Thread: Poplar as a scale wood?

As long as it has cured properly and you seal it, practically any wood is good for scales.

I have made and used many different woods for scales, as long as they have been seasoned correctly then there's no problem, you are not really getting them wet and a little rub over occasionally with a good wax then buff off will do the trick, absolutely no need for stabilization you only really need that for burr woods because they are so fragile when cut so fine. here's a few I've made and used in American Walnut and Welsh Yew.

Jamie.

I have used poplar for various wood projects, but not scales. I have used a lot of woods for scales, and regardless of burly wood or not - you should use stabalized wood. The reason is twofold - 1. Stabalized wood will not curl, whereas any wood that has some water content will. Maybe not at first, but they will curl eventually. 2. I find stabalized wood takes a better and much more consistant finish and polish.

Again, its each to their own, just my two cents.

same density as bone? Even tho it is classed as a hardwood (because the tree is Deciduous) i have always found it to be rather soft and pithy.
One thing I have done with it is to ebonize it using steelwool and viniger,takes a nice stain.

Originally Posted by celticcrusader

I have made and used many different woods for scales, as long as they have been seasoned correctly then there's no problem, you are not really getting them wet and a little rub over occasionally with a good wax then buff off will do the trick, absolutely no need for stabilization you only really need that for burr woods because they are so fragile when cut so fine. here's a few I've made and used in American Walnut and Welsh Yew.

Jamie.

Beautiful work, Jaime.

Thanks so much for the great replies, the poplar I have is quite hard and I went ahead and cut some scales today, I will have them ready within the next couple days. Ill be sure to post the finished product.

I like rosewood. It's beautiful, hard, stable and finishes easily, even with just a coat of furniture wax. Other popular woods are ebony and cocobolo. The trend here: hard and stable. There are some cool stabilized wood options out there as well which polish up to a hard shine, which is nice. Most burls that you will see must be finished w/ CA super glue or epoxy you harden them up and allow them to take a finish; those woods are soft and need to be sealed from moisture or they will get funky fast.

Originally Posted by JoeLowett

I like rosewood. It's beautiful, hard, stable and finishes easily, even with just a coat of furniture wax. Other popular woods are ebony and cocobolo. The trend here: hard and stable. There are some cool stabilized wood options out there as well which polish up to a hard shine, which is nice. Most burls that you will see must be finished w/ CA super glue or epoxy you harden them up and allow them to take a finish; those woods are soft and need to be sealed from moisture or they will get funky fast.

Sorry but burls are not soft,most are like iron,they need to be stabilized because they can be friable in nature,This piece of madrone took me 7 hrs to turn with carbide bits.

Originally Posted by pixelfixed

Sorry but burls are not soft,most are like iron,they need to be stabilized because they can be friable in nature,This piece of madrone took me 7 hrs to turn with carbide bits.

Should have specificaly said *some* burls are soft, as are some woods, but when an already softer hard wood now burl have inclusions, if left untreated the wood becomes increasingly unstable, breakable, etc...

Nice work by the way, thats a huge, awesome piece of wood

In my work experience, poplar is used as a cheap hardwood for paint grade applications. Its actually the highest quality, where a paint grade wood, would be used. Stair stringers, crown molding, door and window casing, solid wood doors or any other place you need a high quality product that will be painted. In my eyes I see it as a cheap, cheap, cheap hardwood. It is actually a soft hardwood in comparison to other hardwoods. That being said, it machines very nicely.

As wood scales for razors, I don't see it being a problem. I thought about using it the other day when I saw some poplar crown molding that had an area of black fading into a green. Looked awesome!!!! If you could fined the right hunk, you could get some attractive scales!!!