Thread: Has anyone used Black Palm for scales?

Originally Posted by BKratchmer

A man after my own heart! I'm in the process of building a shaving horse myself... I'm a tremendous believer in the ease and precision of hand-tools.

From well before the time I was old enough to walk, my Father had a shop much in the vein of "The Woodwright's Shop" ( but well before that show) called "The Bodger Shop". Repro furniture, no glue, no nails, bending wood that was steamed over a coal fire, went into the woods and felled trees, drug them out on his back, everything by hand- the whole nine. Amazing stuff. Glad that I had that experience as a child. Really shaped me as far as woodworking goes, or working in general. Needless to say, hand eye coordination is my strong point.

Here is a pic of me weaving a chair seat when I was about 14-15 or so... You can just make out the head of the sawhorse just above the top slat of the rocker I am working on.



See that foot powered treadle lathe in the background? That is what I am going to turn some brush blanks on, if I can notch out the time.

Thanks for the input guys, I just got off the train, so am going to bed. I'll see what I can turn out Tuesday.

I had much the same experience with my step father. He was mean as hell but he was good at building or fixing almost anyting and he had a shop full of hand tools that he would let me use any time I wanted. He did not help me too much but he would always tell me what I did wrong and I learned a lot from just watching him work. I swear, he could make anything. Now they say that about me but I will never be as good as him. Having been a knife maker for years I have to say that Bocote is by far my favorite wood.

I'll have to take some pictures, but they turned out great. Well, I'll tell you the whole truth. There are a extra set of scales on my workbench with a piece/chunk of the fiber pulled out right at where the pivot pin would be. I'll be posting pics of: C-Mon in black palm, Eskilstuna Sweeden (NOS from classifieds) in leopardwood, and Henkels in snakewood.

The woods. I agree with everyone about black palm being a PITA to work with, but boy is it nice looking finished. Leopardwood, good dense hardwood...I like it. Snakewood, mixed emotions on this one...if I hadn't finished it in CA, I'm sure it would be too soft for scales. Those "scales" you see in the pictures on the wood are virtually hollow with a whispy wood substance in them about the consistency of cotton & just a little bit harder.

Again, thanks for your help guys...

Scott

i like to soak as much CA into the parts that im cutting or drilling
that helps somewith the pull out
also using stabilized wood makes it much better

That's funny, Scott. Snakewood I've worked with has been the hardest, densest stuff... I know that 'snakewood' isn't necessarily one species, though... do you know which variety yours was?

This is the snakewood that I worked with. Guy was real nice and actually gave me a "sample" after e-mailing him on suggestions for finishes. That sample is actually what I used for the scales after taking it to the belt sander to get the mystery finish off it. Good seller by the way...

MIKEC* STAB. AMAZON SPALTED SNAKESKIN KNIFE SCALES -U2 - eBay (item 380194643424 end time Jan-28-10 18:09:07 PST)

Okay. This is the snakewood I was thinking of, which I have used before and is used to make instrument bows.... rather different material. That stuff you got does look VERY porous.

Here's the pics as promised:
Blade is a C-Mon & it shaves great!!

Second is the amazon spalted snakewood:
Blade is Henckels Twinworks Platinum, again, great shaver