Thread: A little help with scales?

Hey guys, I'm building some scales out of a few blocks of curly claro walnut and I have a few slabs that are roughly 3 1/2" wide by 9" long by 1/4 to 3/8" thick. I am taking a longshot to see if anyone here has a thickness planer (or thickness sander..even better!) who wouldn't mind taking some of these down to about 1/8" thick for me. I'd be willing to give up a blank or two (each one is enough for a few scales) in exchange... I'm also checking with different cabinet shops and places like that to see if they will do it for me, but I thought I'd also test the waters here.


PM me if you'd be interested, or if you have other suggestions for me....Thanks

It would be a labor of love....definately not the easiest route.

A hand plane "can" be had for a little money...if you have razor honing equipment you probably already have everything you need to get the blade up to snuff. After that, a little time on google and practicing on *cheaper* oak or other hardwood and you could do it yourself.

Not saying this is what you SHOULD do, but if you'd like to do it yourself you don't HAVE to go buy an expensive powertool/shop-machine.

yeah, I could do it with a hand plane, and I don't have any problems making the scales or polishing the blades (they are done)... I am just trying to save myself some time by seeing if anyone has a thickness planer and wouldn't mind running my boards through it for me to get it down to the thickness I need... this would be for future use as scales.

You know, I have had some trouble finding nice wood in 1/8 myself. I have hesitated buying some of the 1/4 stuff I have found just because I don't have the tools to easily reduce them to 1/8. Anybody know of a resource for nice, thin boards?

Woodcraft.
Google "Thin Wood" or 1/8" wood.

I found lots using those words.

I know that my local Rockler store has a selection of 1/8th in a variety of types.