Thread: Scale design

When making scales of hard flexible material such as wood it is difficult to use the standard wedge shape at the butt end. When pinning the pivot this puts stress on the scales and often the tang is tapered making the matter worse. The end result is that the blade will want to open of it's own accord and not sit well between the scales.

I'm going to try using a flat wedge (what other term to use ?) to keep the scales parallel but at the tang end file a wider gap up to where the grind on the blade starts.

This should allow space for the tang to pivot freely ( with some friction of course)and allow the blade to rest near where the spine gets thicker within the scales. It will also mean the scales can be sanded more and not be too chunky.

The question for all of you scale guru's is: Has these been done, is it common practice, does it make sense. To me it does.

Comments most welcome. I searched Bill's blog but did not see mention of this.

Basic hand drawn sketch tries to get across the idea.

Cheers

Gary