Thread: Oddball scale materials

Well, I'm still waiting for my restoration CD from bill to get to my house and get forwarded out to me by the wife, since the post decided to break the last one he sent in half, so for the moment this is my only advice regarding razor restoration. My eBay special came in the mail yesterday, and I've begun the hand sanding...and I have to say, wow, after hours and hours of sanding, my hands hurt.

The scales the razor came with were miserable. One was black plastic, and I'm not cool enough to tell what kind of plastic, but the other side looked like it was carved out of a table leg, and the razor was pinned with little picture frame nails that had had the pointy end hammered flat enough not to come out. If it was a car, it'd be a jalopy, and I plan on making new scales for it.

My question is about the feasibility of making scales out of 2x4's or plywood. I have at least several months, and potentially quite a few more, to work on this, so despite my scant access to tools, I can make up for that in patience. I think it would be pretty sweet to have a razor I restored / fabricated during a deployment -- I can't think of a cooler memento, especially since war trophies are no longer allowed. I'm not experienced with wood, though; would shaping scales out of a 2x4 be work, or is the wood not up to it?

Hand sanding is a PITA!

As for making scales out of a 2x4, well, that's a LOT of wood! Well, unless you are putting scales on the razor Bill made for Josh, You just need wood about 1/8" thick x 1" wide x 6-7" long. If you can get your hands on a small coping saw that might work for cutting. As for the pins, 1/16"x 1" brass nails will work, clip off the head and peen the ends.

If you need materials we can send you some, just let us know......

C utz

I can't work with wood worth a damn, but I CAN handle plastics a little. I'm making some scales from a small sheet of polycarbonate.($4 for a 10"'x15" sheet of Lexan at Home Depot) Since I'm very new to restoration, and since Lexan is cheap and damn near indestructable, I'd rather risk screwing up on the plastic instead of some hyper expensive piece of wood.

I have a saw on my Leatherman, and believe me, I have the time to hack pieces of wood out of a 2x4. I just wanted to make sure the wood wouldn't be unworkable. I appreciate the offer of sending me things, but since the blade was already aquired from out of country, I feel like SOME of the material ought to come from here. I'm not too terribly worried about sheer beauty. Thanks for the tips!

Originally Posted by TomlinAS

I can't think of a cooler memento, especially since war trophies are no longer allowed.

The wife and I were at the Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg TX last year, and they had on display one of Gen MacArthur's General Orders forbidding servicemen from sending Japanese body parts back home as souvenirs. Apparently some of the guys were sending ears and skulls back to their mothers/girlfriends and it was freaking them out a bit...

On a more serious note, I've got a Thiers Issard with palm scales, maybe you can scrounge some palmwood from the natives?

I'm thinking that using 2x4 wood for scales might be a bit of a hassle. The pine/fir used to make 2x4's pretty soft and you'll have to be careful of denting or scratching the scales when they're finished. As long as you can keep your knife razor sharp, you should be able to whittle it.

Plywood would be possible, but not with a pocket knife. Also, you'd want to use a higher-grade plywood like Baltic Birch plywood or something without any voids in it.

Originally Posted by TomlinAS

I have a saw on my Leatherman, and believe me, I have the time to hack pieces of wood out of a 2x4. I just wanted to make sure the wood wouldn't be unworkable. I appreciate the offer of sending me things, but since the blade was already aquired from out of country, I feel like SOME of the material ought to come from here. I'm not too terribly worried about sheer beauty. Thanks for the tips!

See if you can find a stick of something local. olivewood? date palm? ramshorn? the jawbone of a camel?

Actually, I was thinking of something along the same lines.....

If you are going to be cutting up wood, and you want to do this while you are there, are there any native trees near-by that you can get a few branches from?

Cut the Scale/wood from those!

"...and here is a straight razor I restored and used while I was in Iraq...and those scales, well, I made those from the tree indigenous to the area ..."



C utz

Pine, often used for lumber, is quite soft. I would also worry a bit about the pins wearing on the holes a bit and making the razor quite loose fitting.

Plywood would be interesting when complete, but poses a couple challenges that have been commented on. One, it has voids in it from time to time, this would make holes or even chunks in your scales when you sand any types of curve to your handles. Two, plywood is laminated wood. The lamination layer can be uneven, sometimes very hard and sometimes surprisingly soft. This is going to result in challenges cutting and sanding the scales to the final shape. If you pull it off you can end up with a number of exposed layers on the scales which would create an interesting visual effect.

I would probably varnish or poly the scales of plywood as it will seal them up.


All things considered, personally, I would look for scrap hardwood. There is likely some company making hardwood something or anothers around you. considering the size of the scraps you need, you likely can walk out of there with an armload of scraps for nothing.

Alex -
While I understand that you are looking for a scale-making project to fill your spare time - another interesting thing might be....


....a few years back (quite a few, actually) I was working in the offshore oil business, and a lot of the old salts that I worked with had also done projects in the middleast, and they all had these beautifully worked metal hard hats covered with incredible stipple designs and art work, which, they explained, was a local craft.

If you could find an old eBay beater - you know - good blade, throw away scales - and then find a local metalworking craftsman and have some really nice metal (aluminum? zinc? silver???) scales made and decorated.

......sweet!

-whatever

-Lou