Thread: Leather scales?

O.K. I tried searching, but no joy.

I am trying to figure out what to do for scales on a razor I picked up and have been working on. So I though....Leather! I can use beeswax to harden it and then just make then as normal.

So my question. Has anyone done this before, and did it work or blow up in their face??? LOL

I've never heard of it however I would think even with wax on it the issue of water damage and rot over time would make me hesitate.

Huh? I was thinking that the beeswax would seal and protect it. I have made bunches of wax hardened knife sheaths.

I will do some testing with a few samples and see what happens.

Thanks for the tip!

There must be something you can do to the leather
to protect it. I'm a firefighter and my helmet is
made of leather. Twelve years and it's still going
strong.

John

I know nothing about leather, but why not line them with a thicker sheet of aluminum (epoxy them) then coat the whole thing with CA or the resin finish people have been trying?

Leather may be hard to work with for a set of scales, though you could try a veg-tanned leather. Veg-tanned leather will become some what hard and hold a molded form when soaked in water. You might also try a very thin leather over a wooden scale and backed with metal as Alex mentioned. This may be a bit heavy though. Leather is a favorite medium of mine. I mainly braid whips and a few other things out of it. You might also look into leather sole material, but you'll probably still need to back it or use a very thick leather.

When you use beeswax the leather gets REALLY hard (almost kydex hard).

How hard do scales really need to be.

Should there be "NO" flex at all, or is a tiny bit O.K.?

i like the clear resin idea,and believe as it was said earlier that you would have to insert some kind of liner in the scales. its agreat idea, i would like to see what kind of tooling you would do with the leather. an endless list of possibilities i'm sure. you just have to beat the waterproofing problem.

Here is what I have so far. I traced out both sides and then cut them out. Then I used my double boiler to melt the beeswax. Heated the leather in the oven at 300F for a few minutes till it was nice and warm. Then dipped each on in the melted beeswax. After dipping them (with gloves hands) rubbed the wax into them. A second dip and more rubbing, then on some parchment atop granite counter tops to cool.

Here is what I have. ((That is my Surge on top of one side of the scales to show how much stronger it has made the leather. I have not polished or finished shaping them Just FYI)) Also the leather makes a nice "Tink" when you hit something with it. LOL

Interesting. I like all these cool ideas that have been popping up as of late for scales, FIMO and now leather. Cool. Go for it.

Chris L