Thread: Wooden Scales

I was wondering if anyone has any advice on a journey I will soon be taking... I plan to make a set of wooden scales for a razor I am restoring and I was wondering if anyone could lend advice. My biggest questions are...

What wood should I use/works best?
What type of finish should I use (staining, lacquer, etc.)

Any advice would help a ton! Thanks!

A lot of good information is located in the wiki here:

Category:Repair & Restoration - Straight Razor Place Wiki

The top of this forum contains a Thread that we call a sticky in it you will find this

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...wers-here.html

It answers just about every single aspect of the Restoration process, with links to the original threads..

Also as linked above the Wiki has the condensed versions of many of these threads, but the original threads have many asked and answered questions...

To answer your exact questions simply though, "Just about any hard wood will work and whichever finish matches that wood the best" so the real answer is not very imfomative... Another source of ideas is the Restores and customs Gallery where many of us show off our latest projects with many details of what we actually did ...

http://straightrazorpalace.com/custo...-restorations/

Asking those questions is like an aspiring furniture maker asking the same about building his first chair. I think the most important thing is that you choose a design that is simple and doable with the tools and basic skills you have. Don't bother with fanciness at first, stick to simple design, trusted materials and techniques you are familiar with.

Pretty much any wood will do if your design is right and you don't overwork it. Don't buy anything expensive, I'd say there is a high chance you'll mess up a few before you get something you like.

Any of the usual finishes will work fine if you prep the surface like you're supposed to and follow the directions. Also, the key ingredient in wood finishing is patience. I have yet to find a product you can just slather on once and expect nice results from.

I have ruined many a set of scales by not being patient. Heed the advice of floppy the wise one.

Originally Posted by floppyshoes

Also, the key ingredient in wood finishing is patience.

Originally Posted by floppyshoes

I have yet to find a product you can just slather on once and expect nice results from.

the first scales I did I used a hand rub poly and there is something about hand rubbing a finish with multiple layers that just rubs me the right way. I think something you can just finish in one coat would be a disappointing way to finish a project.

Originally Posted by TheBaron

the first scales I did I used a hand rub poly and there is something about hand rubbing a finish with multiple layers that just rubs me the right way. I think something you can just finish in one coat would be a disappointing way to finish a project.

Most of the times I finish a handle, I only use a light coat of oil. I love the beauty of raw wood polished to 1-micron and finished it with just a touch of oil.

Emu. If you need any scraps of wood, let me know. I have a lot of stuff left over that will make nice handles.

Thanks PDobson! What kind of oil would you suggest. I know some pipe makers that use olive oil... perhaps something like that? I was looking at your photos and was wondering if any of your knives had a simple oil finish on them as an example?How do you finish wood with oil?

I just went back through my photos and it looks like all of the knives (w/wood) and boxes pictured were finished with oil.

The simplest oil to use is just mineral oil. I use it to refresh the appearance of some wood handles (like my razor) and on synthetic materials like G10. A better oil for wood would be tung oil or danish oil. These oils penetrate the wood and harden it from the inside. I've heard that vegetable oils (like olive) can turn rancid, so I avoid them.

The trick to a good oil finishes is wood selection and surface preparation. The wood has to be durable and perfectly finished before the oil is applied. You are relying on the durability of the natural wood and any finish defects will be accentuated by the oil. The easiest woods to prepare this way are the extremely hard woods (rosewoods, ebonies, ironwood, and so on), so I'll talk about them first. I start by shaping on 60 and 100 grit paper. The contours should be perfect before you leave 100x. After that, it comes down to removing the scratches from the previous grits. Sand at 220 then 360x wet/dry paper until there are no lower-grit scratches visible. After that, I switch to 3M finishing paper. This paper has a cloth-like texture and uniform Al2O3 abrasive grit. It is available from 400x to 8000x (1-micron). A good progression is 400, 1200, 4000, 8000 (optional). Then I simply wipe the wood down with a little oil and in five minutes buff the excess with a cloth.

Woods with more open grain (i.e. walnut) will absorb more oil and take a little experimentation to figure out what shows the figure best.

Phillip

Are there any nation wide stores that carry tung oil or danish oil, or can you only get it online?