Thread: Scale finishing jig

I'm not sure what kind of jig everyone else uses for finishing their scales. Most of the ones I've seen, and the type I still occasionally use, is to temporarily glue a popsicle stick (or something similar) to the bottom of the scale and then have at it with the CA or whatever other finish while holding on to the popsicle stick.

I did a little experimenting and came up with a new jig. It's quite simple, really. Just lay the scales good and flat on the sticky side of some masking tape, and then tape that down to a rigid surface with some more tape. I use masking tape because I can leave the scales stuck on it for as long as I want without having to worry about all that sticky adhesive residue coming off with the scales.

The main reason I came up with this jig is mostly for scales with liners. When working with liners, it was inevitable that I'd always get some CA or tung oil on the inside of the liners. Not that it was a huge pain to clean it off, but why do work that I don't have too Since the scales lie flush on the tape, I can really slather on as much CA or tung oil as I want without having to worry about getting any on the inside of the liners. It's inevitable that capillary action will probably draw a little CA or what have you around the very edge, but in my experience, it's always been very little.

Ohh, in case you're wondering, the scales in the pic are brass lined brazilian rosewood finished with 3 coats of poly. tung oil sealer and then 6 or so of glossy poly. tung oil

Very good idea and very nice results, Jason. Thanks for sharing

Jason,

Very good idea. I will give it a try to see if the liner gets complete protection.

You may still find the finish gets a bit under the edge, but definitely not as bad as it would if the liners were left open. I like the idea, don't know how well it would work for CA because the CA would glue the tape to the edge of the scales and you would have to sand it off from the bottom. Don't know how that will work out until I try it.

I was thinking the same thing about CA.

How do you go about holding the scales while using CA?

I would assume something that is inset from the sides would work but you would likely have to sand off the liners afterwards as I would assume a bead of CA would form around the edge?

-Geoff

Like I said, it's quite likely that, when using CA, some will likely be drawn or bleed in along the very edge of the liners. I had this happen, but it wasn't nearly as bad as having it left completely open. The worst it got was a tiny bit of the masking tape was glued around the very perimeter of the liners, which, was much easier to remove that big uneven patches of CA.

Of course, you don't want to just put a pool of CA around the scales or else you'll have ton that will need to be sanded off, and could potentially break off catastrophically. If there's too much lieing around the edges, just use a piece of tissue of q-tip to wipe it up. Since CA has such a low viscocity, it will draw up into a napkin rapidly and fairly cleanly.... Just don't wipe your mouth with it afterwards Also, masking tape is dirt cheap, so if it gets a little to haggard, it's really easy to just make a new jig.

I should mentioned that I haven't used this jig on a whole lot of CA finished scales as of yet; just because I haven't been using CA as much in general as of late. Once I learn more, I'll definitely post any more tips I acquire along the way.