Thread: H. Boker with Bloodwood Scales

str8,

How do you polish the scales?

After putting on a coat of CA and letting it set it has kind of a rough surface. I sand that with 220 or 320 wet/dry sand paper until all of the shiny spots are removed and it is smooth. You can tell this by drying the scales with a paper towel as it shows the shiny spots better. I USE THE WET/DRY SANDPAPER WET. I then put on another coat of CA and let that set. Sometimes I will put on two or three coats before sanding. I sand again as above. I keep doing this until I have several coats of CA on the scales. When I am thru applying CA I start the so called polishing process. After getting the CA smooth and all of the shiny spots out I then start using smaller and smaller grit wet/dry sandpaper WET such as 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1500 & 2000. Once you get the CA smooth with the 220 or 320 sandpaper it doesn't take much sanding with the smaller grits to finish this process. At this point the CA is still not shiny. I then take Mothers Aluminum & Mag Polish or you can use Maas or Flitz and rub some onto the CA with a cotton T-shirt. When thru rubbing the CA I then take a clean part of the t-shirt and wipe off the polish and you will then see the CA in its polished state. By reducing the grit size of the sandpaper until you get to the 2000 grit in a sense is polishing it but when you put on the polishing cream is when the shine comes out. It is similar to compounding the paint on a car. If you have any more questions please ask.

Thanks a lot for the detail explanation....it is very clear now....just one more question....

how many bottles (grams, oz, etc) do you need per scale?

I already bought a small bottle to test, but is so small that I don't know how many I will need per scale....

Victor, the stuff you bought may not have the right consistency for this kind of work. You need very thin CA like Hot Stuff to avoid bubbling. I bought 2oz for about $10-15 at Lee Valley.

Maybe you are rigth...because I only spent 1 dollar in a little veeery little bottle....

Do you have a link, or recommendation?

Victor,
My first set of scales that I did I actually used the super glue that Walmart sells in their model section and it actually worked OK. I have since bought both the thin and the thick at Woodcraft and this CA does work better. You can try the CA that you have on maybe a piece of small wood that has been sanded pretty smooth just to see how the stuff works. There is somewhat of a learning curve using this stuff but actually not that bad. By the way do you have Bill Ellis's CD on restoration? If not it is a very valuable source of information. It has a CA (super glue) section.

I have used both the thick and the thin CA and actually like the thick better when I first start out and then go to the thin for final touch ups. And then again I also use the thin when I start out. I guess it is a matter of personal preference. The guy at Woodcraft that makes pens likes the thin and he said a lot of his customers use the thick. ?????

The CA from Woodcraft comes in 2 oz. bottles at $9.50 per bottle. You can do several scales with a 2 oz. bottle. I will reiterate about the spray can activator on another post if you want me to.

Victor here is a link to Woodcraft: The first one is to Woodcraft Home page and the second is to the CA section. Happy viewing.


http://www.woodcraft.com/


http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=339

Hi Str8

I will try with the one that I already bought just for testing porpoises....

I already bought Bill Ellis's CD but it is still on its way to me....

Thanks a lot for your help and patient....and sorry for

I'm a bona fide newbie and I must have this gorgeous razor!!!

WOWZA Bill !!!

Just a gorgeous job. Someone will certainly be lucky on this SRP Giveaway.

Thanks.......

Lynn