rolled over from polishing as separate pieces.
The pivot end of the scales looks narrow. Rule of thumb is to make it at least the width of the tang. Scales that are small at the pivot are more difficult to strop. It's not always about appearance but function.
Regards,
Karl

Originally Posted by karlej

Make the wedge with more taper. Yours is more like a spacer. Assemble the wedge and scales and finish the wedge close to size. Then pin it and remove the last of the material and polish. This will keep all your edges sharp so the 3 pieces look like they grew together. Your wedge and scales all have the edges rolled over from polishing as separate pieces.
The pivot end of the scales looks narrow. Rule of thumb is to make it at least the width of the tang. Scales that are small at the pivot are more difficult to strop. It's not always about appearance but function.
Regards,
Karl

I agree with you, as odd as it might sound from the thing I have the most trouble with is the dang wedge! Thank you for giving me the advise on the wedges, I'll definitely input ur advise on the next set of scales

With the width of the scales on the pivot end I never noticed any stropping difference but maybe i need to pay closer attention to it the next time I strop so I know what ur referring to.... I agree with you 100 % about functional portion I believe it needs to be functional art, so I actually had this problem with making the shape of the scales too curved causing it to be hard to strop the razor, so I had to make some adjustments from that...

The blade appears to be off center in side by side pictures 3 and 4. In three it looks like your thumb is pressing the blade to make it appear centered. In four the same sort of thing going on.

Originally Posted by lz6

The blade appears to be off center in side by side pictures 3 and 4. In three it looks like your thumb is pressing the blade to make it appear centered. In four the same sort of thing going on.

Very observant, yes the blade is being pushed but that was for the sake for the picture... After the picture I fixed the issue by unpinning and sanding down the inside of the scale... If I still had the razor I would take another picture for u...

But I'm curious, what was the reason for pointing that out?

Originally Posted by karlej

Make the wedge with more taper. Yours is more like a spacer. Assemble the wedge and scales and finish the wedge close to size. Then pin it and remove the last of the material and polish. This will keep all your edges sharp so the 3 pieces look like they grew together. Your wedge and scales all have the edges rolled over from polishing as separate pieces.
The pivot end of the scales looks narrow. Rule of thumb is to make it at least the width of the tang. Scales that are small at the pivot are more difficult to strop. It's not always about appearance but function.
Regards,
Karl

I do have to thank you for the advice on the wedges... I applied what u said with making them with more of a taper on the next set I made and made it one piece rather than 3 separate and it actually worked great! So I wanted to personally thank you!

Bad pictures to show the taper lol but shows it being like it's one piece

Originally Posted by Dafonz6987

That's a good one ivory! I was thinking about getting some mammoth tooth inlays I thought that would be an interesting touch but I would have to find the right material to put it in for sure....

Only thing about horn is it stinks lol, after a long day of making horn scales I'll look like there is a much of ash in my hair or like a bad stinky slow storm Br my garage hahaha


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Make sure you use a respirator and it helps to keep a vacuum hose held or attached to your machine where the dust comes off. Fans are your friend too ! Don't let your dog breath that stuff.