Thread: Making new scales

I'm making some wooden scales (black walnut) and when I ordered the blanks I was hoping there would be enough extra to form the wedge as well.

That was not the case. There is extra material but no one single piece is large enough.

I'm not sure how strong a bond either wood glue or super glue forms and thus my question. I have two "larger" pieces that if glued together would make a good wedge

Is this an acceptable practice or as I suspect is it not a good idea?

Also, is it better to use super glue or wood glue for gluing the wedge in place? Whether it's for the wedge described about or a whole wood piece is not my question here. I'm just wondering which is best as I have both.

I'm using shellac and steel wool to get the "shine". I don't think that's the most popular or best choice these days but it seemed fairly simple for my first attempt at making scales.

Thanks.

Personally I like the scales and wedge to contrast each other, let's say dark scales with light colored wedge or vice versa. I like to use lead wedges with my wood scales.

Originally Posted by DoughBoy68

Personally I like the scales and wedge to contrast each other, let's say dark scales with light colored wedge or vice versa. I like to use lead wedges with my wood scales.

I like the contrasting visual but I think making lead wedges is out of my skill level.

I have a roll of 1/8" that was given to me by an old plumber friend. It cuts pretty easy with wire cutters and I finish shaping with a sanding drum bit with a Dremel and hand sand to really smooth it.

PM me your address and I'll mail you a piece.

You got a couple of choices here. You can glue the two together as you said. You can go to hobby lobby and get some 0.030" brass or aluminum sheets and do a lined wedge; there is a how to in the workshop forum. You can use two pieces of wood and make a bi-color wedge. Either glue will work in this case, however you need waterproof wood glue if you use it. Tite bond has a "hybrid" glue at lowes that i use, it has a longer set time in case you mess up the alignment on first try. Shellac is fine, i like to use it as a sanding sealer, or you can use trueoil which you can pick up in the gun section at bass pro or usually local gun shops. Shellac is going to give you a satin or semi gloss finish like bare wood with the grain raised, so don't get discouraged when it's not a mirror finish.

Don't be worried about what is popular or accceptable.
People may or may not agree with your choices, but the fact remains that it is YOUR choice. You learn by trying & experimenting. I know that even the professional restoration members here, like to see new ideas, regardless of who they are from.

Experiment, have fun doing it & show us your work.

Thanks guys. DoughBoy68, thanks for the offer. I'll keep the lead idea in mind for the future. I think (just due to my impatience) I'll come up with something soon just to get this first one completed. I'm sure I'll learn a lot just going through to completion with this one.

If I glue the two pieces of wood together I can actually do it so that only the one piece is visible. Both are long but just narrow.

Good to know tiddle regarding the semi-gloss finish. I think that will be fine for this first project. It's black walnut and isn't that "fancy" in the first place. I have a more interesting looking piece of spalted sugar maple coming that I may want to go for a shinier look (or maybe not).

By the way, the blade I"m using is a W.H. Morley and Sons with what I guess you would call a notch tip.

I've gotten it fairly polished looking. It was decent looking from the start except for the tang and monkey tail.

Without a Dremel I'm probably not going to get it as polished as the better restoration examples I see in the gallery and elsewhere but it should still look fine (to me).

Originally Posted by DoughBoy68

Personally I like the scales and wedge to contrast each other, let's say dark scales with light colored wedge or vice versa. I like to use lead wedges with my wood scales.

Agreed..one of the first critiques on my first set of scales here was that they would have been that much better with a contrasting wedge, from a well respected member here. I took it to heart and have always done my wedges in a contrasting material. Depending where you are i'm sure you can find something to fit on the cheap. I've never recommended trying to "piece" something together..it's totally up to you but in the end you'll always be sorry that you did...it will show.
And just to clarify..it is kind of the norm...look at any production razor today or of yesteryear....the wedges dont match the scales.

If you have chromium oxide and a rag and some time you can us that to polish the blade. That's all the green polishing compound in the bars is any way, or if you have like .5 micron diamond spray or paste you could us that before or inlue of the crox. W ork with what you got on hand, nothing wrong with that.

Wedgeless scales are fairly common, you just have to know how to set the "Angle" or the scales won't flex and the razor won't "work" right, there are plenty of examples in the Workshop..