What are your favorite scale materials in the shop?

What are some of your favorite scale materials for use in the workshop?

I'll start:

Horn - I love it, though it can be challenging to work with due to it being a natural material whose imperfections have a way of showing up at the wrong time.

Micarta - What's not to love. A buffer, rather than a Dremel, makes short work of finishing it. One of the bests tips I've been given by a mentor of SRP was to use polishing compound bars before going to Mother's and 3M Marine. A little of the bar compound goes a long way.

Polyester sheeting - I have a love-hate relationship with this stuff. There is a really cool pattern I like. It's easy to work with. It's also a little too soft. It scratches easily, which isn't an issue for personal use if you are careful. It should live in two places: on cloth or in a stand. Never on a counter or un-protected surface.

It will also break if you stress it. I'm not worried about every day use, though have broken two scales in the workshop. DO NOT put CA on both sides of the wedge with this material - it will break.

Wood - Another great material. I'm just getting started with it. While it is a natural product, I have not had trouble with imperfections showing up at just the wrong time like with horn.

G-10 - This one is a heart breaker for me. I love the stuff. It feels like the perfect scale material. Most unfortunately, the dust is highly toxic from a 'causing lung cancer' perspective. You can wear a respirator, though clean up is very difficult.

I've chosen not to work G-10 at this time. I think about doing a run or two per year with it. My work shop is on my porch. All work would be done there. I would vacuum myself and remove clothes before coming inside. I would then do a very deep cleaning on all machinery. Dust collection would be a must. I'm pretty sure that the same applies to carbon fiber.

This is an awful lot of hassle which isn't needed with other materials. The only reason I think about it is because it represents such a large portion of what is offered by the scale material suppliers.

Nicely put! All of those have good staying power and looks. Most of them are easy to work and get good results.
A couple others that I found attractive:

Bone, hard, stiff, easy to work with hand tools. Can be a bit brittle for pinning.

Aluminium, soft ,malleable, forms easily, works with hand tools. Down side is that it discolored to a soft gray color and can scratch easily. Also it takes an effort to properly sand and build a good surface due to difficulties removing previous grit grooves.

Sterling Silver, similar to aluminium.

Assorted acrylesters. Each brand behaves differently as to hardness, brittleness, and flexibility

~Richard

The suggested search was for examples and some construction methods.

By far my fav is bone. I do have a little stash of MOP and some silver sheets that I am patiently waiting to make a set of scales with. I have done a few MOP repairs but never a full set of scales.
G-10 is terrible stuff as far as dust and toxins are concerned, but it does make really nice liners. I think it is better as a liner than a scale material.
Horn was my go to for a long time. I still like it, and I think it is wonderful to work with and beautiful.
For the most part I am not a big fan of the acrylics and polycarbonates. I do have a set of wood and acrylic slabs that are destined to be something special. I have not found exactly the right razor.
There are certain materials that I feel are better suited for some blades than others. An old Sheffield looks really off in a set of loud coloured plastic scales. That is sort of where picking the right material for the right blade comes in. That is all about personal taste though.

Horn, bone and different woods.

How would you make scales with Sterling?

a. Would it be the whole scale?
b. Where would you get a sheet that is thick enough?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pete123

How would you make scales with Sterling?

a. Would it be the whole scale?
b. Where would you get a sheet that is thick enough?

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1 mm sheet sterling is readily available from jewelry supply houses. A spot price of the Day.
It can be cut, contoured by hammering, sanded and polished.
Do a search here for "silver scales," and "aluminum scales."

I would post links, but cell phone is all I have for a while...
Thre search should lead to finished scales and some construction of aluminium ones, posted a couple years back
~Richard

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Geezer

1 mm sheet sterling is readily available from jewelry supply houses. A spot price of the Day.
It can be cut, contoured by hammering, sanded and polished.
Do a search here for "silver scales," and "aluminum scales."

I would post links, but cell phone is all I have for a while...
~Richard

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I hope this link is helpful:

Sterling Silver Sheet Metal - Price Per 6" x 1" Piece | OttoFrei.com

I have not seen a solid set of silver scales. The ones I have seen are silver that has been pressed to create the pattern or image on the silver, and it bends around onto the sides and creates a hollow scale that is filled on the back at the pivot and at the wedge. Most of the scale is open on the inside, so not so much hollow as cupped. They are very nice, and because they are scarce they are kind of pricey when you do find them. My sons wife is a silver smith and we have discussed it at length. Perhaps we will make a set or two at some point in the future.

My more common scales are:

Camel Bone forms nice and takes a good shine

Water Buffalo Bone much harder than camel bone and really shines

kirinite great to work and shine

Buffalo Horn great to work except for the smell

Wood Lignum V. is great as is walnut. Other woods seem to require CA finish which is not hard to do but takes some time.

Tropical hardwoods are easily worked and take a beautiful polish: ebony, cocobolo, ziricote, bocote and especially rosewood. I started with rosewood after I got a box full of scraps from a custom wood worker friend. Lovely stuff and doesn't even really require a finish, but a mask is a must for all of these, as the dust is toxic for most.

Buffalo horn: streaked black or brown, honey, or just jet black all look great. If you can get your blanks flat enough and oriented right, and work around de laminations and that SMELL, I love the deep luster it will take too-and no need to worry about a finish!

I haven't worked with bone or any synthetics yet, but would love to make a set out of that colored acrylic like I believe it was 10Pups was putting his Dubl Ducks in a couple years ago. And that sort of teal-colored acrylic I've seen on some of Max's razors is just stunning.

My favorite is blonde horn...
I love when there are dark parts in it. It gives a fantastic colour comvination in my opinion.

Black horn is also nice...but often oit Looks like plastic.

Tropical hardwoods are also great materials but I made only a few of them so far.

For knives, my favorites are bone, horn, antler and stabilized wood, and mycarta in some instances. So far, I've only made a couple of razors, but am sticking with mycarta for it's moister resistance. Maybe I just need a new way of shaving as I normally wash the whole razor in hot water under the tap and and wipe/blow dry and oil. I'd probably stay away from natural woods like Cocobolo and Ironwood as the oil I use on the blade would likely darken the wood faster. What bothers me is with a SR it's in a wet environment and while I'm using a carbon steel blade, I like the fact that the handle won't absorb moister or blade oil. I might do another in bone, but if I do it'll likely be stabilized, wouldn't mind using stabilized wood either.