Thread: hand tool scaling, newbie

Have some experience pinning but have decided to try my own scales. Hand tools will be used for sawing and finishing (I do have a dremel & hand drill). Some prelim questions I'd like to put to the forum:

• what would be a good material to start with? Ultimately I'd like to craft bog oak and kauri but not as starters. Any material that is particularly difficult to do by hand?
• micarta I've seen listed appears to be a veneer. That means that shaping, adjustment and rounding have to occur on the inside? Wood listed for straight razor scaling frequently shows at 1/8" thickness. If I'm sectioning scales from a block that would be my thickness goal? Best achieved with a mitre box adaptation?
• The power tools I do have--dremel and drill--any specific attachments that would be useful?

Thanks all.

Any wood is good for starters. Not real hard but not soft. Soft and you may get carried away sanding. The goal for thickness is 0.080 inches.
We have lots of this info in our library so go give it a read.

And welcome to SRP.

Charlie Lewis did a video on making scales by hand.
Someone should know where to find it

https://youtu.be/YQm7YToDSpc
Here is Charlie’s video.
https://sharprazorpalace.com/worksho...-way-i-do.html
This is pretty close to how I do it.
A coping saw works well for cut out as does a jewellers saw. Keep the blades very fine and do not use forward pressure on the blade.

Any kind of scrap wood will work to practice on. I often do a warm up with scraps of oak flooring - free from most flooring companies.

Originally Posted by criswilson10

Any kind of scrap wood will work to practice on. I often do a warm up with scraps of oak flooring - free from most flooring companies.

For a first attempt, it is hard to beat acrylic. No grain. Doesn't split, (will crack if you abuse it, though), doesn't swell and normally doesn't warp. Takes a very high polish easily with sandpaper, and with rag and abrasive paste, or dremel with cloth or felt wheel and paste or powder. Easy to shape by hand with file or sanding block. Looks nice. Not as durable as micarta or G10 or even bone or horn or the better woods, but that's okay for first time at bat.

You can lay up your own micarta. Saturate and stack paper or cloth or whatever in the two part resin of your choice, and compress it as it hardens. It will shape quite well, depending on what you use. Wood is common enough that you don't have to worry about wasting a bunch of blanks, especially if you use salvaged wood from furniture or flooring. Avoid softwoods of course. An ebony pool cue turning blank can be sawn into 1/8" thick blank stock for making very nice scales.

Lots of good advice here already. Everyone sort of adapts their techniques to the tools they have, as you no doubt will. But yes, start with 1/8" (.125) blanks and flatten/shape/thin from there. Having made scales out of just about every natural and synthetic material there is, wood is probably my favorite, especially a nicely-figured walnut; you just can't beat it for workability and beauty.

As I often advocate, get a local woodworker to save you his cut-offs, and maybe even cut them into blanks for you for a small fee or a trade of some sort. And I agree that acrylic is probably the easiest material to start with, as it won't bow, warp, twist or delaminate on you like some horns or wood. There are some gorgeous synthetic materials out there if you look around. Inlace acrylester is even easier to work IMO, and can be found in an almost infinite variety of bewitching swirly designs.

Funny-If you get deep enough into scaling razors, you will start looking at random materials everywhere and asking yourself, "I wonder if I could make scales or a wedge out of that?" Show us your work. You will get better with every set.

Synthetics don't split or crack like wood can. So if you are just learning to peen, it is easier to start with G10, micarta or acrylic. Also, I find that mechanical screw type fasteners are easier to install. My advise would be to make it as easy as possible for your first attempts. A successful first try will give you more motivation to keep going and keep learning. Give yourself as much chance of success at first and then add variables and more challenging materials and techniques as you build your confidence and experience.

Originally Posted by DVW

Synthetics don't split or crack like wood can. So if you are just learning to peen, it is easier to start with G10, micarta or acrylic. Also, I find that mechanical screw type fasteners are easier to install. My advise would be to make it as easy as possible for your first attempts. A successful first try will give you more motivation to keep going and keep learning. Give yourself as much chance of success at first and then add variables and more challenging materials and techniques as you build your confidence and experience.

I often use Microfastener.com size 0 bolts and nuts for trial pinning and I have in the past just left them in permanently but usually not. They sell a variety of washers, too. Again, the size to get is size 0, that is size zero. Same diameter as standard 1/16" pinning stock. After final tension adjustment you can cut the bolt end off and file it down to about 1/32" beyond the nut, and peen it down onto the nut to prevent the nut from backing off. The brass is soft enough that you can still take it off if needed. Brass, whether pin or bolt, is a bit soft, but that might not be a bad thing for your first attempts. You can graduate to Nickel-Silver rod later.

Too bad Microfastener.com doesn't have domed washers, but there is a domed punch and anvil set for doming brass washers available. Don't know where, but I have one I bought years ago.

If I have a 1 1/2 X 8 blank, 1/4 thick what should I use to cut two 1/8 thick blanks from it? I have a coping saw and a Japanese hand saw. What is the best cutting guide tool to get this done?

Thanks again --