Thread: A Couple of Scale Making Questions...

I have not used brass liners, but I have attempted to make brass wedges. My only advice is to be careful with heat management. The brass will heat up when shaping the material if you use power tools. I wasn't careful enough and the heat ruined a few scales during final shaping and assembly. I suspect you'd have the same concern to manage around for brass liners.

Sounds like a cool project though. Have fun!

Brian

I hadn't thought about the heat. My plan was to draw around the scales on to the brass, then cut the shape out slightly large, using a Dremel (one of my only power tools!), then pinning between the scales and filing up to the them using a small hand file for the brass liners, and a final sand with wet and dry.

with your sanding rig, how are you keeping the scale afixed to the piece of wood with that has a spacer on it? If it is not held down tightly by something (glue or maybe double sided tape) then I don't think you'll have the easiest time rubbing the sandpaper over it.

Originally Posted by TwistedOak

with your sanding rig, how are you keeping the scale afixed to the piece of wood with that has a spacer on it? If it is not held down tightly by something (glue or maybe double sided tape) then I don't think you'll have the easiest time rubbing the sandpaper over it.

I was going to use double sided tape and try and not be so rough, I figure it will sand down eventually - I'm only about 2 or 3 mm too thick, using some Dovo Olive wood scales as a reference.

The metal I buy for lined wedges is in the .005 -.010 thickness range

A hint here, if you make the scales and wedge correctly they should bow, if they bow, you are going to be trying to attach metal to wood on an inside curve...

This is not easy, and you are going to have to create what is called a "Mechanical Lock" to keep them together as the scales flex... ie: just simply glue will not work..

This is why so many metal lined scales on razors are built like a knife with a spacer and no flex, that error can cause a multitude of problems later on, trust me I have fixed to many from other "Experts"

If you decide that it is a path you are going to have to take, fire me a pm and I will go over some of the fixes with you...

Myself I try and make a razor function like a razor and have a wedge and bowed flexable scales other liners like G-10 or Acrylic work much easier because they will flex with the scale material, and if glued correctly the glue creates a good lock easily

Something else to make your life easier is buying 1/8" thin stock from a place like Woodworking Plans & Tools | Fine Woodworking Project & Supplies at Woodcraft , then you don't have to worry about sanding down to thickness. As far as finishes, there is a huge range you can do from the most rugged like CA, spray lacquers & poly's, to hand rubbing tongue oil.

Originally Posted by shooter74743

Something else to make your life easier is buying 1/8" thin stock from a place like Woodworking Plans & Tools | Fine Woodworking Project & Supplies at Woodcraft , then you don't have to worry about sanding down to thickness. As far as finishes, there is a huge range you can do from the most rugged like CA, spray lacquers & poly's, to hand rubbing tongue oil.

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

This just happened to my old band saw. It would throw the blade after about 5 seconds. When I tried to adjust the wheels I saw that the tires were coming apart. After pricing new tires I just went to Harbor Freight and bought a new saw.

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' )

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