Originally Posted by
Neil Miller
To just flatten them, place them into boiling water until they go soft and rubbery. You don't even need boiling water - steam can do it, so can hot air or another dry heat source - but then you risk scorching. To make them go really soft - soft enough to take a pattern by screwing them down in a vice with a pattern carved in a mould, boiling in oil is better. If you just want to flatten them and want something to retain the heat longer than pressing between slats of wood, get two bits of steel plate, heat them, smother them with oil or tallow, put the softended scales on them and screw the plates down in a vice and leave until cold.
Regards,
Neil