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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 --

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Originally Posted by forsten

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 --

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You can't. You would be losing material when sawing, the amount depending on the saw kerf width, But you can easily thin your stock down to 1/8" thick on a belt sander or by hand lapping it on a sheet of coarse sandpaper. A table saw or bandsaw would make short work of thinning. Now if you had maybe 3/8" thick stock and you had a particularly steady hand and eye, maybe you could saw your material into two 1/8"+ thick pieces.

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Originally Posted by CrescentCityRazors

Now if you had maybe 3/8" thick stock and you had a particularly steady hand and eye, maybe you could saw your material into two 1/8"+ thick pieces.

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OK say I had a 1/2 blank. If I wanted to section it is there a particular cutting guide or tool that would be useful with my hand saw?

Or just clamp/stabilize the blank and hope I don't botch it (having minimal hand tool background) -- thanks again CCR

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Originally Posted by forsten

OK say I had a 1/2 blank. If I wanted to section it is there a particular cutting guide or tool that would be useful with my hand saw?

Or just clamp/stabilize the blank and hope I don't botch it (having minimal hand tool background) -- thanks again CCR

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A miter box and a jig made for the purpose would probably enable you to saw your stock into thin planks with a reasonable accuracy. But really, to rip stock accurately you are talking table saw. You could make one for the purpose, using wood and a circular saw. Remember to make some sort of guard and you need an easily accessible and clearly marked off switch. You could just C-clamp your fence to the table. Use a wood pusher, not your fingers, or sooner or later you will lose them. Youtube is your friend. A small hobbyist type table saw is pretty cheap, cheap enough to pay for itself ripping precious woods into scale blanks, eventually. Ryobi is a decent brand, but be careful not to crack the plastic table models. A tabletop bandsaw from Harbor Freight would work, too, and enable you to cut a stack of scales roughly to shape at once.

'What is the best cutting guide tool to get this done?"

Eyeball.

A bandsaw and hand plane with a sharp iron, to finish to final thickness. Or as said a sander.

You could use a hand saw with a rip blade and a vise depending on your handsaw skills. At 1.5 in wide you could get 2 scales from the 1/8th in piece depending on you scale design.

You can also hot glue to a piece of MDF and run through a thickness planer.

If you don’t have the tools or skills, find a local woodworker and buy some beer. It is amazing what some beer can get you.

But really, just buy some horn, unless you have some very special wood.

Buy 1/8th inch material. It can be found all over. With skill you could use a japanese pull saw to rip thin wood blanks but its not an easy thing to do. A guide for the blade to hold the blade true could be done. But for a few bucks you could buy the 1/8" blanks and be done messing with it.

[QUOTE=Euclid440;1912838]'What is the best cutting guide tool to get this done?"

A bandsaw and hand plane with a sharp iron

Thanks Euclid. Excuse my limited knowledge but what is a sharp iron in relation to a hand plane? Small hand planes abound on Amazon, no sharp iron reference.

I'm only set on two special woods--bog oak & kauri. You're talking natural horn or synthetic? Given the limited number of projects before me I'll likely be using a coping saw and Japanese hand saw.

Find some scrap wood and practice cutting blanks. If you use a gauge line it’s pretty easy to cut straight. Draw a line all the way around the blank you want to rip in half, making sure the line is parallel to the face of the wood. Start the cut at a corner and slowly saw while staying on the line. Once you get a good straight line established the job gets much easier as all you have to do is saw. Just follow those lines around until you’re through. A small vise or even a couple of clamps can be used to hold the piece while you saw.

The Iron is the plane blade, make sure it is sharp and properly adjusted.

Starting with real horn, will make your project much easier. It is inexpensive and will cut easily with a coping saw and shape easily with a file or sand paper. You can drill with a pin vise, (a holder for a drill bit) by hand.

And you can sand easily to a fine finish and polish with metal polish. In short it is super easy to work and looks great.

Once you get the process down, then you can move to other materials, that may require more tools and skills.

Wood -

Let me try and help

The hardness of wood is determined much like metal is tested for RHC only it is called the Janka Rating (Not Jenga, LOl)

I try and not use woods that are below 2000 unless I am able to either use a CA finish or a Liner for strength or both


To give you an idea of many favorite woods

Gaboon Ebony = 3080
Amboyna Burl = 1260
Lignum Vitae = 4380 (the best waterproof woods in the world)
Cocobolo = 2960
Olivewood = 2690

This gives you some idea

If you go to this page on Bell Forest you can see the ratings on all their woods


I am not finding an actual Janka Rating for Bog Oak but most oaks are below 1500, I have used Bog Oak only a couple of times, I found it rather temperamental and I had to Skim Coat it to get a good final sanding on the scales for final finishing


I hope this helps you a bit

Plus one on the Lignum Vitae. It's not the prettiest wood in the world, but man is it a workhorse. I've actually used it as knife guards in the past.