Thread: Holding Blanks/Scales Together

Originally Posted by Theseus

Whatever you do, don't use mounting tape. I've still got a nice set of cherry wood scales that won't come apart. Even tried breaking one to save the other to no avail.

Have you tried soaking the scales in acetone or methylene chloride? I know for a fact that methylene chloride is a destroyer of adhesives (I work with it in a lab and rarely is there ever anything that can continue to stick to our containers).

On the original topic, I glue my blanks together with rubber cement, and then before even cutting them out I drill the holes for the pins. I had bought some aluminum 1/16" rod in the hopes of giving it a shot, but it's too malleable so I cut off about 3/8", tap it into the pin holes, and then cut/file off flush to the scales. The nice thing is that when you are sanding the scales the aluminum is soft enough that it just gets sanded away with the wood. The scales are VERY secure in this manner, but come apart very easily with a little punching and sliding! Also, you've drilled the holes (the sketchiest part for me) early so if you mess up there is still time to make the scales work, or scrap them.

I used acetone today on someone else's suggestion. They came apart, but the amount of acetone I had to use caused the wood to warp a bit.

Originally Posted by Theseus

I used acetone today on someone else's suggestion. They came apart, but the amount of acetone I had to use caused the wood to warp a bit.

On thinking about it I am not terribly surprised. Acetone has a pretty strong affinity towards water. Soaking in acetone probably sucks most of the moisture out of the wood, causing it to warp. I'm not sure about this, and somebody will hopefully chime in with exactly what to do, but you may be able to unwarp them by soaking them in water and putting them under some weights to dry for a while. Of course you may need to heat them to get them to actually straighten, and I'm not sure if they would stay straight once dry.

edit: I just searched "how to straighten warped wood" on Google, and came up with a bunch of hits, so you might take a look at that. Good luck