Thread: Replacing scales

A good place to start is with the scales on the blade, you can trace around them and make a paper template that you can later transfer to your desired scale material. Another good place to start is with a quality razor that’s in good order. Open and close the razor and watch what the scales do, how the wedge is shaped as well as the tang. There is a far bit of geometry that goes into a good set of scales. Once you have an understanding of how they work and why things are shaped the way they are it will make your first few rescales go fairly well.

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It's best to leave a razor in the original scales IF...and that's a big if they are still in good condition. As long as they're free of cracks or chips or missing chunks even warping can be taken care of. Often they can be repaired too. It's like the paint job on an old car. It's always better to have the original paint unless it's a rusty clunker already and then it's hard to harm it by improving something that's already ruined.
You can buy blocks of horn, wood, acrylic, faux ivory and all sorts of other blanks for scales on various websites. Do a broad search for straight razor scales or straight razor parts or scale materials. Maggardrazors.com is a good place. They have all sorts of pins and spacers and blanks. Pretty much anything you need to do this yourself. One of my favorites to use is bone but I also use southern live oak snag that I have found in the woods from trees that have been standing dead for probably at least 150 years. I'm sure down under you have other types of beautiful regional hardwoods to choose from also. Just make sure it's stable first. Anything that's been standing dead long enough to look like a skeleton is probably already stable.
Take your time and be methodical, and more than anything have fun with it. Let us know how it goes