Thread: Scale sanding.

Ok guys i am almost ready to rescale my first restore. I am either going with blood wood or black buffalo horn (thank you diyguy!).

Only question i have is which grit to start my shaping with. I will probably carry it up to 2k for final sanding.

Thanks!

Jon

I personally start at 220 and then progress up. Hope this helps

220 is a good starting point, but if need be you can go down to 120-150.

Depends on material and the condition it's in, how much shaping you're doing and what you're shaping with (hand or machine).

I've started as low as 60 to flatten the faces (hand sanding). For rough shaping (getting the profile and chamfering/rounding) I've done this both by hand and using a drum sander and start at 120.

If you're profiling by hand then use a tool to wrap the paper around (dowel of appropriate diameter, file, etc). For bone or horn I would generally just use second cut and fine files before progressing to 240 grit and onwards...

I sand up through the grades up to 2500 grit, for horn or bone I follow this with a fine grade polishing creme then a light polish on a cotton buff, final finish with a mixture of neatsfoot and beeswax.

My bad! I will be doing all sanding and polishing by hand. Sorry for any confusion.

Jon

Originally Posted by Raithskar

My bad! I will be doing all sanding and polishing by hand. Sorry for any confusion.

Jon

Hand sanding isn't really that much more difficult, not sure if you've thought much about how to go about it by my method is as follows (assuming you've got the blank/s thicknessed at this stage);

Have a template for the scale shape ready.
Present the template to the blank/s and check it fits and if there's a visible grain how you want it to align.
Start sanding the blanks up to a fairly fine stage (I go to 800grit) - this avoids the chance of badly 'overworking' the edges of the scale once it's cut out and winding up with big/uneven chamfering on the scale edges.
Use the template to mark-out the scales and cut them (I use a fret saw).
Tidy them up to the marked lines using coarse sandpaper for wood or I prefer files for horn/bone.
Tape or clamp the scales together (I use two small G clamps taking one off at a time to reposition as required) for final match-shaping so the scales are identical.
Hand sand the edges through the grades.
Add any chamfering/rounding to the scales edges.
Finish the faces and tidy up the edges, be careful here -use a block when sanding the faces to avoid overdoing the chamfering or conversely do it by hand deliberately going over the edges to get a more rounded look (but be careful to keep it even).

I use a rubber non-slip mat to sand on so I can work the entire face without having to hold the scales. For horn I prefer to sand wet from 240 grit onwards.

Micromesh is fantastic on horn IMO. Sand your scales all the way to 12000 grit and you'll have to wear glasses to look at them ;-)