8/8 Spanish point scalloped back Henkels in Ipe

[cannonfodder]

I had gotten an email wanting to know if I have ever made scales from Ipe wood. I had never heard of Ipe and had none in my wood pile. So he sent me a small plank and I resawed a dozen sets from it. Ipe is a hard wood, but what makes it difficult to work is that is brittle. Most exotic woods are hard but they also contain a lot of natural oils. This Ipe was a decking plank, hard, dense, tight grain but brittle. Out of 5 sets I cut, 2 were usable. The other chunked when I routed the edges. Once I had a good set I put a Dutch oil finish on them and let them cure overnight. The next evening I went to scale the blade only to realize that this 8/8 is a good quarter inch longer than its 7/8 sibling. The scales were to short, so I had to fire up the equipment and cut another set but extend them ¼ inch more than my standard cut.

But in the end, I got a good set. Ipe is relatively bland in figuring. This piece of stock was, after all, a leftover wood deck board. I did luck out and have one small section that had some figuring in the wood. It reminds me of walnut in its workability and over all appearance. It turned out pretty good I think. I have noticed that wood not finished in my usual epoxy resin, is much more pliable. These scales bent and formed quite easily, normally I have to use a small clamp to compress the wood around the spacer pin.