Thread: Need advice on wood scales

A friend that knows I'm into wet shaving and have been looking for a razor to try my hand at restoring with got me 1 from a neighbor. The blade had only minor rust and tarnish and I've had little trouble getting that out but the scales were already being held together by twine at the wedge and had massive bug damage throughout. Obviously they broke when I attempted to unpin them now I'm looking to make my first set of scales. Another friend who is an artist offered to add some design to the scales before I finish them so I'm having trouble deciding on a wood type personally I'd just use a piece of 2X4 I have laying around for the contrast but I'm willing to bet pine isn't quite hard enough to make a good set of scales so I'm soliciting suggestions. I'm looking for a lighter colored wood to use something that will take just a sealer coat no staining to really let his work pop. Also I'm seriously looking at making it a 1 piece set of scales as it just strikes me as a less complicated way to make scales anybody screaming at the monitor about how naive I am please speak up. I have the necessary tools but haven't done any wood work of this type in many years so any and all help is appreciated as always. Thanks as always