Tips for finishing scales in sliky smooth, high gloss surface? Okay to polish shank?

I've decided to make my own scales out of madrone wood from my family's ranch and did a trial run on a piece of mesquite I harvested from my back yard. I'm wanting to finish the scales in a smooth, high gloss finish and was wondering what the best way is to do this. Shellac vs. polyurethane? Apply one coat, sand, and apply again, over and over? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Also, the razor is a Dovo Best Quality that has a polished blade but the shank and tang are not polished. Is it okay to polish these parts to a high shine? I was planning on using a Dremel with jeweler's rouge on a felt polishing wheel.

Below is my first attempt with mesquite. I used a chop saw (only suitable piece of equipment I have available) to cut flat pieces, then did the rest by hand with a coping saw and sand paper.

Attachment 98062

This video from Lewis Razors was my inspiration to start this project: making straight razor scales with a minimum amount of hand tools - YouTube

Thanks for any help!

I think thin superglue (CA) yields some pretty high gloss results if you put enough coats on.

I did a bit of reading on Madrone wood as I had never worked it before, what most people where saying is it is similar to Walnut.. To me that means you can go just about any direction you want when it comes to finishing...
Ease of use - Wipe on Poly, Teak Oil, Danish Oil
Middle ground - Tung Oil, Polyurethane, Gunstock finishes
More of a Challenge - CA, Epoxies, these are really easy once you have everything set up, but tuff the first time through

For beauty it is hard to beat a well done Tung Oil finish or a CA finish

Glen beat me to the CA recommendation, but in the process, also gave you the full context of the different approaches and the degree of difficulty. There's a reason we like him so much.

I thought I saved the thread about his tips for CA finish, which I used for my first few scale projects, but naturally its nowhere to be found right now. Its worth searching for. 'Something like 'tips for using a CA finish'.

The last one came out like this:
Attachment 98074

Have fun doing it. Each one you do will get better.

That was a good thread, after tons of people added to it,, Good thought Rob

It also gives an idea of all the steps involved with them

http://straightrazorpalace.com/works...ints-tips.html

Thanks gssixgun for the CA suggestion. I found the thread in the sticky. Very detailed instructions. I'm looking forward to trying it out on some test pieces later.

So there shouldn't be any problems with polishing the shank to a mirror finish?

I'll post pics of my "upgraded" razor when I'm done with the new scales and polish. Might be a few weeks though.

Thanks again to all!

I always polish out the "shank" if the razor is out of the scales no sense in putting it back in with anything but clean bright steel...

Just to clarify you are talking just polishing, no grinding on it right ???

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

I always polish out the "shank" if the razor is out of the scales no sense in putting it back in with anything but clean bright steel...

Just to clarify you are talking just polishing, no grinding on it right ???

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Yes, just polishing to make it nice and shiny, no grinding.

i use a fingernail buffing system to get my scales , brass pins and horn on razors and knives to a super smooth state. that way when a finish is applied it is that much smoother. the buffing block is just a dollar and is amazing works wounders on brass pins.

I do remember the last Str8 I did, as I polished up the shank by using my Dremel tool 1st with brown emery, then with white tripoli, and finally with red jewelers' rouge.

No photo's for you but it did turn out very nice I thought, FWIW.

As every, tinkersd

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Flatland2D

Thanks gssixgun for the CA suggestion.

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you're welcome.

Ha! Sorry, TwistedOak. Thanks to you, too. You were FIRST to suggest the CA finish!

;)

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Looks beautiful. Going to do my first real rescale very soon. Just reading up on it now.

Just my 2 cents. When I do pens, I take it down to 600 grit then apply a product called EEE-Ultrashine which you should be able to get at any good woodworking supply house. After that, I go to the final finish whatever that may be.
The EEE is made for using on a lathe, but you should be able to use it on a felt wheel YMMV. I'd try it on a scrap piece first. The other thing you might try is what I use on pipes: jewelers rouge followed by white diamond polishing compound. Again, YMMV so experiment first.