Thread: Where to buy materials for making scales

Decided I wanted to try and do a full restore on two ebay razors I picked up and one needs new scales. I have watched a few videos and I have enough tools to make the scales but where do you guys get the material to make the scales. I was thinking about just using a crape myrtle tree in my backyard and making scales with it. However I wanted to know if there was a place online that offered a nice selection to choose from and what dimensions I should look out for.

I have looked around some and have seen people selling blanks but they are only 5" long and I would think for scales I would need 6"

You can look up exotic wood, but they are costly. You can get thin slabs of oak, beach, maple in Lowe's. Don't cut down a tree. Wood has to be dry and stableized.

Google 1by6 inch of the material you want to use.

What material do you want to use?

Looking for some honey colored/light colored horn, I found a site where I can choose from different woods though I might buy from there. Although I wanted to take a look into synthetic/acrylic scales as well.

One source of scale material is Texas Knifemaker's Supply.

http://www.texasknife.com/vcom/index.php

Select Handle/Spacer Material from the menu.

They have buffalo horn scales preshaped for razors. I purchased some white horn to replace some broken celluloid scales on a Wostenholm pipe razor.

They also have a variety of woods, horn, bone, micarta, G10, carbon fiber, etc. that you can cut into what ever shape you desire.

I purchased my horn on ebay from a nice gent can't recall his name. But I'd recommend getting 1/8 slabs if ya can. Mine were 1/4 and that's a lot of thinning out by hand. Or be smarter than me and cut them thinner. Wish that idea would have come to me then.....

Ebay. Search the following terms: Razor, blank, scales, handle, figured, exotic.

Look for at least 6 inches long. A few guys cut them thin.. around 4 to 5 mm.. some vendors cut them thicker. In the pic below all the larger blanks on the left were less then 10 bucks. The thinner exotic blanks on the right were between 10 and 20.



Good luck. Dont pay more then 20.. even for the fancy stuff. Some pieces get run up in price but if your'e patient you can snag something nice... and theres always 'Buy it now'.

Also +1 to thinner is better! Its not so bad thinning them out with a belt sander, but if you're gonna do it by hand look for thinner blanks.

I didn't think to check ebay, I will definitely look around there, thanks so much for the help.

Here are two places to try:

Welcome to Masecraft Supply Co. - Since 1980 Exotic materials from around the world!

Home page - KnifeHandles.com - Your #1 Exotic Material Supplier

Inlace Acrylester Spindles - Woodturningz

If you want some acrylic, I found this place has lots to choose from. I got this info from another member here. I've you do want to order from him, send him an email and he will cut them thinner for razor scales for a small charge. Good luck. Hope you find what you want.



Here is a Torrey I did in a Bronze and Orange blank.