So I was thinking a bit, do that quite a lot, about how I might be able to make scales without having to buy a jigsaw or other large equipment for woodworking. I have a really nice makita drill and the dremel and thought I wonder if I can find a bit that will allow me to use one of them as a saw.. I came across the RotoZip bits and thought it looked interesting. I obviously wouldn't be able to cut the wood into 1/8" slabs for individual sides (is that the size you guys generally cut them to thickness wise prior to sanding/shaping) but I figured if I could get wood at bestforestproducts.com at that thickness that wouldn't be a problem.

From the size of the bits it looks like I could try it in the makita and from reading a little it doesn't take a lot of pressure with these to make them cut, actually looks like less is preferred. There is also a 1/8" bit for the same purpose that may fit in the chuck I have for the dremel (think it may fit 1/8 as max size). Has anyone attempted something similar? I'd obviously still have to do all of the sanding with something, but may try to figure something I can adapt to the dremel or otherwise use in it that would be large enough to functionally sand scales for the final shaping. Just curious anyone else have a way to make scales without using large/expensive equipment. The bits are like 10 bucks for two and I already have a power tool I could put them in.

Edit: The 1/8" ones are like 6 bucks for 5.