Thread: Scales with handtools only. What material?

I'm doing my first couple of restores on a couple of Swedish 5/8 quarter hollows and a 7/8 Sheffield barbers notch wedge. I'll take them to a buddy's house to use his Dremel to get the pins out, but after that I'll be using all hand tools (coping saw, files, sandpaper, etc...). I might have to use a power drill to make new holes for the pins though...we'll see.

When I was designing and building furniture in college, I only worked with rosewood, teak, ironwood, mango, oak and pine, so I'm not familiar with how difficult other woods like beechwood, maple, cherry, etc..are to work with by hand. I'm definitely staying away from ironwood, rosewood, and teak since I want to enjoy making these. ha I have no experience with acrylic, G10, micarta and other synthetics except for lexan. I've cut, heated, and shaped windscreens for motorcycles. It was pretty straightforward except for cleaning the files and replacing clogged sandpaper constantly...

My question for you guys/gals is about the scale material to use. Are there materials and types of wood to stay away from since I'll be cutting and shaping by hand? Suggested materials and types of wood maybe?

You can make the pin holes with the Dremel.
The rest you already have, except you will need a vise and a peening hammer and a piece of steel block or anvil for the peen work.

Here examples what you can do entirely by hand with some practice.

Check out bocote. It's a beautiful wood with interesting grain and no problem to work by hand. Also, you might want to consider horn - IMHO those old Sheffield blades look stonkingly good in horn, whether it is black, brown, honey... it's nice stuff to work with too. See, for example, Mainaman's second pic above. Beautiful!

One thing about bocote is that its grain can vary a lot. Here are a couple of mine in bocote:





Good luck!

Those are beautiful! Nice work! What materials are those - wood, acrylic and carbon fiber? Any recommendations on materials for my first set of scales?

I have a small ballpeen hammer that I'll use for the peening and will probably use a sledgehammer on the garage floor as an "anvil" and just lay down to get the job done. hah Aside from holding the scales still, what else would I need a vice for? Maybe holding a flat file so I can use both hands to move the scales?

Bocote and horn? I love that grain and color! I haven't thought about horn...I guess I thought it would be a pain to work with by hand. I'll definitely look at that now! Thank you and great looking razors. I never thought about shaving outside and very smart to do it on a pad of soft moss! You don't have to worry about nicking your edge if you put your razor down!

Some of the high oil content woods you say you will not work with,Ironwood (lignum) Rosewood (dalbergias) and teak are actually very easy to work with,In some ways the results are far better than than the softwoods you prefer.

Originally Posted by AustinCQC

I have a small ballpeen hammer that I'll use for the peening and will probably use a sledgehammer on the garage floor as an "anvil" and just lay down to get the job done.

That would work, but remember that you'll want to be using very gentle taps when peening your pins. Whacking it too hard can warp the pin or crack the scales. So you can save yourself some trouble and just lay a regular hammer on a table or workbench and use that as your anvil for peening. I have an old hammer I used to use for that until I bought myself a little jeweller's anvil. You can also drill in a shallow divot into the hammer to stabilize the pin. That can be helpful when starting.

I love the results I would get with Rosewood and teak and think they would make gorgeous scales....I just hated cutting them and always wearing a respirator when sanding. A heavier wood would really work with the wedge...I just don't want to do that for my first attempt at making scales. This is the first set of scales I'll be making, so I don't want to make it an overly difficult task, but rather an easier labor of learning. To me it's like wanting to get into restoring motorcycles by learning on a Yamaha xs650 vs a Norton. Both require work, but being able to find parts for the yamaha all over the place makes the restore so much easier.

I'm really digging the look of some of the horn scales that I'm finding around the internets. I found a few black horn with white streaks in it that I'd love to pair with a red wedge. I love red/black combos.

Is horn difficult to work with by hand?

Originally Posted by AustinCQC

I'm really digging the look of some of the horn scales that I'm finding around the internets. I found a few black horn with white streaks in it that I'd love to pair with a red wedge. I love red/black combos.

Is horn difficult to work with by hand?

No, not much diff than hardwood,except for the smell