Pine scales

Howdy folks..

I am on the hunt for a little bit of advice, I was over visiting the folks the other day, a few times the old man has expressed an interest in straight shaving, so I have a few restores I'm working on and thought it would be a good idea to work him up one of those as a Christmas present (I work slow :D) anyhoo on visiting them I noticed they had been doing a bit of DIY and there was this chunk of pine wood and it was ever so pretty lol so I kinda convinced them to hand it over, so I'm about to slice it up to make scales for this razor, but as you'll likely know pine is rather soft, so would it be a good idea to coat this with some form of varnish when I make the scales?

Any help here would be much appreciated as this is my first rescale, and I wanna get a lot out of it :)

Geek

I am just not so keen on the Pine, you're asking for a ton of problems using it...

BUT

If you insist I would use at least CA for finish and better yet use Poured Epoxy... JMHO

instructions are to be found here:

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

Thanks gssixguns

Are there any specific problems I might have with the pine? Mind you scale material is flexible I prolly wont scale the razor for at least another 2 months at my usual working speed lol

Geek

+1 with what glen said. I would never use pine it has a tendency to tear out it will dent easily even with a tough coating and the wide grain commonly available has a tendency to have minimal strength between the grain lines. If you're apt to use it be careful and raise the grain while sanding to sand out all marks.

-G

I'd recommend "stabilizing" it. Not speaking as a razor restorer, at wich I'm but a n00b, but as a Carpenter, at which I am most certainly not a n00b. Pine is incredibly soft and porous, under 500 on the Janka Scale, IIRC, and not very stable in the presence of moisture. As Glen mentioned, it could lead to a lot of problems, especially in a moist environment.

Stabilizing can be done at home, with a bit of risk, as it involves gently heating a mason jar with a 50/50 mix of lacquer/virgin thinner and your rough shaped scales and allowing it to sit for a week with the partial vacuum created by the "canning" process. Use a double boiler and do it OUTSIDE with all adequate cautions and safety measures as the heated mixture and vapours are very volatile. The time and vacuum allow the lacquer to penetrate the full thickness of wood. Do it after your scales are reasonably shaped and about as thin as you want them. Do be careful though.

Disclaimer: I have never rescaled a razor. I have been building bamboo fly rods for a bit over 5 years though :). Whenever I stabilize any type of spalted wood, I use one of these two mixtures. The first is an impregnating sauce. Depending on how long you leave parts in depends on how much penetration you get. This is only a moisture barrier,but it adds a ton of strength so sealing the scales afterwards is a good idea. Here's the mix:

one gallon of Daly's Ship 'n Shore to one quart of Daly's Super Spar to two quarts of paint thinner. leave the scales in the solution for 4 hours or up to a few days. The solution will "weep" for about a day just rub it off. let the scales air dry for a few days or heat them to about 150 and kick them in a day

This is a "rubbing varnish" that is tough as nails and dries in an hour:

1/3 Boiled tung oil, 1/3 Turpentine (artists grade), 1/3 spar varnish. Shake it up about every 3-4 hours for one full day. Afterwards, use it like a standard wipe on varnish...great amber color. You can soak the scales in this solution and it will penetrate wood grain and add some strength.

I hope this helps!

Sorry, I forgot: neither of these mixtures is my own design. Just thought it might be of interest.

Even though that chunk of pine was handy, with the time envolved you could cut a walnut or other local hardwood limb off and cure it, or simply find a "knife blank" off the bay. Just make sure it's overall length is long enough.

If you want a domestic or exotic hardwood blank, I might be able to help you out. Just drop me a PM, and I'll send you a few on the house. :)

That right there is what makes this forum so wonderful, so many folks paying it forward...

This is also one of the reasons I love this community, there are so many reasons not to use pine here lol, but BKratchmer I would ove to take you up on that offer.

Geek