Work in Progress Pics

Thought I'd post a few WIP pics of my first re-scale.
A few ideas being tested out with this one!

Scales are clear polycarbonate, which I though was acrylic. This is why they will become black eventually, as the polycarb scratches if you look at it :( It's just a black enamel in a rubbed down inter-coat state!
Spacer is a laminate of various plastics, I also have an Aluminium / Rubber laminate of my own manufacture to try out.
Pins are not pins at all, I have tapped a Brass rod to M3 thread, Nuts are A2 Stainless
Also trying out brass washers as bushings - this works really well!

Razor is a Joseph Allen, I think I've posted it here before in its original leather scales

Anyway - pics!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56...0F153-orig.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56...76CE4-orig.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56...16C5C-orig.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56...t/A609588C.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56...A3045-orig.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y56...11CAF-orig.jpg

I can't see the razor... I'm too busy staring at that beautiful box behind it. Did you build that?

No, I'm afraid I didn't build that, bought it in from India!

Darn I'd love to hear how they built it. At first I was thinking a lathe of a large block, but I don't think they could do the angled swirl that way. Now I'm thinking they simply hand carved the block before slicing the lid off. Hmm going to loose sleep over this one! Well it's a very nice box you're lucky to have.

P.S. Those nuts are cheating! No fair. Get out your hammer!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RobertH

P.S. Those nuts are cheating! No fair. Get out your hammer!

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I concur, some pins would really make it look more refined, but that's what makes this sport so fun...as long as it works for you, who cares!!!

Okay okay I'll give pinning a go lol!
Need to source some narrower gauge brass rod than M3 though really

I buy my brass rod at Hobby Lobby. I have heard of some guys buying nickle/silver at welding shops.

Thanks, I'm finding the rod fairly easy to find, but washers without an enormous OD I'm finding more difficult, anyone have a lead for a UK supplier?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PaddyX21

Thanks, I'm finding the rod fairly easy to find, but washers without an enormous OD I'm finding more difficult, anyone have a lead for a UK supplier?

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Paddy, no UK suppliers that I have found. I have found microfasteners in the US really good. Cheaper than buying them here in Australia (even with the postage)

If you haven't check the workshop sticky it would be well worth it.

Stu

I like the shape.

Advice on your wedge. It isn't flat on the sides, they bow outward in the middle of the wedge. Having perfectly flat wedge sides and perfectly flat insides of scales will make the wedge fit much better. To accomplish this, run your wedge back and forth on both sides on a file or sandpaper on a marble/ceramic tile. It has to be flat, otherwise you get the gaps like your razor has. I still struggle with this, but I'm getting better. Absolutely flat is the key.

A couple pictures to help illustrate my point.

Attachment 85749
My very first one. See all the gaps? The white stuff is wax. It filled all the gaps, and really made them stand out. This isn't right and looks bad.

Attachment 85748
Top view. It's almost perfect from this angle.

Attachment 85750
You can see here that the angles are correct, but I had some edge rounding that made the edges not look as good as they could have.

This rescale had the same problem as my first, then someone gave me the exact same advice as I just gave you. It made all the difference!

Attachment 85751
Here the angles are correct, but my liners wouldn't stick to the wood (oily problem, long story) so I had to just stack them. The carpet tape I used to attach the liners to the wedge during shaping caused some alignment problems. That coupled with an edge rounding on the wedge make it look like the angles are wrong but they aren't. The wedge slipped back in the setup a bit. Also, it isn't wedgey enough. I only had 1/8" burl wood, and had to make due. I didn't have my belt sander at the time, which would have made it a lot easier. This one is close to a spacer, and is barely a wedge. These are the scales on my first custom blade, but I imagine I'm switching it into bone soon due to all the finish issues.

Oh, and +10 on microfasteners. Good stuff.

I like the shape of the scales, and I also just placed an order with microfasteners and make sure you get the wrenches to fit the nuts while you are at it.