Thread: A Couple of Scale Making Questions...

Originally Posted by KillerDr3w

I couldn't find anywhere that had stock this thin in the UK, so I ended up getting 12mm thick blanks, and cut them using a band saw to about ~5.5mm. I now need to sand them down further. The blade has come off the band saw, and won't stay aligned, so I ended up cutting the shape out by hand

I found this website which does cherry wood in 1/8" thickness, but I haven't used them myself. Hobby's (under 'materials > wood' )

Picture as promised!

You opened another can of worms with the DA too, Double check the tang before you even start,about 50-60% of them are built with a curve

Set the tang down on a known flat surface on the front then on the back to see if it is straight there is nothing worse than building a nice straight set of scales then finding that the razor is crooked and you have to adjust after the build... You should do this with every razor but the Chinese ones have a high percentage of warp...

Yes the wedge creates the bow this is what creates tension when opening and closing the razor it also creates strength..

When the tang is pinned it should create a nice smooth angle that matches the wedge .. the height of the scales should also match the height of the tang as it comes out of the scales ready to strop that makes for an even transistion between the scales and the razor...

All these things make for a nice feel and balance when using the razor from stropping to shaving, you don't have to follow these rules however...

Understand everything I am saying here I did not invent, I started taking razors apart and looked and measured eveything on quite a few Vintage razors to figure this stuff out... There is no right or wrong but I have found that learning what those old farts have done for 200+ years makes for good builds


ps: Just saw the pics, That is good looking wood


To sand them flat and thinner at the same time,, take two peices of flat wood that you can get a handle on (about 3/4" thick)
put carpet tape on one and put both the scales on that, then put carpet tape on the other and put the sandpaper there place one on a flat table or bench and sand with the other I use almost the same set up with a beltsander to get the thickness I want and have the two scales dead even

Excellent. I have a plan now. I think the scale making will go on hold for the week while I build a hand sanding rig to reduce the thickness.

Thanks for all the advice so far, I'll update the post when I've progressed. Once I get the thickness down I'll decide if I want to go for brass liners or not.

With regard to the DA, I have a Kropp 5/8 I can use and I'll keep a watch on eBay for anything that looks worthwhile. I haven't taken the DA out of the plastic scales yet, so I'm not sure just how bad it is. I can see the shoulder needs grinding down like some other posts recommend.