So having made an offer and gotten a good deal on that huge blade restoration lot on ebay, I'm stocking up on other supplies for the summer: collars and pin-stock, various tools and supplies, and of course scale material.

Upon Roy's suggestion, I finally made an order from Wood Spindles - Woodturningz. Patrick there was very professional and helpful in filling my order and cutting my blanks somewhat to more razor-friendly dimensions. Roy wanted a follow-up on how the cuts look these days, so for you guys stocking up, I thought I'd share with the group.

In that order I got the following:
An Australian Red Mallee Burl block cut into 4 slabs. As you can see, the thickness varied quite a bit between about 6"x.32" and .40." The cuts seemed okay if not perfectly flat; it is burl, after all, and I'm not sure he could go much thinner than that. I'm wondering if I either need to stabilize it or back it with G-10 or similar? I've got a friend with the vacum tank and Cactus Juice for his knife-making. Looks like it will snap like a twig at scale thickness.
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I also got a nice piece of Desert Ironwood, which measured 6"x.40-.44."
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Finally, my wife is dying for me to scale a blade in the Inlace Acrylester, and she indulges my every whim in my expensive hobbies! This one is called The Abyss, and I have to admit I'm intrigued by the possibilities here once this is polished. They cut me 4 pieces out of the blank that measured 6"x.32-.37." I would like to have gotten 6 pieces, but he said it was too brittle to go much thinner:
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I also got a couple of blanks from Bell Forest Products: https://www.bellforestproducts.com/exotic-wood/
First up is a nice piece of Gaboon Ebony (the one on top), which I have enjoyed working with before (9.25"x.275):
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But I really can't wait to polish up this gorgeously-figured piece of African Blackwood with the same dimensions on the bottom:
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You see that reddish streak?!

Anyways, maybe this gives some of you who like wood (or funky syntetics) ideas. I know many of you have ordered from both these outlets before with great success and service. It appears that I have a lot of scale flattening and thicknessing to do, so I ordered some more 60-grit belts for my 2x42" flat grinder-I am now doing that crap outside! Oh, and Mike/Jerry, I also ordered some Tru-Oil to see if I can get wood finishes like you guys do! More later. A-Aron/SHD